MAVS 132, BLAZERS 117

[omahen]

My post had nothing to do with what Luka wants or can do.  What he wants is immaterial.  He is what he is and it is a compliment to call him heliocentric and classify him as similar to Lebron, Kawhi and Harden.

The post also has nothing to do with sharing duties with another guard.  I agree he’s shown some willingness/ability to do that with Brunson.  The conversation that needs to be had is what kind of big would work well with Luka while also maximizing Luka’s abilities.

I am sorry, but you started your argument with: "Of course, this begs the question...what kind of second star does fit with a player like Luka?  The best thing is to probably look at the other heliocentric guys and see what has/hasn't worked for them." which probably mislead me to discuss second stars and not bigs. As for the other part - as soon as you mention heliocentric it unfortunately has a lot to do with sharing the ball with other guards, even if you mean it in a complimentary way  . I think there are many ways to build around Luka, but his main strength is PnR and creating 4 on 3 opportunities for his teammates. Room in the paint is necessary to do this, but it doesn't mean the other guys are just standing around waiting to shoot the three. It is all about timely cuts when defense is watching Luka.

I think the Olympics showed a blueprint for ideal lineup with Luka. A PnR center who can hit from distance and three 3-D wings - the more they can do with the ball the better. Luka is constantly creating 4 on 3 opportunities and his teammates in the national team were able to greatly exploit those situations.  Using this line-up they were also capable of overcoming the defensive shortcommings of Luka and the center. That team was a lot of fun to watch even with really low talent level compared to some opponents (for example France). 

Mavs as they are they basically put the opposite on the floor. They are using Powell who is not really good as short roll center and the other three can't really do much with the ball (or hit a three so far this season). I think KP could fit extremely well with Luka, even with his post ups, if he would be used in a PnR and I think they showed this in their first season. I don't know why he is not used like this more and the reason is not really important. If he is not used in a PnR and his wish is to gravitate around the paint looking for the ball, than the pairing will probably not work. 

KP overtendency to gravitate around the paint could be seen nicely against Portland when Bobi checked in. Bobi is an elite post up player yet KP was still looking for the ball in the paint. Mavs couldn't get ball to Bobi. Part of it can be seen from the clip below, right at the beginning. Look how packed paint is. This was basically whole time Bobi was in. 

Video and Shotcharts | Stats | NBA.com

The other issue with current Mavs is their slow pace. Interesting enough, pace was even slower with Brunson and no Luka (at least before Portland game, I didn't check afterwards). It seems like whenever Luka is in, everyone is just standing and watching him, which was not the case everywhere else Luka played. For example in the national team, wings were pushing the ball and the overall tempo was very fast. 

I think KP has all the tools needed to work greatly next to Luka and the adjustments would be needed elsewhere. I also don't think his value is high enough to get something good in return. Cuts he is doing are great but they are not timely - I guess this can improve. They can survive with a couple of post-ups here and there if he needs that to be happy. But the core should be to put them in the PnR.

I think it is more important to unclogg the paint by removing the non-shooting big. It will take way more than two games to convince me Powell-KP is something that works. Upgrade one wing spot with someone that can do something with ball and is a reliable scorer and I think this team would look very very good.