Doncic leads the league in usage rate, so the ball is in his hands A LOT. And yet, Dallas is 3rd in the league for fewest TOs. Some of us might remember "stop-and-pop" Terrell Brandon. And some of us might have fallen for the ruse that was his ridiculously low TO rate. But it came with a downside... he was too cautious. The NBA rewards talented players who push the pace and even take chances from time to time.
Another angle. Doncic's TO rate is 15.5%. Jordan McLaughlin went on that crazy run where he had 50+ assists and only one TO. He only averages 2.0 per 36. But he's a caretaker, not a creator. His TO rate is only slightly better at 14.3%. Simply put, he has fewer chances when he's in the game to screw up.
[Note: James Harden came in 2nd for MVP while averaging 5.7 TOs per game one year.]
Yep, he did. And as others have said, it's not surprising with him having the ball in his hands all the time...like Luka. And yet Harden still finished the season with a double digit net positive rating for the yea,r while Luka is closer to breakeven in net rating. I think Q nailed it when he mentioned Luka's shooting efficiency. Harden's annoying talent of drawing fouls allows him to regularly finish above 60% in TS%, while Luka hovers around the league average. I see the key to Luka reaching his enormously high ceiling and joining the Top Ten ranks is finding a way to improve his mediocre shooting efficiency while also limiting silly passes like we saw Monday night. He's young and immensely talented, so I wouldn't bet against him.
And I wouldn't mind if Carlyle decided to rest his ankle one more game Friday...
I'm pretty sure Rick Carlisle won't be making that decision. He coaches the Pacers. Lol
Doncic leads the league in usage rate, so the ball is in his hands A LOT. And yet, Dallas is 3rd in the league for fewest TOs. Some of us might remember "stop-and-pop" Terrell Brandon. And some of us might have fallen for the ruse that was his ridiculously low TO rate. But it came with a downside... he was too cautious. The NBA rewards talented players who push the pace and even take chances from time to time.
Another angle. Doncic's TO rate is 15.5%. Jordan McLaughlin went on that crazy run where he had 50+ assists and only one TO. He only averages 2.0 per 36. But he's a caretaker, not a creator. His TO rate is only slightly better at 14.3%. Simply put, he has fewer chances when he's in the game to screw up.
[Note: James Harden came in 2nd for MVP while averaging 5.7 TOs per game one year.]
Yep, he did. And as others have said, it's not surprising with him having the ball in his hands all the time...like Luka. And yet Harden still finished the season with a double digit net positive rating for the yea,r while Luka is closer to breakeven in net rating. I think Q nailed it when he mentioned Luka's shooting efficiency. Harden's annoying talent of drawing fouls allows him to regularly finish above 60% in TS%, while Luka hovers around the league average. I see the key to Luka reaching his enormously high ceiling and joining the Top Ten ranks is finding a way to improve his mediocre shooting efficiency while also limiting silly passes like we saw Monday night. He's young and immensely talented, so I wouldn't bet against him.
And I wouldn't mind if Carlyle decided to rest his ankle one more game Friday...
I'm pretty sure Rick Carlisle won't be making that decision. He coaches the Pacers. Lol
Details, details, monster...let's not let facts get in the way of a good discussion!
Doncic leads the league in usage rate, so the ball is in his hands A LOT. And yet, Dallas is 3rd in the league for fewest TOs. Some of us might remember "stop-and-pop" Terrell Brandon. And some of us might have fallen for the ruse that was his ridiculously low TO rate. But it came with a downside... he was too cautious. The NBA rewards talented players who push the pace and even take chances from time to time.
Another angle. Doncic's TO rate is 15.5%. Jordan McLaughlin went on that crazy run where he had 50+ assists and only one TO. He only averages 2.0 per 36. But he's a caretaker, not a creator. His TO rate is only slightly better at 14.3%. Simply put, he has fewer chances when he's in the game to screw up.
[Note: James Harden came in 2nd for MVP while averaging 5.7 TOs per game one year.]
Excellent post Abe. I would add that McLaughlin is a creator but basically only for others and in an obviously much much more limited role where he isn't even always the guy that starts possessions with the ball. I saw a stat on Twitter a week or so ago that he had the best assist percentage on drives in the NBA. He also pushes the pace I believe he is one of the league leaders in that category as well. He has one of the lowest usage rates on the team but still dishes out a healthy amount of assists. He has to pick his spots and does it well. So yeah your point of comparing him in his role (or even Beverly) and his TO percentage to Luka is a good one.
As for Terrell Brandon (good example) there was a couple issue with him I had other than him being too safe...which to me was mostly him not being aggressive enough as a scorer.
1. He was a poor passer into the post. This was a real problem when KG was the team's best player. So many Wolves PGs after that we're also bad at that skill.
2. He couldn't stay healthy. I could have lived with all his flaws but not being on the court was the biggest problem.
Luka has had shitty to mediocre supporting casts so far. His barely positive net rating is incredible considering what he has been working with. Porzingis has proven to be less than what we were all hoping for when he stormed into the league. Dallas jumped the gun as usual in landing Porzingis and there could be long term impacts to Luka's progression with that gaping salary role. If anyone could benefit from a traditional skilled big it would be Luka.
thedoper wrote:Luka has had shitty to mediocre supporting casts so far. His barely positive net rating is incredible considering what he has been working with. Porzingis has proven to be less than what we were all hoping for when he stormed into the league. Dallas jumped the gun as usual in landing Porzingis and there could be long term impacts to Luka's progression with that gaping salary role. If anyone could benefit from a traditional skilled big it would be Luka.
Well, the supporting cast must not be THAT bad if the team has done better while he's on the bench (which I realize doesn't mean he's less effective, it's just that the Dallas bench unit tends to outperform other bench units). In fact, their bench did quite well against our bench when we played them.
I do agree that he could use a secondary ball-handler/playmaker, but I think they may have partially solved that problem with Dinwiddie. As far as bigs, Powell seems almost perfect for him - a rim rolling dunk target. They have a really good thing going with Doncic, Powell, and guys that can hit catch and shoot corner 3's. Add Dinwiddie to the mix and I think they could be a problem for the higher seeded teams.
One thing that's interesting and somewhat unexpected about them is that this season with Kidd as the coach they are now a top 10 defensive team and a mediocre offensive team. I saw few things recently that said Luka isn't a bad defender anymore. If that's the case that's a pretty big deal for him as a winning basketball player. I'd be curious to hear what some people think about him on that end.
A couple other things about Luka as an offensive player.
1. He takes a very small percentage of his 3 pointers from the corners. So most of his 3's are from the longer range where most players have a lower percentage. He shoots well enough from 3 you simply can't just leave him open. You are going to guard him out there.
2. If you look at the basic shot zones on basketball reference he shoots pretty well from all of them to be a threat. He is shooting a career low amount of shots at the rim this year (probably a big reason for a drop in efficiency)and poorly on the 16'+ shots (he doesn't take many of those). Basically he is a threat everywhere on the court. I'm sure there are spots to force him to go but that may also open up opportunities for other players when that happens.
It does look like some guys on that roster have had down years shooting the 3 so that could be a bit of a problem but again they are a better defensive team. What if they are able to put those things together more than they have?
