Luka defense is atrocious, now with stats

[BarberSchool]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

[90sgoat]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

Definitely.

The thing is, in years past, and in FIBA, there would be a big guy to clean up but there isn't in the NBA.

Even so, if Luka is going to be playing this little defense, you need to start him at PF and have him guard them. Then you need to have 2 guards. The AI recipe.

[Lebron23]

It's like Luka thinks that the same doesn't go for everyone else.

If you choose to dominate every possession on offense then you won't have energy for defense.

I agree with your 2nd sentence

[Carbine]

Definitely.

The thing is, in years past, and in FIBA, there would be a big guy to clean up but there isn't in the NBA.

Even so, if Luka is going to be playing this little defense, you need to start him at PF and have him guard them. Then you need to have 2 guards. The AI recipe.

None of this matters because teams will search him out via pick and roll and force the switch, now you have the same situation + a smaller overall team to rebound.

[ImKobe]

It's like Luka thinks that the same doesn't go for everyone else.

If you choose to dominate every possession on offense then you won't have energy for defense.

No shit, but OP's whole thread is based on a sample size of 4 games, against great offensive teams no less. We all know Luka's not a good defensive player and that he does get targeted, but he's still a massive fking positive on his team and not the reason why they're losing.

Luka's 3rd in EPM behind SGA & Giannis despite his defense. He's not even among the worst defenders in the league in terms of EPM, he's in the 54th percentile (-0.4) which isn't great by any means, but he's also #1 in offensive EPM (+7.8). He has a +6.3 Net Rating with the defense only being 1.5 points per 100 better when he's on the bench, so clearly the poor defense that's being played by the TEAM is not all on him.

Looking at the stats, Opponent FG%, 3PA and 3PT% are all above league average, and they get killed on the boards. Luka's bad defense is being way overhyped on this board. It's a team problem.

[hold this L]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

He's the best scorer in the league right now, not the best offensive player. Those are two different things. He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

[Wardell Curry]

He's the best scorer in the league right now, not the best offensive player. Those are two different things. He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

He's right up there with Westbrook and Harden in terms of time of possession in the relatively modern era.

[FKAri]

He’s either the best offensive player in the league, or 2nd best. He can score at a league leading rate with great efficiency, on literally every single all-NBA defender out there. And he can kill you with passing when you double.

But he’s also one of the 5-10 worst transition defenders in the league (the rest are all aging bigs), and he’s also among the worst perimeter defenders among players designated “guard”. Physically, he’s either a chubby SF, or a very small, heavy PF.

He is really best suited (and weighs enough with strong enough legs) for guarding small c’s, PF’s or slow SF. When he is matched up with guard or wing players with quick first steps, he is a bullfighter. Pretends but lets them right past, hoping lively or Gafford clean it up. Somebody make a Spain joke/meme with that bullfighter comparison.

Agreed but a few weeks ago we saw him playing much better D which puts to rest the "he just isn't capable of being better" idea. It's more of a question of how much energy does he want to spend on that end and then what's the tradeoff between that and his offensive output.

The trouble is you can't hide guys on defense in today's league. You can't have a system like Iverson had in Philly where you could hide him on D by surrounding him with defensive guys and he could focus on just carrying the offense.

He's the best scorer in the league right now, not the best offensive player. Those are two different things. He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

You could rephrase it as, he's the best on-ball offensive player in the league. Nobody can match his combo of scoring and passing. He's also not bad off the ball but most of this talk about him ball hogging isn't really relevant because their offense works well. The problem is on defense and when Kyrie is beside him the other 3 guys now need to play out of their minds to plug all the holes.

[90sgoat]

It's a team problem.

Yes, it's a team problem, his teammates doesn't like him and don't want to bust their ass for a selfish white ballhog.

That's why it was such a huge mistake to trade DFS, Reggie Bullock and Boban etc, because those guys seemed to like each other and they played hard and made Luka play hard.

It's plain obvious to me that Luka and his team are disconnected. They don't like him, he doesn't care about them.

If you want to have Luka play like this, then his supporting cast can't be average black players, because they feel emasculated by a white dude hogging the ball.

[hold this L]

Yes, it's a team problem, his teammates doesn't like him and don't want to bust their ass for a selfish white ballhog.

That's why it was such a huge mistake to trade DFS, Reggie Bullock and Boban etc, because those guys seemed to like each other and they played hard and made Luka play hard.

It's plain obvious to me that Luka and his team are disconnected. They don't like him, he doesn't care about them.

If you want to have Luka play like this, then his supporting cast can't be average black players, because they feel emasculated by a white dude hogging the ball.

Why are you making it a race thing?

He's right up there with Westbrook and Harden in terms of time of possession in the relatively modern era.

He's already in 2 or 3 of the highest postseasons in usg in NBA history, and he's played in the PS only 3-4 times. He's the white Harden but doesn't turn into a mental midget at the last 5 minutes of the game.

[ImKobe]

Yes, it's a team problem, his teammates doesn't like him and don't want to bust their ass for a selfish white ballhog.

That's why it was such a huge mistake to trade DFS, Reggie Bullock and Boban etc, because those guys seemed to like each other and they played hard and made Luka play hard.

It's plain obvious to me that Luka and his team are disconnected. They don't like him, he doesn't care about them.

If you want to have Luka play like this, then his supporting cast can't be average black players, because they feel emasculated by a white dude hogging the ball.

Wow, and how do you know what his teammates are thinking without being on the team? Do you have a source for this?

You already answered the question I was going to ask with the bolded. They don't have the personnel to not get beat on the glass and the perimeter. Has nothing to do with Luka. All stats point to Luka being a huge net-positive for his team, even with the poor defense. The help just isn't there for them to be any better defensively really, and Kidd is not a championship-level coach.

It's fine to criticize Luka, but he's the least of the Mavs' problems. They're right where they're supposed to be when you look at the talent on the team. They might end up as the 6th seed which sounds about right.

[90sgoat]

Wow, and how do you know what his teammates are thinking without being on the team? Do you have a source for this?

I have eyes, I can spot body language and facial expressions, it's not rocket science. There is no excitement and enthusiasm on this team.

Luka and DFS were friends, many sites even say best friends. Boban was popular with everyone and another of Luka's friends on the team, that is also well documented.

The new guys simply do not have that connection with Luka, it is obvious. If you like someone, you're willing to overlook their faults to some degree, but if you don't like them, you get resentful if you think they're selfish.

Luka is selfish. It's not fun to play with Luka like that.

DFS and Bullock were also bad offensive players. Luka maximized their earning potential. It's not the same with guys like Kuzma, who turned down the Mavs.

[90sgoat]

Why are you making it a race thing?

There's definitely a racial aspect to this.

[SATAN]

He's the biggest ballhog in NBA history that doesn't allow his teammates to shine.

This.