Luka Dončić Discussion - Year 2

[Dirk]

I think he had my favourite pass ever last night btw: fully cross court sling throw over the shoulder out of a double team to the corner for a wide open 3. That was sensational.

I catalogued them this way.

Pass of the year

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

Another great one or two

Spoiler:

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

[dirkules_41]

I think he had my favourite pass ever last night btw: fully cross court sling throw over the shoulder out of a double team to the corner for a wide open 3. That was sensational.

I catalogued them this way.

Pass of the year

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

Another great one or two

Spoiler:

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

Gfycat Video - Click to Play

I can't get over the mix of vision, degree of difficulty, pin point accuracy and timing of this.

The broadcast team brought up a good question last night: Name another player who could make that pass like this.

[fuller4379]

Read on Twitter

[Pg81]

Is it just me or has Luka been getting covered by opponents defense more and more already at half court line?

[J_T]

Is it just me or has Luka been getting covered by opponents defense more and more already at half court line?

I think they did it more few weeks ago and now they are doing it less, because it's not working. They will still throw in occasional double (in last game you could hear coach yelling "double" at one point) but I don't think it's an issue. If anything I think Mavs should throw more occasional doubles themselves. If this worked, I think we would see Luka being doubled all the time.

[leolozon]

I thought I would post this here. It's cute. I wish there was more basketball footage. Just a dunk... he didn't have more lift as a 5yo.
Anyone speaks Slovenian?

Watch on YouTube

[Nikson]

I thought I would post this here. It's cute. I wish there was more basketball footage. Just a dunk... he didn't have more lift as a 5yo.
Anyone speaks Slovenian?

Watch on YouTube

We speak Sovenian, for sure.

[Archx]

I thought I would post this here. It's cute. I wish there was more basketball footage. Just a dunk... he didn't have more lift as a 5yo.
Anyone speaks Slovenian?

Watch on YouTube

What do you want to know? Basically the only interesting fact was, Saša said he won't force Luka to play basketball but will instead let his son decide what he wants to become when he grows up.

Entire video was about how he loved playing playstation games with his mom and dad, at this point they were still a functioning family. It's weird seeing them together like this.

[J_T]

Jersey sales:

1. LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
2. Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
3. Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
4. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
5. James Harden, Houston Rockets
6. Luka Dončić, Dallas Mavericks
7. Kawhi Leonard, Los Angeles Clippers
8. Anthony Davis, Los Angeles Lakers
9. Joel Embiid, Philadelphia 76ers
10. Kyrie Irving, Brooklyn Nets
11. Ben Simmons, Philadelphia 76ers
12. Kevin Durant, Brooklyn Nets
13. Russell Westbrook, Houston Rockets
14. Kemba Walker, Boston Celtics
15. Zion Williamson, New Orleans Pelicans

1. Los Angeles Lakers
2. Boston Celtics
3. Philadelphia 76ers
4. Toronto Raptors
5. Milwaukee Bucks
6. Golden State Warriors
7. Houston Rockets
8. Chicago Bulls
9. Miami Heat
10. Brooklyn Nets

[MadIggy]

Šasa Dončić, father of Luka was also considered as generation talent (hes 2 years older than Rasho Nesterović), but never met his potential due to poor work ethics. He was quite dominant in domestic Slovenian league for years.

[Archx]

Anytime someone starts bitching that Luka complains too much, just link him this tweet. His arms look like he got out of a UFC fight.

Read on Twitter

[fuller4379]

Without Luka the Mavs would be on the same level as the Hawks.

[Pg81]

Without Luka the Mavs would be on the same level as the Hawks.

The Hawks still have Trae and had a lot of bad luck with injuries to their starters. Mavs without Luka would be worse than Hawks since they still have Trae.

[DJ_3_Ball]

Anytime someone starts bitching that Luka complains too much, just link him this tweet. His arms look like he got out of a UFC fight.

Read on Twitter

To me this is just evidence the refs are tired of listening to Luka run his mouth. They're literally letting him take a beating & not giving him the calls a MVP candidate should get.

Maybe he should adjust his approach... or start wearing sleeves

[DJ_3_Ball]

Without Luka the Mavs would be on the same level as the Hawks.

The Hawks still have Trae and had a lot of bad luck with injuries to their starters. Mavs without Luka would be worse than Hawks since they still have Trae.

How exactly can you be worse than a team with a 10-34 record?

[J_T]

Without Luka the Mavs would be on the same level as the Hawks.

The Hawks still have Trae and had a lot of bad luck with injuries to their starters. Mavs without Luka would be worse than Hawks since they still have Trae.

How exactly can you be worse than a team with a 10-34 record?

I'm guessing by having 9-35 record. That's one way, there are also 9 other ways, 8-36, 7-35,... 0-44.

[DJ_3_Ball]

The Hawks still have Trae and had a lot of bad luck with injuries to their starters. Mavs without Luka would be worse than Hawks since they still have Trae.

How exactly can you be worse than a team with a 10-34 record?

I'm guessing by having 9-35 record. That's one way, there are also 9 other ways, 8-36, 7-35,... 0-44.

Touche. My point is, even without Luka & KP & Powell... This Mavs team is still far better than the Hawks.

Trae Young is literally the worst defender in the NBA. There's a reason the Hawks don't win any games. Here's a daily fantasy hoops hack. Pick PGs facing ATL. They're gonna have a BIG night.

