03-04-2024, 10:10 AM
(03-04-2024, 09:45 AM)Chicagojk Wrote: Sure there is some risk there. Phil Jackson demanded things for Jordan, Shaq and Kobe. Pat Riley always did this. In football, it happens all the time. I am not saying you embarrass the player. You have to be careful. It is not meant to bury a player, but you are looking to help that player get 1% better.
let me add, I don't want to put all this blame on Luka. I am just frustrated. When you have a top 5 player in the league, it shouldn't look like this. It seems like we need an A Luka game to win most times. IMO, a A or A+ game from Luka should mean it is over for most teams. I have been thinking about this a lot. I have some thoughts, but I just don't know they are right. It shouldn't be like this though.
I am basically where you are. Both stars were efficient on offense in this 5 game stretch where Mavs recorded 4 losses. They regularly contribute 60+ points on good efficiency. Yet it is not enough even against average teams. Is the solution really for them to take less shots (once again, they are very efficient) to get others more involved? One thing I would like to see more is to diversify offense at least a little bit. So far they have stars ISO, PnR or chucking a contested three. Put some sets for PJ, especially when guarded by a smaller player. Just a couple per game, to involve him more. Make him the real third guy and put some diversity to offense.
Stars are also not terrible on defense. Defense that looked great for a couple of games looks bad again with teams relatively easily getting good looks.
Some of the offense issues can be correlated with the offensive slump THJ is in. That may be the cause for bad team numbers in his minutes. Mavs are juggling between defense only DJJ or offense only THJ. DJJ on average is a huge liability on offense, so it is not just easy to say he should be the one playing. My prefference would be Exum.