Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Extension Machine

I tend to agree with having a better defender. Off the top of my head, I'd probably go:

Smart, Reaves, Luka, Lebron, Ayton to start.

Take out Ayton & Lebron around 6 mins for Hayes & Rui. (Smart, Reaves, Luka, Rui, Hayes)

Take out Smart & Reaves around 9 mins for LaRavia & Gabe. (Gabe, LaRavia, Luka, Rui, Hayes)

Start of 2nd Quarter Gabe, Reaves, Lebron, LaRavia, Ayton.

Give or take.

 

Adjust the courts, please,” Doncic said after praising the format of the tournament, now in its third year. “It’s just slippery. It’s dangerous. … I slipped a lot of times. You could see a lot of players slipped. That’s dangerous, man.”

LoL Luka
When told he had earned at least $53,000 with the Lakers' group win, the star with a $165 million contract just grinned.

“Obviously, I'll accept money,” Doncic laughed.

 

Gotta pay that Jax tech…

 

I’ve always been a fan of feeding the hot hand. That said, I’m fine with doing that, but I still like the ball moving more than sticking since that makes it harder for the opponent to defend.
As for LeBron, I think how he played on offense last game is the blueprint moving forward. Get out and running mixed with the occasional three.

 

What if Luka is having an off night?
Rui is literally one of the most efficient scorers in the game, currently. Smart is good defensively, but he’s no floor spacer, shooting only 40% FG and a whopping 25% from three.

 

LoL
Come to Los Angeles bro

 

Wow. Poor guy is going to have to do a geographical, or worse, take the family into witness protection. Even worse than being a Clipper and having the cameras put your mug up on the Jumbotrons at Dodger games.

 

I mean, I get having to leave friends and family and move to a brand new place(because I just did it)but, if you have a lot of money, living in the LA area isn’t the worst place to live.
He would get high fives everywhere he went like Ron Burgundy and never have to pay for a beer again in SoCal.

 

I don’t understand your point, are you saying that we need Rui to start in case Luka has an off night? No coach in their right mind would say hey Luka is off tonight, let’s put the ball in Rui’s hands when LeBron James and Austin Reaves are also out there.

Rui isn’t a “scorer”, at least on this team. He’s really just a shooter. He’s spot up catch and shoot, one dribble shoot or cutting on the baseline. I actually do think he could be unlocked more as a scorer with post-ups and midrange ISO’s, but that really only makes sense to do when he’s playing with bench units. So another reason why he should come off the bench.

The starting lineup could definitely use a shooter like Rui, but it needs a defender like Marcus more. Our offense can still do quite well on low three point attempts/percentages given how good Luka and Austin are in the mid range. The best option to start is someone who can shoot better than Marcus and defend better than Rui, but that guy isn’t on the roster yet.

 

Ron Burgundy reference as positive for Nico.

 

No what I’m saying is that Rui’s on demand shooting makes up more than Smart’s defense because the numbers don’t show that Rui is the worst defender in the League( like everyone thinks he is), but they do show that Smart is one of the worst FG, percentage-wise, shooters in the NBA. If Smart could shoot a League average clip from three, then yeah, I would prefer him starting. At this stage in his career, I don’t think Smart is good enough to start.
Like I’ve said in previous posts, this team has really leaned into trying to outscore their opponents, based on the roster construction, so starting Rui just falls in line with this.
I would rather have more two way talent starting, but we currently don’t have it. The last guy we had in there that fit, was DFS.
Now that I think of it, based on their play so far this season, Gabe has been giving us a better version of Smart than the actual Marcus.

 

Fatboi just sneaks up on 30 pts without people realizing it. Too easy

 

Absolutely mind blowing what he's doing

And we have the privilege to witness it

We are fortunate for sure