Luka & KP Chemistry issues

[tleikheen]

Ive never seen a KP/Luka problem ....I see a little 3 problem every game ( Kleber,DFS,Richardson).They are a drag on the offense and Dallas is trying to win with only 2 reliable scorers in the starting unit and KP is wrongfully targeted for this problem.
Dallas needs a big three not the little 3. Denver lost Murray taking away from (Jokic,MPJ Murray ) big 3 and immediately (Jokic,MPJ,Gordon) become their big 3 . To me Cuban and the Mavs whiffed on the trade deadline and didnt address this problem and very few people think Mavs are gonna make much noise in the playoffs .

[BlueSan]

No in this case Porzingis is special. I am not speaking of eye test stuff I am talking about serious exploits
picks and roll disaster etc

[MrOrange]

No in this case Porzingis is special. I am not speaking of eye test stuff I am talking about serious exploits
picks and roll disaster etc

Name a big in this league who can guard a pick and roll without help. Even Gobert has been exploited on P'n roll time and time again in the course of his career, especially come PO time. P'n roll D starts at the perimeter. Textbook.
Edit: This not to say that KP has not been worse on D this year than before. And the reason for this is known to everyone: he came in after surgery and was not physically prepared yet. There is a very good RC's explanation of the issue when he talked about KP's difficulties of keeping a defensive stance. Can be found somewhere on YT. Why they decided on surgery so late is up to them, but in absolutely most cases meniscus issues require surgery.

[BlueSan]

I am not saying it is not logical for him to have problems.
I am saying he is causing serious problems to the entire team that opponents are exploiting strategically in an extreme fashion.

There is no fluke why against Grizzlies Dallas's defense was atrocious and a big chunk of it was Porzingis's fault.

Let us go just by the highlight reel

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=MLGHighlights

1. 0:38
Maxi sprinting towards a Valančiunas vs Porzingis match up as if Jordan himself is getting the ball in an ISO situation?
Coincidence? No -> by design and as per instruction
Result? Maxi's assigment wide open on a 3 -> results in a bucket for 2

2. 1:07
Not Porzingis's fault for a basket or anything but I beg you to check the situation
a) Valančiunas was again free after a block to be fed if needed
b) Porzingis was in a semi stance, not using his toes but instead on his heels backpaddling
c) After a shot, pathetic positioning and attempt to get a rebound

3. 3:03
Porzingis switch -> stuck in no man's land = easy bank shot for Memphis

4. 4:23
You could say he got in jail after poor team defending but again no man's land and easy bucket, no resistance commitment whatsoever

5. 5:04
No idea what is with that contest...check the action and watch for yourself the positioning, urgency and "contest" to block with his height and reach. None...

6. 5:17
Positioning, fight for position under the basket... terrible. Lithuanian is stronger, so no worries there, his positioning urgency to get into a better position however = terrible.
Results in a bucket after he is picking his ass from the floor

7. 5:32
Again not his fault for the general problem, but his reaction to solve it and to do anything about Morant.... Get out of the way is the choice = approach

8. 6:27
Again terrible positioning

9. 7:26
No man's land -> no reaction to Ja, but also not in any better position for a rebound which is even worse...

10. 8:11
Again just backpaddling no man's land easy pass easy basket

11. 8:17
Again he causes the defense to colapse
a) Doesnt step up to defend
b) retreats to cover the Lithuanian who is already covered by Maxi - leaving the wide open 3

And these are just highlight situation. Actual game had many many more.

What I like about him.
He often tries

What I dont like?
1. Not on his toes for majority of the times
2. Backpaddling, stuck in no man's land 10000 times per game
3. Extremely week and poor positioning for the rebounds
4. Extremely bad reactions to PnR situations
5. Bad at switches
6. Bad anticipation
7. Lack of contesting
8. Lack of strength needed to fight his way for spots
9. Lack of speed to follow, contest, cause problems

But thank god he at least tries, cause otherwise it would be nightmarish. And yes he is extremely bad. Extremely...

[Phish Tank]

KP's playing the best basketball on the offensive end that he's ever played so far in his young career. A lot of that was due to simplifying his duties on offense -> more shots in the paint, less midrange, fewer FT attempts. That - in turn - has allowed him to feast in P&R and P&P situations.

I guess part of the tradeoff is that his role has somewhat restricted what he used to like to do - which was be like Melo/KD and isolate. That's pretty much gone now. His FT attempts are the lowest it's ever been, and will remain that way while he's with Luka.

Health is a worry.... the defense scares me though because I don't know if he'll regain the burst and lateral movement that made him such a unicorn on the floor in the first place.

[Archx]

KP's playing the best basketball on the offensive end that he's ever played so far in his young career. A lot of that was due to simplifying his duties on offense -> more shots in the paint, less midrange, fewer FT attempts. That - in turn - has allowed him to feast in P&R and P&P situations.

I guess part of the tradeoff is that his role has somewhat restricted what he used to like to do - which was be like Melo/KD and isolate. That's pretty much gone now. His FT attempts are the lowest it's ever been, and will remain that way while he's with Luka.

Health is a worry.... the defense scares me though because I don't know if he'll regain the burst and lateral movement that made him such a unicorn on the floor in the first place.

This is a nice post and i agree with you. Even in the bubble he looked like a monster on defense and people noticed he often looked like a DPOY.
But it's not just his knee, it's like he lost all his IQ how to position himself only in couple of months. I also understand part of that could be the discomfort because of the injury and wants to take it a bit more easy but that's obviously a huge problem for the Mavs. If Maxi is not playing 100%, which i believe he is not because of COVID, Mavs literally have no real rim/paint protectors. I think KP's health moving forward will be much more impactful on defense than offense.

