MAVS 103, NUGGETS 89

[omahen]

I understand why you and many others think that the problem is never, and can never be, Luka himself. (The replies here make it clear that's the mindset of many, if not most.) But I think all of you who think that are way off base in thinking that.

If I speak for myself, I don't think Luka is perfect. Perhaps where my take is different is that I take him as he is, with his strength and weaknesses. Because he has proven that he can be top 5 player in the league, as he is. Slow start to the season doesn't change that.

I think Mavs have far bigger problems to solve before trying to solve Luka. Starting with actually building around him. Admit he is not the strongest defender, so surround him with such, as Atlanta did with Young. Admit he is not the fastest so use other players to push the ball. Mavs have done none of that. We were screaming for secondary creator, Mavs didn't add one. The jury remains if Brunson developed into one that can hold his own in the playoffs. Mavs have surrounded Luka with bad to mediocre defenders, which has been to an extent corrected by "benching" THJ. I am not convinced this team will be able to play good basketball on both sides of the floor in the playoffs. 

Luka has been improving every year and a slow start doesn't change that perspective for me. He has been always at his best when it mattered most so I think fans would actually owe their star player the decency to at least wait until then before starting to fire away. I think it is very sad that Mavs as a team need Luka to perform at peak level just to be able to take a playoff position. I think this tells way more about the team quality than about Luka. 

He shoots the most shots on the team, but he's not efficient in making shots

He is not efficient at the start of this season, he was very efficient in previous ones. But lets face it, basically whole team has plummeted in that category. Coach was one big change from last season, so I would say that changed schemes have a lot to do with that.  

He's great in the open court, but his typical pace is a lifeless crawl.

Luka with his "lifeless crawl" lead most efficient offense of the league, so I don't really know slower pace in itself can be considered as a problem. It is also interesting that pace in last 10 games without Luka was considerably slower than with him. On the other hand, Slovenia was playing fast with this same Luka in the Olympics with other players pushing the ball. Not everything needs to be on Luka, that is part of building around him. 

this team's ceiling is quite low when his play is at this level.

I would dare to say that this team's ceiling is quite low when he plays at top 5 player in the world level.