(02-15-2023, 08:54 AM)omahen Wrote: As you say, offense was never really a problem. Lukas high usage was a problem and minutes without him were a problem. Kai solves that. I think Luka has showned plenty of willingness to divert to Kai. He only took one shot in Q4 against Minny (hot Kai took 12) and his usage (33% in last two games) is lower than it is his season average. It was posted a day or two ago how number of passes have increased since the trade. Kai is far from reduced to stay in the corner and watch Luka do his thing. Despite all the talk about the offense, it has been actually great in this first two games (of course it can always be better).
The problem is defense.
The big question is, if he is the right one. Brunson was not (they were not prepared to pay him more) according to Mavs, because he was small and limited defensively. Now the star they got is exactly the same on that end. Better offensively, no doubt, but very same way limited regarding building the defense around Luka.
Keep seeing people talking about Kyrie and his ball dominance and comparisons with Brunson, and it just being the same thing with Kyrie being a better scorer. It's just not the case, and I posted about this in another thread. Now the defensive concerns are absolutely valid, but Kyrie is a much better fit with Luka offensively, not purely because Kyrie is a better player and scorer, but because his production is not suppressed playing off ball, which is the case with Brunson who is one of the most ball dominant players in the league this season. If Brunson was still here his numbers would look pretty similar to last season, and nothing like what he's doing in NYK. That's a huge difference compared to Kyrie who should maintain his production even playing with the current iteration of Luka who leads the league in TOP (Kyrie's TOP numbers with the Nets are basically what Dinwiddie's were playing next to Luka).
"Brunson is putting up his current stats ranking 3rd in the NBA in time of possession (behind Luka and Harden), and 4th in dribbles per possession. Kyrie on the other hand is producing close to career best numbers ranked 23rd in time of possession, and 78th in dribbles per possession. He ranks slightly below Steph Curry in both these rankings this year. Both Brunson and Dinwiddie are ball pounders who produce more having much more of the ball, their numbers are suppressed without it. Kyrie for all the talk, isn't. That's actually pretty relevant when talking about whether Brunson would be able to do anything close to what he's currently doing in NYK with Luka if he was still around or if he would have been an equal fit to what Luka and Kyrie might do together moving forward."
![[-]](https://www.mavsboard.com/images/collapse.png)