[Bluelabel24]

KP's playing the best basketball on the offensive end that he's ever played so far in his young career. A lot of that was due to simplifying his duties on offense -> more shots in the paint, less midrange, fewer FT attempts. That - in turn - has allowed him to feast in P&R and P&P situations.

I guess part of the tradeoff is that his role has somewhat restricted what he used to like to do - which was be like Melo/KD and isolate. That's pretty much gone now. His FT attempts are the lowest it's ever been, and will remain that way while he's with Luka.

Health is a worry.... the defense scares me though because I don't know if he'll regain the burst and lateral movement that made him such a unicorn on the floor in the first place.

This is a nice post and i agree with you. Even in the bubble he looked like a monster on defense and people noticed he often looked like a DPOY.
But it's not just his knee, it's like he lost all his IQ how to position himself only in couple of months. I also understand part of that could be the discomfort because of the injury and wants to take it a bit more easy but that's obviously a huge problem for the Mavs. If Maxi is not playing 100%, which i believe he is not because of COVID, Mavs literally have no real rim/paint protectors. I think KP's health moving forward will be much more impactful on defense than offense.

agree with this.. most of my criticism of KP is on the defensive end. he lets bad shooting nights dictate his whole game, which shouldn't be the case. It should not matter if your perfect 10/10 or 0/10 the defensive effort is something you can control night in night out. which is why one of my fave games is when Melli shot 0/7 just so we have something to show KP.
imo there isnt much issue personally with luka. I think even if KP is playing with other young stars like Booker or Morant for example hed have the same issues we are seeing now. hes just gotten so scared to put his body on the line out there( although past few games hes been improving). His body language out there's like,"i cant set a good screen i might get injured", "cant draw contact from defender in the air might get injured". He has to find the balance between careful/smart and scared/soft.

[Bluelabel24]

No in this case Porzingis is special. I am not speaking of eye test stuff I am talking about serious exploits
picks and roll disaster etc

if us mavs fans can see this imagine our opponents coaching staff. imo thats where the red flag is. I remember a few months ago the commentator of our opponent pointed out KPs issues and its becoming so blatant past few months. He is in some way giving the idea on how to guard/contain him. even in the playoffs one hard bump or box out and its possible that would affect him for days.

[BlueSan]

It was again extremely bad...

[MrOrange]

I am not saying it is not logical for him to have problems.
I am saying he is causing serious problems to the entire team that opponents are exploiting strategically in an extreme fashion.

There is no fluke why against Grizzlies Dallas's defense was atrocious and a big chunk of it was Porzingis's fault.

Let us go just by the highlight reel

Watch on YouTube

;ab_channel=MLGHighlights

1. 0:38
Maxi sprinting towards a Valančiunas vs Porzingis match up as if Jordan himself is getting the ball in an ISO situation?
Coincidence? No -> by design and as per instruction
Result? Maxi's assigment wide open on a 3 -> results in a bucket for 2

2. 1:07
Not Porzingis's fault for a basket or anything but I beg you to check the situation
a) Valančiunas was again free after a block to be fed if needed
b) Porzingis was in a semi stance, not using his toes but instead on his heels backpaddling
c) After a shot, pathetic positioning and attempt to get a rebound

3. 3:03
Porzingis switch -> stuck in no man's land = easy bank shot for Memphis

4. 4:23
You could say he got in jail after poor team defending but again no man's land and easy bucket, no resistance commitment whatsoever

5. 5:04
No idea what is with that contest...check the action and watch for yourself the positioning, urgency and "contest" to block with his height and reach. None...

6. 5:17
Positioning, fight for position under the basket... terrible. Lithuanian is stronger, so no worries there, his positioning urgency to get into a better position however = terrible.
Results in a bucket after he is picking his ass from the floor

7. 5:32
Again not his fault for the general problem, but his reaction to solve it and to do anything about Morant.... Get out of the way is the choice = approach

8. 6:27
Again terrible positioning

9. 7:26
No man's land -> no reaction to Ja, but also not in any better position for a rebound which is even worse...

10. 8:11
Again just backpaddling no man's land easy pass easy basket

11. 8:17
Again he causes the defense to colapse
a) Doesnt step up to defend
b) retreats to cover the Lithuanian who is already covered by Maxi - leaving the wide open 3

And these are just highlight situation. Actual game had many many more.

What I like about him.
He often tries

What I dont like?
1. Not on his toes for majority of the times
2. Backpaddling, stuck in no man's land 10000 times per game
3. Extremely week and poor positioning for the rebounds
4. Extremely bad reactions to PnR situations
5. Bad at switches
6. Bad anticipation
7. Lack of contesting
8. Lack of strength needed to fight his way for spots
9. Lack of speed to follow, contest, cause problems

But thank god he at least tries, cause otherwise it would be nightmarish. And yes he is extremely bad. Extremely...

Most of them are valid observations. I would add No. 10 as one of the key reasons for the rest of the 9: the general lack of physicality/poor conditioning at the moment. Also, he needs to be cemented at C on D without having to chase opponents around the court. On offence, it is much more flexible position-wise. This is when it has worked for the best both with Mavs and NYK. But no, I cannot agree on P'N'R defence. The culprits for poorly defending low P'N"R-s are always the guys who let their opponent by on the perimeter. On any team.

[BlueSan]

They may cause a problem but a good defender will still make the best out of 2vs 1 situation and so on. This guy does the absolutely worst thing, that they teach you never to do...

Which is nothing. Commit to one or the other option, but never do nothing...

[Mr B]

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