Dirk wrote:... On the other you have this KP stuff without Luka as if Luka is limiting KP... I think the narrative of Luka limits KP, KP sad to be reduced to a minor role, etc etc is just so over the top. I'm pretty sure Luka is the type of guy to go up to KP and ask him: what can I do for you? ...
KP gets more than enough looks with Luka (and when Luka sits) to show his scoring prowess. When I say more than enough --- just look at a run of games and then go check the shots he gets. You get a decent enough sample. Then you can go look at the efficiency levels. He more often than not is not able to be efficient. And why? Assuming you watch enough... too many of his shots have little hope of going in. You literally have some possessions that 'are empty', thrown away really,between him rushing shots and shying away from contact, he is throwing some prayers. It sucks, but KP just is not there offensively for you to pretend like you can just dump the ball to him and he'll create something good consistently...
Definitely don't disagree that KP is not taking good shots. He does a lot of these "post ups" (if you can even call them that) 12-14 feet away from the basket at the elbow extended or lower vs smaller players, and he turns it into this very odd looking fadeaway where like half his body is turned around and his lower half is still trying to get there & it just looks awful. He looks gangly & bad the way Shawn Bradley use to at times. He rarely looks fluid in the post and he rarely gets his shoulder square with the basket before he shoots, like ya know pretty much any NBA player who has ever shot a fadeaway.
When Charles & Shaq are talking about KP going into the post more, I'm like have you seen how bad this guy looks in the post?
And KP rushes shots too much. On the brightside, he doesn't lack confidence, which is fantastic & he's been coming around on that as the season has progressed (minus the 10 game setback). He also has really come forward on putting the ball on the floor & getting to the basket. To me that's his form of posting up. There isn't a defender quick enough & long enough to keep him from getting that long body into the paint and either shooting a layup or a floater. It hasn't always been effective, but it's what you want to see from a big. Dirk was a master at that. You can't just be a 3 point shooter & KP's continued to improve on that.
I think what a lot of people are wondering is where are the Luka "makes the game easier" for KP assists? Where are those???
People are talking like you can just pass the ball off to KP & that's it. Not for a great player. If you're a creator, or suppose to be, on the level of LeBron/Kidd/Nash/Magic/etc... then you are suppose to get your teammates easy baskets.
It's not happening, not near to the level it's suppose to for a guy (Luka) who is much ballyhooed for the playmaker, creates for teammates narrative. What you do see is plenty of opportunities for Luka to work something to KP & it winds being 10 seconds of Luka dribble, dribble, dribble, heave a 27 foot stepback 3 that bricks. One time a game of that is one time too many, but we're seeing it one time a quarter, if not more often some games. Sure, Luka is young & all of that, and the only way for him to improve that shot is to take it & make it more often... but, I don't have any problem with folks pointing that out.
At the end of the day, I look at KP, and I think there's a reason this guy is being paid like a max player. Powell is an $11 mil a year player, but the Mavs are using him in the PnR with Luka over KP. It's probably more effective than KP is right now, but that's not what we were told at the beginning of the season. Cuban told us Luka & KP can be the next Dirk & Nash, but we haven't even seen them really get to work on that. There's been limited progress at best.
I just think the ceiling for Luka & KP on PnRs Pick n Pops is so much higher than Luka & Powell that it's a crime not to start developing it. The fruits of that labor would be more easy baskets, created by Luka, but it just rarely happens.
