People don’t seem to realize that the reason why the Wolves spacing didn’t suck after the KAT trade is that Anthony Edwards started shooting 10 3s a game and making them at a 40% clip.

As compared to Luka who leads the entire NBA in 3s taken, who isnt a jump shooter apparently.

When he does drive he typically pulls up and banks in it too. It’s a great move

Tell me you don’t watch ball without telling me you don’t watch ball. Ant has never, ever gotten a fair whistle. It’s not even up for debate.

Who takes more jump shots inside the arc?

And 2.5% of Lukas shots this season have been within 3 feet.

Luka is shooting 14 3’s per game and still gets 800 free throws

Acting like Steph doesn’t have the worst whistle of all time??

This is kinda funny because Warriors fans insist that Steph has the worst whistle ever and deserves more free throws

He’s just there to get buckets

Since when do MVPs shoot sub 40% from the floor?

Not mention it makes the product worse. People complain and some people come in with the “it’s always been this way” as we gambling ads between free throws and absurdly long replay reviews

Luka fans talked most about SGA’s FTs. Unironically.

They just get a disproportionate amount of free throws every year compared to other teams. At this point it’s not a rent free thing or not, it’s just facts. Go look at the stats.

You can’t talk this shit here anymore since LeBron’s off your team

I don’t even think about you guys for the most part.

He’s scoring more efficiently with this playstyle that is way less harsh on the body. He’ll keep doing it as long as it’s effective.

I’m not speaking on the decline of his career % in paint but for this season:

What’s the context for this season?How was the team doing in applying pressure on the rim? Kessler was ¹²⁄₁₂ or whatever it was. Since then he hasn’t scored as much but it’s because defensively teams are choosing to packing the paint to take that away. It’s up perimeter players to counter with their shooters.

Individually with Luka, when defenses do this, he can’t just dunk through people like the hyper athletes. And he’s been on fire scoring anyways.

Didn’t you hear? He got too fat.

hes getting that purple n piss whistle

I’m not sure what your point is.

Lol weird that SGA has literally never been given this courtesy.

Huh?

He doesn’t jump back. He just stops then shoots when he feels someone. That will always be a foul.

I remember they had to the create a rule to stop this way of foul baiting but I guess they forgot about that now…

I hate that the floater gets called a foul. It’s a long-range layup that gets treated like a jump shot for some reason.

Its Austin Reaves and Luka’s major foul-drawing bag as well

That’s just foul baiting and flopping, nothing smart about using an unnatural move to get free throws because that’s the only way of him getting it, if he tries to drive to the rim and ethically get fouled, he just gets embarrassed every time.

That was the argument for SGA during his 1st MVP, but he was still being labeled a free throw merchant. He was leading the league in drives per game by a significant margin, but that didn’t matter to the majority of people.

idk a lot are kinda weak to give to him.

Sometimes it really does look like the defender is chest up forward but they must be like ¹⁄₂ a degree off the angle because he rams them and gets free throws.

Doesn’t even feel like the defender has to reach or be aggressive, they can be in front the whole time, but they turn slightly sideways and he obliterates them for free throws. They usually get the worse end of the contact too.

Other times yeah he’s playing strong and quick they reach or hack but really the ramming them to free throws just annoys me. Especially the and 1s where he gathers, destroys them for a call and he gets the free look because the defender is off getting wheeled out on a stretcher while he takes his time to actually take the shot

Just like SGA lol.

I only watched the games last year when he played my Spurs and dude just played for fouls calls. People can say what they want about Castle but he tries to actually score

Where did SGA rank in drives last year?

I love that blazers fans are using the same drive stats argument we were the last few years

He lead the league in and-1 conversions last season so your “flailing his way to the rim” take is just bullshit. Most teams just can’t keep him from getting to the rim.

He drives very hard and always seeks out contact.

Atleast he fails near the rim. Luka and Trae start flailing at the half court line and are perimeter players. Big difference between getting fouled on a layup and a pump fake 30 feet from the hoop.

“Either you let him score or refs call a foul”

There’s actually something inbetween those two things. It’s called defense. The best players are the hardest to guard, it’s as simple as that.

And also what you’re describing is literally a what a great offensive basketball player is lmao but I’ll admit it’s pretty hilarious you’re trying to use that as a negative.

