Around the NBA: Hezi vs Melo

[El Poochio]

Ofc LaMelo and Bridges (either one would do) the duo I wanted in MSG

[Rasho Brezec]

Doncic leads the league in potential assists per game and is only 3rd in actual assists (and they're given out pretty generously).

A lot of people in Dallas aren't doing their jobs.

Well, if he shot better than 20% on catch-and-shoot 3s, maybe Luka could play off-ball more and improve their offense while allowing other teammates to eat by sharing more on-ball responsibilities.

Doncic averaging a 35.5% usage rate is not healthy and not conducive to team basketball. To some extent, it's a byproduct of his inability to shoot and play off-ball just as much as his genius as a playmaker.

Yes, Mavs should take the ball out of Doncic's hands and play him off-ball so Tim Hardaway Jr and Wes Iwundu can dribble a bit.

[3toheadmelo]

Not denying Luka’s obvious talent but I think a significant part of his success is that Mavs really put him in a position to succeed individually. They were hiding him at PF (or at least the weakest offensive player of the opposing team) at the start of his career and removed guys on that the team that were hindering him. The most telling sign was how angry Cuban was when DeAndre stole a rebound from Luka.

Yeah a lot of his stats are kinda empty.

Even though Ayton isn’t a better player, I said that the Suns will have a better record than a Luka led Mavs team. He plays defense unlike Luka. All the Luka stans here came at me but so far my hot take is looking great

Doncic has a higher usage rate than LeBron has ever had in his career. It's not conducive to team basketball.

The only way I want to play next to a guy like him or Beal who just dominate the ball is if they can take me to the playoffs, like Jordan or LeBron. If nobody's eating and the team is losing, there's probably not gonna be a lot of positive energy in that locker room.

Sounds a lot like this guy

[Chanel Bomber]

Doncic leads the league in potential assists per game and is only 3rd in actual assists (and they're given out pretty generously).

A lot of people in Dallas aren't doing their jobs.

Well, if he shot better than 20% on catch-and-shoot 3s, maybe Luka could play off-ball more and improve their offense while allowing other teammates to eat by sharing more on-ball responsibilities.

Doncic averaging a 35.5% usage rate is not healthy and not conducive to team basketball. To some extent, it's a byproduct of his inability to shoot and play off-ball just as much as his genius as a playmaker.

Yes, Mavs should take the ball out of Doncic's hands and play him off-ball so Tim Hardaway Jr and Wes Iwundu can dribble a bit.

A 35.5 usage rate is not healthy. You don't want to have one player use the ball so much, unless it's LeBron or Jordan and Doncic simply isn't on their level, and there's no shame in that.

It's a team sport.

Luka needs to improve his shooting to help his team more and get his teammates more involved in the offense instead of reducing them to spot-up shooters.

I'm not denying that the Mavericks roster is flawed. But they're not playing team ball.

[god shammgod]

it is a pretty horrible roster if kp doesn't play well. would you want to start anyone from that roster on the knicks ? i'm not even sure i'd be that thrilled with anyone there off the bench.

[Juco24]

Not denying Luka’s obvious talent but I think a significant part of his success is that Mavs really put him in a position to succeed individually. They were hiding him at PF (or at least the weakest offensive player of the opposing team) at the start of his career and removed guys on that the team that were hindering him. The most telling sign was how angry Cuban was when DeAndre stole a rebound from Luka.

Yeah a lot of his stats are kinda empty.

Even though Ayton isn’t a better player, I said that the Suns will have a better record than a Luka led Mavs team. He plays defense unlike Luka. All the Luka stans here came at me but so far my hot take is looking great

Doncic has a higher usage rate than LeBron has ever had in his career. It's not conducive to team basketball.

The only way I want to play next to a guy like him or Beal who just dominate the ball is if they can take me to the playoffs, like Jordan or LeBron. If nobody's eating and the team is losing, there's probably not gonna be a lot of positive energy in that locker room.

That's actually a very good point... Luka is a prima donna and I would think that his teammates would grow tired of the act, especially if they're losing. Add in Brickstaps and his glorified view of himself and WOW

[El Poochio]

Sucks to not being able to vote for RJ Quickley LaMelo together

How is LaMelo leading the league in rebounding but not be frontcourt player

[El Poochio]

it is a pretty horrible roster if kp doesn't play well. would you want to start anyone from that roster on the knicks ? i'm not even sure i'd be that thrilled with anyone there off the bench.

