[Basketball University] Luka Doncic is an artist in the paint… Nearly unstoppable when he gets down hill, just have to hope he misses.
63 percent is insane. Enough of those threes from him lol
In his last 3 healthy months he was shooting 40% on 10 3 point attempts. Thats the next leap for him. Hopefully it becomes more consistent
He is consistent but not in the traditional sense. October & November he’s 34%, December & January it’s 37⁄38% and the February & March he jumps to 40%. He’s done this the last 5 seasons
Just a full season warmup nbd
Playing himself into shape harden style
40% on 10 3 pointers at the difficulty he takes them would be almost impossible for that to be more consistent
Shots in the paint last season:
Luka: 335 for 528, 63%
SGA: 421 for 668, 63%
Enough of those threes from him lol
Shooting 37% on 11 3PA/G is good, actually. It’s a large part of how Luka just had his most efficient season.
Interested in where you got these stats? I am curious to know what Dylan Harper’s %ages are
https://www.nba.com/stats/players/shooting?SeasonType=Regular+Season&PerMode=Totals&DistanceRange=By+Zone
The threes open up his game; a millisecond of overplaying him from the defender is all he needs
Hey so long as those shopting splits get sharper as the playoffs come. Im all for that
They do. Check his splits per month for his career. The more he shoots, the better he gets and it resets during the offseason lmao
I know I wasnt contesting that
If he didn’t shoot threes he wouldn’t be able to draw defenders out of the paint so wlel
It’s the turnovers that he really has to work on
Some of his threes are so lazy, really hurts the team sometimes
Every now and then maybe yeah, but then for each time that happens he makes sure to make up for it by hitting 4 step backs in a row the next time. Hes fine
He uses his size extremely well for a guard. He plays big on offense. If you dont move youre gonna get bowled over. Lots of business decisions in these highlights
He uses his size extremely well for a guard.
Uhh yeah most guards aren’t 6’9 235
Most big guards dont play like this
Nico really gave us a magic Regen. He deserves his statue.
At least let him win something first….
He plays like Bron and Magic, no denying that. They got top5 player in the league for pack of chips. Nico deserves that statue
He doesnt play like lebron or magic outside of he gets assists. He plays like Harden
Most big guards don’t play as big as Luka because they’re not as big as Luka, more at 11
Redditor doesn’t understand basketball, whod have thought
Who are you thinking of
Lamelo Ball, josh giddey, tyrese Haliburton, ant edwards etc. Luka draws more fouls than all of them because he’s leaning into the contact where they pull back
Bro none of those guys are even close to Luka’s size lmao
Right? You need to go to guys like LeBron, Bird, Magic to find the same combo of size and guard skills. Unfortunately, I haven’t watched much Bird or Magic live play, but LeBron definitely used his size lol.
Kobe is smaller than luka and did the same things. Isaiah Thomas was smaller than every one and did the same thing too. This is a question of style of play more than anything and a lot of players with the size dont play this way
Besides his post ups, it’s almost more of a skill thing to my eye. It’s like deceleration, incredible angles, and variety of shots with either hand (scoop, floaters, etc). So yeah, he does use his size, but in conjunction with otherworldly skill. That some guys also have that skill, like Kobe, Isiah, etc, makes sense to me.
To use my own LeBron example, that’s a dude who relied more on his size but doesn’t have quite the same skills to go with it.
Hes not doing anything they can’t physically do, they just dont do it.
LaMelo weighs ~40 pounds less than Luka and is an inch or two shorter. What are you talking about bro?
And if he gets down hill the same way luka does hed cause the same problems, he just doesn’t want the contact. 6’7 is still a big guard. Kobe was doing this at a similar size as lamelo
The weight is the most important factor, other players have said Luka is incredibly strong
He looks a hell of a lot bigger than 235. That boy is wide
270 at his fattest. He stays around 250-260 now.
Opposing guards hate this one simple trick.
