02-26-2021, 03:03 PM
(02-26-2021, 02:57 PM)hakeemfan Wrote: When RC says the offense is too reliant on Luka, I hope he is referring to the usage and not just the scoring load. The offense with Luka on is basically Luka wanting the ball, dribble a lot and then decide what he wants to do.
He absolutely does mean usage, don't worry. I mean, I haven't spoken to him about it, but it's so obvious that the issues you raise are valid, and frankly, Carlisle has never liked this type of team.
Further, they've tried Wright, Richardson, and now Brunson, all playing with Luka, all being given opportunities to move Luka off-ball. In fact, I feel like they've tried forcing this a lot more, recently, to varying degrees of success.
Part of the problem might (might) be that Luka is just more comfortable with the ball in his hands and not quite experienced enough yet to make a significant impact moving without the ball. Part of the problem might be that the combination of supporting players isn't adequate for the offense to be successful without a star-level threat handling.
Whatever it is, though, the Mavs have not found a secondary creator (though it might be Brunson, tbh). I can damn near promise you that it's not because Carlisle isn't trying. He's actually talked about it in the media fairly clearly on numerous occasions.