Luka Doncic off to an underwhelming start to the season

[guille_4]

Despite going 4-2 in the first 6 games, Luka has been playing rather poorly so far.

He is averaging 22.5 points on 20.7 FG attempts (49.5% TS%), shooting his lowest percentages across the board since joining the league (42.7% 2PT%, 23.8% 3PT% and 67.9% FT%). His assists are also down, as is his offensive rebounding and his FT rate. He hasn't cut his TOs.

Looking at advanced stats, his WS/48 is only .052, Dallas is -11.9 per 100 possessions when he's on the court and his on-off is -25.4 per 100 possessions.

Yes, it's a small sample size, but it's also been a very easy schedule so far.

What are your thoughts? I've only been able to catch the Kings-Mavs game.

[Mavrelous]

The on/off is a small sample size, he was part of the blow outs in ATL and DEN, and part of the unit that went down 20 against the Spurs.
Assists are down because of the bricking of his teammates, Mavs are missing wide open shots.
We are used to him starting the season slow shooting, same last year, in fact, his amazing accuracy on step backs wasn't seen until the PO, the offense is lots of trial and error right now.
It's been a disappointing start, Mavs were saved by the easy schedule, but I'm confident the offense will pick up later, defense has been greatly improved in general, and Luka in particular.

[Archx]

One of the reasons for that is piss poor play from the entire starting unit on offense, KP included. Statistically Mavs are taking better and easier shots than they did during RC era but they were up to this point 2nd worst offensive team in the league. Sure Doncic's traditional slow starts have something to do with it, but simply said, Mavs were the worst shooting team in the league before Kings game. (Didn't check updated stats).

Last two games Kidd started spacing out offense a bit better and he's letting Luka be more himself. Offense is slowly improving but i'm curious how it will work when KP gets back and starts forcing his post game more.

Luka has 3rd best assist % in the league right now and yet they are horrible, he is 2nd in potential assists at almost 18 per game and yet he is only 9th in the league in APG.

So bottom line is, once the team starts shooting better, %'s will balance out and everyone will look better aswell.

[Darren]

Luka has to serve as a head coach. It takes time.

[Apz]

He has had ups and downs, as the rest of the team. Its not like he been horrible

[HairyGOATee]

A lot of changes have affected him. F/O, Coaching staff, Roster, and then rule changes. But he's starting to settle in. It's still early. He'll be fine.

[dirkdiggler4177]

Its not about how you start, but how you finish. Just look at last season.

[leolozon]

He has had ups and downs, as the rest of the team. Its not like he been horrible

49.5 TS% is pretty horrible.

Let's see how the rest of the season goes, I'm assuming way better, but it's been 3 off season that what he has to work on is shooting.

[Apz]

He has had ups and downs, as the rest of the team. Its not like he been horrible

49.5 TS% is pretty horrible.

Let's see how the rest of the season goes, I'm assuming way better, but it's been 3 off season that what he has to work on is shooting.

And if other been in form he would have had 15-16 assists /game together with his points, would it still been horrible?

[41Dirk41]

Not the best start of his career but when Dallas won is because Luka.
Play with guys who shoots 20% wide open and can't dribble or pass doesn't help for sure... maybe a not so special year for Luka could help Cuban and others to understand how bad is this roster.

He carried this team to a game 7 against full talented Clippers squad. Incredible.

[agentofatlas]

The only thing that concerns me about Luka this season is his FT percentage. He just leaves so many points off the board and will probably bite the team in the ass during close games. He really needs to up that to 80-85%.

[Bob8]

He has had ups and downs, as the rest of the team. Its not like he been horrible

49.5 TS% is pretty horrible.

Let's see how the rest of the season goes, I'm assuming way better, but it's been 3 off season that what he has to work on is shooting.

He didn’t have offseason this year. He went directly to play for NT after playoffs.

[leolozon]

He has had ups and downs, as the rest of the team. Its not like he been horrible

49.5 TS% is pretty horrible.

Let's see how the rest of the season goes, I'm assuming way better, but it's been 3 off season that what he has to work on is shooting.

And if other been in form he would have had 15-16 assists /game together with his points, would it still been horrible?

15-16?

He's at 17.8 potential assists, you think guys are going to hit 90% of their shots? Try around 9.5 assists if the guys it normally.

It seems like you can't have a rational discussion about Luka on here.

The efficiency alone is horrible, the rest is pretty on par with last year, with the defense looking better.

[leolozon]

He has had ups and downs, as the rest of the team. Its not like he been horrible

49.5 TS% is pretty horrible.

Let's see how the rest of the season goes, I'm assuming way better, but it's been 3 off season that what he has to work on is shooting.

He didn’t have offseason this year. He went directly to play for NT after playoffs.

I know that.

Working on FTs is the easiest thing to do. You just need a ball and a net. It doesn't even take a toll on the body. He spent a lot of time practicing with his NT, plus with Dragic.

IF the FTs don't come along this year, it's time to see a sport psychologist and have someone film him to see if he always release the ball at the same angle (I'm fairly sure he doesn't). It's probably mental like it has been said for the past two years.

[41Dirk41]

Luka has the second worst +/- of the entire NBA... I think our starting lineup has some problem

[Forbes]

The fact that we are over .500 is amazing to be honest.

But there so many factors contributing to this with the top 2 being new coaching and his teammates are just not good compared to other teams.

After Timmy and Jalen. Majority of this team are barely desirable to another team. That’s not good. Luka should get even more credit for being able to do what he does with what he has.

But Luka himself needs to Improve free throws and shot selection.

Otherwise, the only thing left to do is get better players to be honest. It’s tough for a star to stay consistently great when ALL of the defensive attention is on him.

[fuller4379]

The Mavs would be worse than the Rockets without Luka. He needs help. This team would be better if it didn’t give away Curry and Barnes.

[leolozon]

The Mavs would be worse than the Rockets without Luka. He needs help. This team would be better if it didn’t give away Curry and Barnes.

I'm still 100% convinced that the Mavs make the second round with Curry and then who knows. That's how bad the trade was. I'm still in awe at the front office taking JRich on reputation and not scouting him better in Philly. It's your job. They also knew they had the worst player, as they asked for a 2nd round pick. I rather have the best player than a 2nd round pick when I'm trying to build a contender.

The trade only made sense on paper, but basketball is played on the court and JRich was bad in Philly.

[HMFFL]

The Mavs would be worse than the Rockets without Luka. He needs help. This team would be better if it didn’t give away Curry and Barnes.

Exactly.
We would certainly have the highest odds for the first overall pick if it wasn't for Luka.

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[BmanInBigD]

I was looking on basketball-reference and noticed something that may or may not have something to do with his poor start. He is trending down each season in his % attempts from 0-10 feet, which is obviously his best % shooting range. His % for attempts for 10-23 feet are increasing, where his shooting % has hovered around 44%. I wanted to look that up because it seemed like he used to get close to the basket at will for easy shots, but now it seems like he would rather settle for a longer shot or pass than get to the rim as much. He's pretty much unstoppable when he's going to the rim for easy shots or passes to open shooters.