Yes we are
He also has a ton of size for a guard.
Nobody gives a shit about regular season execpt stat padders like Luka. He yells at the refs for calls and if he doesn’t get the calls he can’t play in the paint without getting clobbered. So in the playoffs he just gets clobbered.
Scoring 63% in the paint during the regular season then 0% in the playoffs. What a player.
Luka is literally second in points per game in the playoffs ever and the only other player besides Jordan to have 30 or more average. He’s taken his team to conference finals and finals already and made the playoffs every single year of his career bar his rookie season and a year when Mavs decided to shut him down so they can get a higher pick.
To say you’re talking out of your ass would be an understatement.
While I dont agree with the other dude it is funny to say hes made the playoffs every single year and exclude the 2 years he didnt make it 🤣🤣 agree with the rest of what you said tho
Haha well he’s been in the league for 8 seasons now and to make the playoffs in 6 of them (when as a high drafted rookie it’s pretty much expected not to due to your team sucking) is pretty good achievement considering that he hasn’t been super lucky with squads most of the time.
Last season 0 points in the playoffs. I had the same as him.
It’s amazing that you can post while jerking off to a stranger getting injured. Kudos for being a multitasker.
He injured himself trying to stat pad. And his wife left him too. What a fucking clown.
Won a ring so now we gotta deal with this annoying shit, what a sport
Nah you can tell this guy yaps anyway but after the chip now we get to read 100% of his braindead takes instead of only 70% because he “believed in NYK all along” or some trash
Thats why i hate ring culture, because it gives “credibility” to morons because they can back any dumb take with “well my team won so im right”
It is crazy how much knicks fans act like they are the mid-late 2010s warriors after winning once
Must be nice to be so simple minded.
He’s a known playoff riser. Averaging 30/9/7 a game. Wtf are you talking about dummy??
What were his stats last year 0/0/0?
I read somewhere a coach saying that if you play drop coverage against Luka it’s literally a guaranteed basket, either by him or a lob to a big
If you have a big who can jump yes.
Kessler is fine as a lob threat. Massive wing span, way better hands than Hayes or ayton and he has good touch around the rim.
The issue with Kessler is the screens. He’s not that good at setting them so it will be some thing he has to really lean into this off season. Part of why looney is such a good vet for him
You can 100% learn how to set a screen if you put in the effort
He will also need to improve his rim running after those high pick screens Luka likes as well
Duh? You can also kick out to guys on the 3 point line but it’s not useful if they can’t shoot
Lakers with no high flying lob threat big or wing is a big mistake
We are going to get to see Kobe vs Duncan 2.0 soon when spurs and lakers see each other in the playoffs
Despite this Luka has barely had any playable centers his entire career.
Luka literally in part made the awful coaching guy famous on YouTube. Because a huge part of that guys content is exposing drop coverage on PR and highlighting how modern NBA defenses so often absolutely suck at covering essentially the most important action on the court.
You absolutely cannot use drop coverage against Luka. Yet it still happens, all the time. That’s part of why he scores 30 a game like its nothing
No matter how many highlights I see…it’ll never not be uncanny how dude is able to create so much space and just get past people with his athleticism.
He’s gotta be sneaky strong because sometimes it makes no sense
I wouldn’t even say sneaky, he’s just flat out strong as shit lol it’s why he was being compared to Pierce early on.
That mixed with his elite footwork and the way he sees angles that most people can’t is how he’s able to do what he does.
Huh, interesting. First I’ve ever heard the Pierce comparison and I can totally see it.
Same. It fits really well
Sneaky? Do you see his size?
Creates space by taking up a lot of space.
Jokes aside he’s athletic just not in the traditional run and jump sense. His deceleration, body control and quick mini adjustments are a bitch to guard before you take into account he’s 6’ 7 240. It doesn’t make sense on paper until you see it in action
Its just a standard europen athlete sleeper build.