[Dirk]

Without Luka the Mavs would be on the same level as the Hawks.

The Hawks still have Trae and had a lot of bad luck with injuries to their starters. Mavs without Luka would be worse than Hawks since they still have Trae.

Check the Sixers and Bucks combined home record vs the other teams: 21-1 + 20-1 = 41-2

Check their record vs the Mavs without Luka: 0-2

What are the chances...

They lost Luka, fell into a hole, but were able to come back from 20 down vs Miami. To build a 30 point lead vs Raptors. To be competitive vs Celtics. There have been multiple games where Luka was chilling on the bench and the other guys built up a big dead.

Just recall the plus/minus thing hah ---by the way, as expected this has been looking "better" for Luka as well. Back when that "impact" topic was created, the numbers suited that narrative. Now, you can clearly see the drop off in the offensive rating.

Just by heart, I think back then the offensive rating with Luka on or off was about the same. Then the team started to play even better and his offensive rating sky-rocketed and there's a clear difference now between Luka ON, Luka OFF.

Assuming the Mavs wouldn't intentionally tank, there is no way that the Mavs would be 10-34 without Luka.

This just means the Mavs without Luka play better basketball than the Hawks. Thank god for Luka. I don't think I'd enjoy seeing Trae jacking up some of the shots he takes that much. Not to mention offering no resistance on defense. Anyway, Luka is great, but I never really see much need to tear up the rest of the team, especially when it's quite obvious that as a collective unit, the Mavs have done a good job on the year.

[Pg81]

Without Luka the Mavs would be on the same level as the Hawks.

The Hawks still have Trae and had a lot of bad luck with injuries to their starters. Mavs without Luka would be worse than Hawks since they still have Trae.

Check the Sixers and Bucks combined home record vs the other teams: 21-1 + 20-1 = 41-2

Check their record vs the Mavs without Luka: 0-2

What are the chances...

They lost Luka, fell into a hole, but were able to come back from 20 down vs Miami. To build a 30 point lead vs Raptors. To be competitive vs Celtics. There have been multiple games where Luka was chilling on the bench and the other guys built up a big dead.

Just recall the plus/minus thing hah.

Assuming the Mavs wouldn't intentionally tank, there is no way that the Mavs would be 10-34 without Luka.

This just means the Mavs without Luka play better basketball than the Hawks. Thank god for Luka. I don't think I'd enjoy seeing Trae jacking up some of the shots he takes that much. Not to mention offering no resistance on defense.

So what is the Mavs record against the Knicks?
Chosing a couple of lucky games against some top teams does not mean much. Let that Mavs team without Luka play the Bucks and Sixers in the playoffs when both are fully healthy and this Mavs team will get swept.
That out of the way, my post was not meant to incite a comparison between Trae and Luka but apart from Luka who is better than Trae on this Mavs team? None. As I have mentioned before the Hawks starter were injured and their bench is weak. A healthy Atlanta team with Trae is better than a Mavs team without Luka. Now if you want to discuss Trae less Atlanta vs Luka less Mavs that would change things again but that was not the topic.

[Dirk]

The Hawks still have Trae and had a lot of bad luck with injuries to their starters. Mavs without Luka would be worse than Hawks since they still have Trae.

Check the Sixers and Bucks combined home record vs the other teams: 21-1 + 20-1 = 41-2

Check their record vs the Mavs without Luka: 0-2

What are the chances...

They lost Luka, fell into a hole, but were able to come back from 20 down vs Miami. To build a 30 point lead vs Raptors. To be competitive vs Celtics. There have been multiple games where Luka was chilling on the bench and the other guys built up a big dead.

Just recall the plus/minus thing hah.

Assuming the Mavs wouldn't intentionally tank, there is no way that the Mavs would be 10-34 without Luka.

This just means the Mavs without Luka play better basketball than the Hawks. Thank god for Luka. I don't think I'd enjoy seeing Trae jacking up some of the shots he takes that much. Not to mention offering no resistance on defense.

So what is the Mavs record against the Knicks?

Re-read my post above. I added some more info because all year I was curious about the on/off thing (always believing that in the long run Luka would clearly establish himself well).

I generally avoid these discussions.

And to this post of yours... vs Knicks. Luka played in both games. He misses key shots in both games. Missed game tying 3s. Go ahead 3s.

If you think losing 2 games is the same as the whole run the Mavs had without Luka and the whole year when Luka is not playing... then cool.

No one is saying the Mavs would beat those teams in a playoff series or whatever. hell, they probably would not beat them at full strength.

If you or anyone believes that the Mavs would be 10-34 or worse, all evidence says that's wrong. You can't even begin to make a case for it. Even when the Mavs were bad (the 2 years before Luka)... they weren't able to be Hawks bad.

A lot of us WISHED the Mavs were as bad as the Hawks are this season. They weren't... and we suffered because they won too many games. A lot of us WISHED the Mavs were as bad as the Warriors this year. The Mavs weren't able to...

If anyone went on a general forum and said that the Mavs would be 10-34 without Luka... they'd be laughed at. For obvious reasons. Fans have always had a constant gripe with the Mavs winning too many games, before Luka was ever a Maverick and now out of the blue they'd be the worst team in the league.

Luka is great. No need whatsoever to create fiction to build him up. And I don't give a **** about any other team or player. I am just happy Luka is a Maverick.