Luka & KP Chemistry issues

[BlueSan]

So yeah what is going on in your opinion?

Something is not ok. 100% sure about it after KP's last interview and his answer to the question....

[Mavrelous]

It's been clear for some time now, he was talking about lack of ball movement, IIRC he played s gzme without Luka, put up big numbers and the team won.
Happy or not, I prefer he plays, show what he got, winning solves chemistry issues, if not, he'd be easier to trade, because in his normal form, he's a 20/10 big and alters many shots on defense, he should be hot commodity

[Mr B]

I think first it’s because they need to play more games together. An alpha learning to play with supporting (less talented) players can be easier than an alpha learning to play with another alpha. One of them is going to have to take a secondary role.

Luka is clearly the better player and KP might have some trouble adjusting to that. Every team he’s ever been on he’s been the #1 player. Now he’s trying to figure out how to be the #2 guy. Luka also has to learn that there will be times he will have to reign his game back in order to get KP going.

The longer these two play together the better they will be. The key though is KP has to stay on the court.


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[JD45]

While Luka has a very mature and sophisticated set of skills, I think he is an immature person. He doesn't manage the game in a very sophisticated way. (And certainly not the refs.) He can do so much in the game, its easy to overlook how young he is. He needs to do a better job of managing the offense, especially in late game. He tries to do too much on his own instead of finding the most efficient scoring option each time. I think that is really the source of the tension. KP is a prideful person and isn't being used to his full capabilities. So he is reacting in his own petulant way.

Both of them need to grow up a little bit. And the Head Coach is the one who needs to take charge and get them working together.

[dirkforpres]

Not a shock to anyone who has watched the Mavs since KP came back.

Same thing that happened when Dennis Smith was here. It’s Luka’s team, but KP is struggling to accept that. I hope Dallas is able to trade him this summer, it’s best for both parties (assuming he nets a solid return)

[Bluelabel24]

to better understand this.. i try putting myself in their shoes.
imagine being Luka, you play your heart out everytime you step on the court. hes not thinking about anything else aside from winning. he is willing to take contact even from big guys, whenever he pump fakes and gets his opponent in the air he draws the contact without fear even at the risk of injury. i remember last season a close up pic of luka in game and you can see his arms filled with gnarly scathes and bruises. i think its reasonable to expect the same from your teammates.

now.. imagine being KP, having dealt with a career threatening injury a few years back would definitely take a big toll mentally. Ive watched him since his NYK days and his game drastically changed. he wants to win but hes also focused on preserving his career, have you guys even seen him draw(contact)a foul after getting his defender in the air? his body language is so soft out there.. and tbh i dont blame him, we would probably be doing the same if we were in that situation.. what would be reasonable at this point is expect him to exploit huge mismatches out there and not have him taken out.. (like the boston game) me personally im not expecting him to be embiid out there and bang with the bigs but atleast take advantage and man up if you got a guard like conley,hill,or lillard out there. that kind of mismatch cant be excused with the injury.

im a huge fan of both and hope they work it out real soon. Carlisle should be showing them Duncan/parker plays.

[Mavrelous]

Yeah, it's frustrating because of KP potential to be dominant, Luka needs to be smarter leader and KP should be more mature, they say you need to feed your big man for a reason, the guard has the ball and he should share it, RC should also step in.

[Bob8]

KP will never be great Nba player without being dominant in D. And Luka cannot help him there. Luka can feed him with long open 3s, but what is really a point doing that, if others can hit open 3s with the same % or better? Luka can give him ball to shoot midrange shots over his defender, but again in what way are those shots more efficient than other plays Mavs are playing? A big who plays like KP is not unicorn but SF hidden in a 7'3 body. KP should have been unique player because of his mobility In that big body, unfortunately he's not using his high advantage enough and that's not Luka's fault.

In the moment a star and a max player starts talking how it's other people fault that he's not playing like a star, you know he's not a star. Stars don't need others to help them. KP scoring 20 points and dominating in D would have been top10 player easily and he doesn't need babysitting from Luka to do that.

KP has 16.3 shots attempted, Jokic 18.3, Embiid 17.9, Adebayo 12.8, Gobert 8.9, Ayton 10.5... Should KP really shooting that much more, knowing that he has far the worst efficiency of all of them?

[41Dirk41]

"The Unicorn ideal" is always been charming... But on the court the things are way different.

[Apz]

Good rebounding game. Its a start

[Jethrobodine123]

While Luka has a very mature and sophisticated set of skills, I think he is an immature person. He doesn't manage the game in a very sophisticated way. (And certainly not the refs.) He can do so much in the game, its easy to overlook how young he is. He needs to do a better job of managing the offense, especially in late game. He tries to do too much on his own instead of finding the most efficient scoring option each time. I think that is really the source of the tension. KP is a prideful person and isn't being used to his full capabilities. So he is reacting in his own petulant way.

Both of them need to grow up a little bit. And the Head Coach is the one who needs to take charge and get them working together.

I agree this is certainly a factor in what's going on. There's certainly some immaturity there, but I also see someone who begins to believe the hype and is a bit too concerned about the numbers and stats that everyone throws around in the NBA. The triple double one is a good example. Last game they got up 12-14 points with a minute and a half to go, the Bucs put in their third string giving up on the game. Rick did the same except there was one starter on the floor, that was Luka and I thought to myself why would you risk injury in that situation, I looked at the box scores and he had 9 assists and 9 rebounds. Obviously, the triple double was a factor. See to me that is crazy.