Bring Brunson home

[Jethrobodine123]

Read on Twitter

Not denying Luka’s obvious talent but I think a significant part of his success is that Mavs really put him in a position to succeed individually. They were hiding him at PF (or at least the weakest offensive player of the opposing team) at the start of his career and removed guys on that the team that were hindering him. The most telling sign was how angry Cuban was when DeAndre stole a rebound from Luka.

Yeah a lot of his stats are kinda empty.

Even though Ayton isn’t a better player, I said that the Suns will have a better record than a Luka led Mavs team. He plays defense unlike Luka. All the Luka stans here came at me but so far my hot take is looking great

A few things I've observed is that some of Doncic's stats are inflated somewhat, a good example is his rebounding numbers, he's an excellent rebounder, has a nose for the ball and all, however, all the bigs let him grab the rebound because he's always going towards the basket after the other team takes a shot. I would estimate it adds 3-4 rebounds per game easily.

Also, I’ve been noticing that there seems to be some issues between Doncic and KP, I don’t know if they don’t like playing with each other, don’t get along, or what the problem is but it looks to me like there could be a problem with the two of them. When you’re winning it’s something that can go away but if you begin to lose, it can rear it’s ugly head. Maybe I’m wrong but I’ve played enough big time sports to have a pretty good read on such things.


The Mavs certainly can turn it around and wouldn’t be surprised if they did. However, they need to get it done tout de suite. Good for the Knicks if they don’t though, no doubt.

J

[Juco24]

it is a pretty horrible roster if kp doesn't play well. would you want to start anyone from that roster on the knicks ? i'm not even sure i'd be that thrilled with anyone there off the bench.

That's exactly what I said during the offseason and some posters here thought I was way off. It's evident that this roster is just not good. THJ, Powell, Burke, Johnson, the great Barjonavic... uugghhh

[god shammgod]

it is a pretty horrible roster if kp doesn't play well. would you want to start anyone from that roster on the knicks ? i'm not even sure i'd be that thrilled with anyone there off the bench.

That's exactly what I said during the offseason and some posters here thought I was way off. It's evident that this roster is just not good. THJ, Powell, Burke, Johnson, the great Barjonavic... uugghhh

i think part of it is they're planning to have cap room this summer but the free agent market that was once thought to be great is pretty barren now.

[NYKnickerbocker]

it is a pretty horrible roster if kp doesn't play well. would you want to start anyone from that roster on the knicks ? i'm not even sure i'd be that thrilled with anyone there off the bench.

Lol it’s been so long since we could at least contemplate saying something like this lmao. Now you can actually just say it lol

But yea the mavs messed up. There’s no other real playmaker there besides Luka. Everyone else are just floor spacers or finishers to pad Lukas assist

[Rasho Brezec]

Well, if he shot better than 20% on catch-and-shoot 3s, maybe Luka could play off-ball more and improve their offense while allowing other teammates to eat by sharing more on-ball responsibilities.

Doncic averaging a 35.5% usage rate is not healthy and not conducive to team basketball. To some extent, it's a byproduct of his inability to shoot and play off-ball just as much as his genius as a playmaker.

Yes, Mavs should take the ball out of Doncic's hands and play him off-ball so Tim Hardaway Jr and Wes Iwundu can dribble a bit.

A 35.5 usage rate is not healthy. You don't want to have one player use the ball so much, unless it's LeBron or Jordan and Doncic simply isn't on their level, and there's no shame in that.

It's a team sport.

Luka needs to improve his shooting to help his team more and get his teammates more involved in the offense instead of reducing them to spot-up shooters.

I'm not denying that the Mavericks roster is flawed. But they're not playing team ball.

Again.

Why give the ball to someone who doesn't know what to do with it? For some romanticized version of team ball?

That's like saying Knicks should give less minutes to Mitchell Robinson in favour of Taj Gibson because it's conducive to team basketball.

[Chanel Bomber]

Yes, Mavs should take the ball out of Doncic's hands and play him off-ball so Tim Hardaway Jr and Wes Iwundu can dribble a bit.

A 35.5 usage rate is not healthy. You don't want to have one player use the ball so much, unless it's LeBron or Jordan and Doncic simply isn't on their level, and there's no shame in that.

It's a team sport.