People sleep on his amazing handles just because they are not flashy. But pay attention to it. He creats a lot of space with his handles and then he capitalizes with a huuge first step.
he reminds me of larry bird in terms of moving “slow” but easily getting good looks.
i wish there were player podcast back in the 80s to hear about ppl guarding him. i assume defenders usually can somewhat read a players moves and tendencies, but with luka/bird they cant get a good read on them and get torched despite moving slower.
plus they both tall and got that above the head shot form – its hell to guard guys who shoot above their head.
as a heat fan this is painful to watch lol. spo threw zone, blitzes, everything at him in the bubble and he still found angles. downhill luka with a head of steam is a cheat code, you’re just hoping for a miss at that point
They never played each other in the bubble
Yeah that would have had to be a finals matchup between Mavs and Heat.
things that didn’t happen in the bubble.
Luka “The Painter” Doncic
That nickname actually tight as hell
Luka reminds me some of Kyrie within like 10 feet of the rim. It’s a weird comparison for many reasons, and Luka is more efficient close to the rim, but there’s a level of creativity constantly on display that I don’t think I’ve seen anywhere else.
If you watch a player play a full season or more, you get a real feel for them and they almost entirely lose their ability to surprise you. You know what they can and can’t do, you can see whether they have a shot they can hit available or not. It’s super unusual to have a player be able to just keep surprising you over and over. It takes a real basketball creativity that is exceptionally rare even among the greats—an ability to improvise that is impossible to teach. I watched nearly every game Kyrie played in Cleveland and he had this ability to do shit I’d never seen him do before on a regular basis like he’d been practicing it all along and just waiting to break it out. The Cavs have never had a player, including LeBron (whose improvisational gifts have more to do with reading the game than shotmaking), who more often made me say “Wait, what the fuck did he just do? He can do that?” Anyway, my point is Luka also has that rare level of creativity where it appears that he’s just constantly trying new shit and having it work effortlessly. And it’s fucking magic to watch. Just in terms of basketball aesthetics, Kyrie is probably my favorite player I’ve seen with the Cavs (let me emphasize—just in terms of basketball aesthetics) because every possession he had the ball in his hands felt like one where I might see something I’d never seen before.
i just posted the same shit pretty much before reading ur post. luka the only mfer who would do a underhand scoop shot from 3.
Statistically he is legit one of if not the best finisher around the rim ever for a guard. The past few seasons he has even been more efficient than Jokic around the rim.
Like that is the defining trait that makes him different than someone like Harden or other driving gaurds. More of them are not super efficient at the rim.
The only scorers significantly more efficient around the rim are guys like LeBron and Giannis
He has a lot of positional size and uses it better than anyone in the league
Man he’s such a great player but I swear on 90% of these he immediately looks at the ref and is about to complain.
The other 10% cuts the clip before you can see it.
Literally his main weakness that keeps coming back over and over , he need to stop complaining and win a ring asap
Wait I thought Luka never drives?
He drives, just not a lot relative to who he’s compared to. For example 7.6% of Luka’s shots are at the rim. For SGA it’s 22.8% or three times as likely. Luka absolutely should be trying to get to the rim more often.
Driving to the rim is just more tiring. Luka stamina issues are a bit overblown but it’s tough to play 36 min a game and drive downhill more frequently at his size.
What he lost his licence or??
Tbf he didn’t really drive as much after he gained weight from 22-24. It’s only after the weight loss that he’s back to it now
Unstoppable
wait why does this have kalshi branding on it?
There is a reason he is the best player in the league
LOL
Fourth* and that’s with the refs in his pockets
Fuck you nico. Fuck you
Just a big ol Kalshi ad in disguise
HEEEY!
Teague said it best, “worst thing to happen to Luka is him finding out the nba was too easy”
Area I grew up in had a few prodigies but none of them passed six feet tall. I’m guessing Luka is what happens when one of those kids grows to 6’8”. I suppose LaMelo is another example.