The other thing with Luka is that he complains WAY WAY too much, to the point of being ridiculous. He's got to channel that back, big time. I know he's got a serious competitive streak in him and that's what makes him such a great player but he makes those European soccer players look tame in comparison.

J

[BlueSan]

The tripple double thing is nonesense. Even Luka himself you can see he is not chasing them.
Whining to the refs, I agree. For god's sake 12 technicals? That's a NBA record this season?
But otherwise it is rare the guy is selfish, at least for a superstar. He has a very LeBron like approach to it. He wants to win and if you are wide open he'll share the ball. But to be a superstar you also have to be unpredictable and agressive. You sometimes need to "force" it, to keep opponents guessing and not set traps for you to fall into.
I love it when he drives, but most of the people here forget how physically challenging that is on that level.

Utah Jazz is a team which has problems with chemistry of their big two duo. They are doing surprisingly well. But Gobert and Mitchell are not fond of eachother, however good chemistry is still very important and will bring you to the next level basketball wise. So I agree first chance you have of trading Porzingis, I think you do it, also because of health risks.

[Heezzi]

Not a shock to anyone who has watched the Mavs since KP came back.

Same thing that happened when Dennis Smith was here. It’s Luka’s team, but KP is struggling to accept that. I hope Dallas is able to trade him this summer, it’s best for both parties (assuming he nets a solid return)

KP was completely frozen out.

It's not about whose team it is, it's about smart basketball.. If you have 5 players, and you keep throwing it to players who are missing shots or shooting when you are off but the player that had you in the game doesn't touch the ball, there is a problem.

[JD45]

I think one way for the coaching staff to handle the issue is to set goals for each player.

Luka's goals should be to average more than 10 assists per game and make KP the Mavs leading scorer. (And in the process push Luka's scoring efficiency to Brunson levels.)

KP's goals should be to add size and strength over the offseason as well as a better game in the paint so he can easily exploit size mismatches.

Luka is a very gifted passer but I think most of his assists are just the natural outcome of his scoring efforts. He could do more to consciously set others up as the goal of the play instead of as the secondary option.

KP seems to want to play off the dribble. Which he can against other Cs. But right now, putting a wing player on him negates that option and he can't easily make them pay for the size mismatch. He doesn't have to be Shaq down low, but he has the ability to be an impossible matchup. Wings and guards shouldn't be able to stop him in the paint, and Center's can't stay with him on the perimeter.
That's the dream of the Luka/KP combo. KP is an impossible matchup and Luka sets him up over and over and cashes in layups for himself.

[BlueSan]

Guys who can copy paste Townsend's article here for us to read?

Rick mentioned it in his press conference.

[Archx]

Guys who can copy paste Townsend's article here for us to read?

Rick mentioned it in his press conference.

I believe you wanted this one.

Read on Twitter

[Archx]

I think one way for the coaching staff to handle the issue is to set goals for each player.

Luka's goals should be to average more than 10 assists per game and make KP the Mavs leading scorer. (And in the process push Luka's scoring efficiency to Brunson levels.)

KP's goals should be to add size and strength over the offseason as well as a better game in the paint so he can easily exploit size mismatches.

Luka is a very gifted passer but I think most of his assists are just the natural outcome of his scoring efforts. He could do more to consciously set others up as the goal of the play instead of as the secondary option.

KP seems to want to play off the dribble. Which he can against other Cs. But right now, putting a wing player on him negates that option and he can't easily make them pay for the size mismatch. He doesn't have to be Shaq down low, but he has the ability to be an impossible matchup. Wings and guards shouldn't be able to stop him in the paint, and Center's can't stay with him on the perimeter.
That's the dream of the Luka/KP combo. KP is an impossible matchup and Luka sets him up over and over and cashes in layups for himself.

KP is not Dirk, will never happen. KP being the primary focus on offense is a terrible idea, he can't even hold his own against smaller guards. If Luka becomes what you want, then people will start complaining how he should do more.

[Mr B]

I became a fan during the 3 J’s era. Luka and KP’s issues are nowhere near as bad as it was with Kidd and Jim Jackson. Jackson was jealous of Kidd on the court and Kidd was jealous of Jackson off of it. They had real personal issues between them. KP and Luka’s issues appear to be strictly on the court and should be able to be repaired with more playing time together.


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[DrPampiloni]

Not a shock to anyone who has watched the Mavs since KP came back.

Same thing that happened when Dennis Smith was here. It’s Luka’s team, but KP is struggling to accept that. I hope Dallas is able to trade him this summer, it’s best for both parties (assuming he nets a solid return)

Rumour has it you need at least two superstars to win in this league. If they trade KP (or the next potential superstars) because this "is Luka's team" every time they are going stay a 7-8 seed for a very long time. KP is playing great as of late and I see absolutely zero reason to give up on him that easily. Fans who want to pull the trigger so easily on trading that kind of player must be new to being Mavs fans. They simply do not get superstars that easily in Dallas.

[BlueSan]

Guys who can copy paste Townsend's article here for us to read?

Rick mentioned it in his press conference.

I believe you wanted this one.

Read on Twitter

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