Luka needs to improve his shooting to help his team more and get his teammates more involved in the offense instead of reducing them to spot-up shooters.

I'm not denying that the Mavericks roster is flawed. But they're not playing team ball.

Again.

Why give the ball to someone who doesn't know what to do with it? For some romanticized version of team ball?

That's like saying Knicks should give less minutes to Mitchell Robinson in favour of Taj Gibson because it's conducive to team basketball.

Tim Hardaway is by no means a great player, but he can run the pick-and-roll. The Mavericks could have him run the pick-and-roll more often and play Luka off-ball a little bit more if he were a better shooter. The issue is that Luka's achilles heel is his jumpshot and it hasn't improved significantly since his rookie year.

Before you consider twisting my words, I'm not saying the Mavs should play Luka off the ball. Just that it would help the team if he were a more competent spot-up shooter that would enable to have teammates initiate a little bit more and lower his usage rate to a more reasonable percentage (low 30s). This would have a more integrating effect on the offense.

But your boy is not a good shooter right now so it has a limiting effect on Dallas's offense. It forces him to stay on ball.

Your analogy with Mitchell Robinson and Taj Gibson is not only a straw man, it makes no sense whatsoever.

[2010]

Doncic leads the league in potential assists per game and is only 3rd in actual assists (and they're given out pretty generously).

A lot of people in Dallas aren't doing their jobs.

Spoiler:

[Rasho Brezec]

A 35.5 usage rate is not healthy. You don't want to have one player use the ball so much, unless it's LeBron or Jordan and Doncic simply isn't on their level, and there's no shame in that.

It's a team sport.

Luka needs to improve his shooting to help his team more and get his teammates more involved in the offense instead of reducing them to spot-up shooters.

I'm not denying that the Mavericks roster is flawed. But they're not playing team ball.

Again.

Why give the ball to someone who doesn't know what to do with it? For some romanticized version of team ball?

That's like saying Knicks should give less minutes to Mitchell Robinson in favour of Taj Gibson because it's conducive to team basketball.

Tim Hardaway is by no means a great player, but he can run the pick-and-roll. The Mavericks could have him run the pick-and-roll more often and play Luka off-ball a little bit more if he were a better shooter. The issue is that Luka's achilles heel is his jumpshot and it hasn't improved significantly since his rookie year.

Before you consider twisting my words, I'm not saying the Mavs should play Luka off the ball. Just that it would help the team if he were a more competent spot-up shooter that would enable to have teammates initiate a little bit more and lower his usage rate to a more reasonable percentage (low 30s). This would have a more integrating effect on the offense.

But your boy is not a good shooter right now so it has a limiting effect on Dallas's offense. It forces him to stay on ball.

Your analogy with Mitchell Robinson and Taj Gibson is not only a straw man, it makes no sense whatsoever.

Usage rate is a bad statistic to use for what you're trying to make into an issue, because it takes into account FG attempts, FT attempts and turnovers. A ballhandling PG that doesn't shoot much might have a low usage rate, but would still dominate the ball.

What you want to look at is touches per game.

There's 4 guys ahead of Doncic in touches per game and he scores more points per touch than all of them. So it's still the best idea for the Mavs to give him the ball.

[islanders11040]

Mavs really don’t have as much time as we may think. They finished January 7-9 in 16 games (1 game was postponed). They have 14 games left in February and just 2 in March (3 if they make up the postponement). That’s it. They’re fighting for their playoff lives rn. Another 5 game losing streak and they ain’t even making the play-in.

you know there are gonna come out with the schedule for the 2nd half of the season, right? The season is gonna be 72 games. I think they only released the 1st half of it.

[evevale]

I hope DSJ kills it in the G-league. He's been one of the forgotten storylines this season and hasn't been given any chances despite Payton being trash

[Tron Carter]

Mavs really don’t have as much time as we may think. They finished January 7-9 in 16 games (1 game was postponed). They have 14 games left in February and just 2 in March (3 if they make up the postponement). That’s it. They’re fighting for their playoff lives rn. Another 5 game losing streak and they ain’t even making the play-in.

you know there are gonna come out with the schedule for the 2nd half of the season, right? The season is gonna be 72 games. I think they only released the 1st half of it.

I thought the season felt really short lmao. I didn’t know that good looks

[Chanel Bomber]

I need Utah to get back in this game so King Jok has to play all 4 quarters and get a 50 piece.