He just needs to stop taking so many 3s 63% is crazy
If you watch Lakers games foreal you’ll see Luka pretty much scores in the paint at will. It usually looks just as easy as it does in this video too lol. He always looks like he’s just walking to the basket too, it’s a trip.
Miss you boo
It’s a shame how little he attacks the rim now compared to his Mavs days, it’s becoming a smaller and smaller part of his shot diet
Strong like a bull
Luka is unfair
I always find it amazing that hes not super fast by any means but somehow is still able to get wherever he wants in the lane.
the passing threat is really the x-factor that makes him such a tough guard. You can’t really collapse on him as he goes to the rim, which is the standard for paint defense, because he’ll find the open man 100% of the time
That’s a fat, fatty
What’s crazy is that Luka has had the BBIQ, touch around the basket and processing/decision making speed of a peak Lebron since he was like 23. He’s also had the fitness and athleticism of a 41 year old Lebron for about 1.5 seasons 5 years ago and declined from there.
Wizard
Anything “Powered by Kalshi” should be banned
63% in the paint is not unstoppable. That’s pretty much you would expect scoring in the paint. League average is 55 to 58 %.
z
It’s insane how slow this looks and yet somehow unstoppable
All he’s really doing is squaring up to the basket and shooting from close distance. I’m going to try this next time I play.
Very nice.
Now lets see his defensive effort.
Jalen Brunson is an NBA champion.
He doesn’t drive to the rim nearly as often because his body is failing him. Somewhat of a silly post
His TS% this year matched his career high from 24. Seems like he is doing just fine, actually.
TS% literally has nothing to do with the amount he drives at the rim lmao
Maybe some correlation, but jacking up 3s and hitting them at a good percentage is better for TS
Yes, but TS% is what you care about, not drives to the rim. That’s the point.
The whole point of this post is Luka driving at the rim… your brain okay?
He’s actually become pretty stoppable because he’s too slow to reliably beat guys off the dribble anymore. % of FGA from 0-3 feet:
19-20: 26.0%
20-21: 18.0%
21-22: 12.8%
22-23: 17.6%
23-24: 12.3%
24-25: 10.4%
25-26: 7.6%
Declining to new career lows for three years straight.
7% of the time he scores 60% of the time!
And yet his TS% In 24 and 26 were at the highest level of his career (25 he was injured and traded so set that year aside). Seems like your point completely falls flat given that the point isn’t to shoot all your shots within 3 feet.
My point is he doesn’t get to the hoop nearly as well as he used to. I didn’t say anything about its impact on his personal scoring efficiency.
I understand what you are saying. My point is what you are saying is irrelevant. Who cares about where you score from. We only care about whether you score, and that he is doing at career high levels.
Who cares about where you score from.
Opposing defenses.
His fat ass drives way less than he used to. Needs to actually work in the off-season like other star players do.
For a guy that never misses playing for their national team including practices, yeah, his fat ass needs to make those overly produced workout vids you see every off-season just to prove that he’s not doing anything to improve his game.
Legit all this account does is shit on Luka. They spend an unhealthy amount of time doing so.
Yeah I’ve unironically started recognizing their name on every Luka thread lmao
I mean, the reason you see guys making workout vids is because they’re in the gym every day, might as well get content out of it. They take pride in putting in that work.
You can keep plugging our ears and acting like Luka doesn’t have an issue with conditioning. Doesn’t make it any less of a problem.
He gets doubled way more than he used to as well. Check clippers mavs highlights from those playoff series and you’ll see a big difference in spacing.
Especially given the roster construction with KP at the 5 and more shooters but less defense.
Obviously I started watching Luka a lot more after he joined but it was really funny so many times teams got cooked in the 1st quarter when he’s not doubled teamed just for them to start trapping him every time he got the ball. We just didn’t have enough to punish those double teams.
People are downvoting you but you are right lol. Younger Luka was leading the league in drives