HALLELUKA: Luka Clinches All-NBA 1st team. 4th in 5 years

[cow]

I am really high on Mobley. Just going through the last few draft classes. Who was the last rookie with comparable defensive impact in his first season?
Simmons, KP, Turner? Don´t think they were as good in their rookie season. Maybe Embiid? But we have to consider that he played his first game more than two years after the draft.

My fat Luka/Zion joke failed.  I'm sorry.

[dirkfansince1998]

My fat Luka/Zion joke failed.  I'm sorry.

It didn´t. I smiled. Just wanted to hear what others think about Mobley. We all know that the Mavs should go for a Luka/Zion pairing. Maybe add Jokic but only if he stays in the 280-290 range. Win a championship with the all fat team. Let the skinny kids fight for NCAA or g-league titles. NBA is for big boys.

[BackToSquareOne]

I am really high on Mobley. Just going through the last few draft classes. Who was the last rookie with comparable defensive impact in his first season?
Simmons, KP, Turner? Don´t think they were as good in their rookie season. Maybe Embiid? But we have to consider that he played his first game more than two years after the draft.

Mobley looks fantastic to me on both O and D (albeit for me only a few games of eye-test and the stats so far). Fully deserving of the "could be the next" Garnett/Duncan accolades aorn. 

Simmons took a year off too (iirc), KP was good/decent for a rookie, but not at this level of D. Turner - I didn't watch enough. But he's nowhere near the offensive player that Mobley is.

[SleepingHero]

It didn´t. I smiled. Just wanted to hear what others think about Mobley. We all know that the Mavs should go for a Luka/Zion pairing. Maybe add Jokic but only if he stays in the 280-290 range. Win a championship with the all fat team. Let the skinny kids fight for NCAA or g-league titles. NBA is for big boys.

Mobley seems to have the "it" factor. The 4 times I've watched the Cavs this year, the guy just keeps on making winning plays. Like here is a great example that doesn't show up in the box score. 

https://imgur.com/a/hUXzVB2

Here Mobley makes 3 great defensive rotations that stifle the Blazers in their tracks and the Cavs come up with the turnover. All he did was be in the right spot. Another player that I remember doing that with long arms was Tim Duncan.

I think Mobley has a little bit to go before reaching that level of defense, but then again Duncan did come into the league 2 years older than Mobley.

[Kammrath]

One of the most concerning stats for Luka IMO:

2018-19: 25
2019-20: 14
2020-21: 11
2021-22: 1

Who can guess and tell me what this stat is?

[Smitty]

One of the most concerning stats for Luka IMO:

2018-19: 25
2019-20: 14
2020-21: 11
2021-22: 1

Who can guess and tell me what this stat is?

Games with a positive on/off split?

[Kammrath]

Games with a positive on/off split?

Good guess (guessing to the poster I see!), but nope.

[ThisIStheYear]

I still think Luka can be an all time great, but he’ll need three point shooting at 38%-39% or so to make that happen. This has just been a bad year.

[ItsGoTime]

I still think Luka can be an all time great, but he’ll need three point shooting at 38%-39% or so to make that happen. This has just been a bad year.

Has it just been a bad year or is he just this bad of a 3pt shooter? He wasn’t great in Europe, these 3 1/2 years in the NBA he has been up and down, but never to the 38-39% mark. There’s Ben Simmons bad - choosing to not take the shot, then there is this bad - choosing to take a shot that you are not very good at. We’ve railed on KP for forcing the team to run post up plays for him, the same thing should apply for Luka here!

[Kammrath]

One of the most concerning stats for Luka IMO:

2018-19: 25
2019-20: 14
2020-21: 11
2021-22: 1

Who can guess and tell me what this stat is?

Anyone else have a stab at this?

[Jym]

Anyone else have a stab at this?

Gotta be dunks

[Kammrath]

Gotta be dunks

[fifteenth]

I'm not worried about the dunks. He started using floaters and layups, and last season, developed a pretty nice midrange game.

[Kammrath]

RE: Luka's Dunks 

This is why I think this is a concerning stat and the threefold issues that I think lurk behind it:

1) A decline in Luka's physical explosiveness (whether from injury, conditioning, bad-weight, etc).

2) An increase in defensive effectiveness against Luka (teams have "figured him out" and aren't playing nearly as much to his outside shot, which has also declined).

3) A decline in team offensive effectiveness (teams are leaving Luka's teammates open to clog the lane).



And it isn't just dunks, here are the percentage of Luka's shots at the rim over the years:

2018-19: 20.9%
2019-20: 26.0%
2020-21: 18.0%
2021-22: 11.8%

[Kammrath]

Another interesting (concerning) stat of Luka's:


Percentage of 2P FGs that are assisted:

2018-19: 19.5%
2019-20: 17.1%
2020-21: 9.5%
2021-22: 8.2%



Percentage of 3P FGs that are assisted:

2018-19: 42.3%
2019-20: 24.0%
2020-21: 23.4%
2021-22: 23.1%



Every year he has seen a decline in the amount of his offense that is generated by the TEAM and an increase in the amount of his offense that is generated by himself. 

[Kammrath]

Welp, looks like Luka will not be an All Star starter this year, things trending heavily towards Ja, understandably....

[Kammrath]

I wonder if there is a chance Luka misses being an All Star altogether....?

[Tyler]

I wonder if there is a chance Luka misses being an All Star altogether....?

It's definitely possible that he's not a starter. But I think there's zero chance he's left off the roster. Half the guys on the list in the West are injured (George, Lillard), China specials (Klay, Wiggins), or complete jokes (Carmelo, Westbrook).

[JamesConway]

Most important fact: he’s still playing on his rookie scale contract despite giving us multiple All Nba type of seasons already.

I think he was just overdue for a less stellar season (for his standards, he’s still easily an allstar). I don’t care about the on off stats bc the team was extremely inconsistent all season with multiple guys having horrendous stats early on who were usually positive constants on that front. He simply played too much last year and then never found his rhythm due to injuries this season.

This guy is the only reason anybody gives a damn about this otherwise exclusively incompetent organization. Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Just. Don’t.

The day he leaves us alone with Cuban will be   the worst day in franchise history. Even worse than Dirk leaving bc by then there won’t be a new Luka around to pick up the slack.

[dmavs4life03]

RE: Luka's Dunks 

This is why I think this is a concerning stat and the threefold issues that I think lurk behind it:

1) A decline in Luka's physical explosiveness (whether from injury, conditioning, bad-weight, etc).

2) An increase in defensive effectiveness against Luka (teams have "figured him out" and aren't playing nearly as much to his outside shot, which has also declined).

3) A decline in team offensive effectiveness (teams are leaving Luka's teammates open to clog the lane).

Which just makes me shake my head then bang it against the wall how we got rid of Curry. I was THRILLED when I took my phone outta my pocket at work and saw we signed him to a 4 year deal.... then traded him for nothing. SMH



And it isn't just dunks, here are the percentage of Luka's shots at the rim over the years:

2018-19: 20.9%
2019-20: 26.0%
2020-21: 18.0%
2021-22: 11.8%