“Either you let him score or refs call a foul” is literally what happened at least 80% of the time Jordan attacked the rim in the 90s, after they nerfed physical play to some extent due to how Detroit was playing him in the late 80s.

And I became an MJ fan at 8 years old, the year he averaged 37 a game. I watched damn near his whole career. He got foul calls nobody else got, because of the way he attacked the basket. I can acknowledge that without a problem, because I’m not a fan that’s going to deny what I see just because I love the player.

Doesn’t mean he led the league in FTA, but he got more calls on ticky tack fouls than he got no-calls on legit fouls, especially once he started winning titles.

The only difference between the 2 is that MJ tried to power through even the legit hard fouls, while SGA will flop to the ground while barely being grazed.

That’s not to say I buy the narrative that he’s an overly egregious flopper, at least not any more than any other superstar who likes to flop. He’s just a smaller guy, so it’s easier for him to sell a graze as a hard foul.

James Harden is still the most egregious flopper I have ever witnessed. Lebron does it more often than he ever should, and it always looks cartoonish when he does it. Like bro, you are 6’8 260. Nobody smaller than 250 is bumping you hard enough while you’re both going straight up to put you on the ground 10 feet away.

Luka is worse than Shai imo. He spends as much time arguing with the refs about ticky tack bullshit than he does playing any semblance of defense. If he put 20% of the effort he puts into whining at the refs playing actual defense, he would be far less of a liability on that end.

Ah yes, being from one of the biggest pariah countries in the world and the target of routine anti-semitic abuse separate from any legitimate criticism of the leadership of the patch of land he was born in, is totally why no one is talking about his free throws

Had your first loss this season to Portland lmfao

you have actual psychosis dude. nobody brings him up because he’s never been on a playoff contender in his life

Unwell.

The fact that there are people who upvote this…

Yeah that’s the other half

Why would that matter? Someone told me he’s more efficient than MJ.

That’s not what I said

A lot wrong with this comment

Flopping is absolutely effective, so is murder, doesn’t mean they are okay.

Luka is getting fouled a ton. Physicality on him is like 10 times than Trae or SGA.

It’s an exercise for the reader to figure that out

The Lakers only had one season in the last 5 where they led in FTA, you can easily check this on bkref or any other stats site. Lesson learned: take unsourced “wtf” stats from random redditors with a heaping pile of salt.

Yeah I was about to say we are one of the best teams at getting to the line. We don’t get called out for it because 1. We are the Magic. And 2. Paolo is our main foul drawer and to his credit he doesn’t bait fouls outside of the rip through move (which is annoying although it’s a legit foul on the defender). In fact Paolo’s foul drawing often hurts our team because he sucks at free throws and sometimes he seeks contact instead of making the layup. Hopefully it changes when he comes back. He’s very skilled at it but I want him to seek the and 1s more often than just the drive into the defender and throw up a prayer type. We aren’t as good at drawing fouls without him except for Bane sometimes and Wendell who has been really aggressive this year.

Lmao ,u know damn well difcerential is what matters

That is literally true though, 2 of his 3 highest fouls/game seasons were with the Lakers. He has been an incredibly disciplined defender for basically his entire career.

What does this stat even say? All we know is the Lakers have 1600 over 5 seasons…1600 of what?

someone should tell sliver it’s a lot of money they’re missing out on by not calling more fouls, think of many ads they could put during free throws split screen for one of the biggest markets

Throwing shade at a warriors fan is weird because they literally were one of the lowest valued franchises and were just sold before the 2010s

They were not considered a big market for basketball simply because the lakers existed.

These clowns don’t actually watch basketball, they are just here for the memes.

How do the two methods differ?

Even when the game is close, and he blows it by complaining at the refs and giving the opponent a 5 on 4 fast break.

Complaining to the refs is a ‘tired narrative’ according to lakers fans, now let’s get back to talking about floppers.

When it’s not a normal basketball action…leaning in to the contact instead of a normal shooting motion. You can still draw fouls without having to resort to that. It’s called playing the game ‘the right way’.

Or make a goofy face like he was murder then flopping mid air or flailing around. Its rare for Luka. SGA literally flail around without bump or physical.

He’s been in the top 3 twice over the past 5 years and both times it was #3. He’s also shooting way way less 3s and non paint jumpers than Luka. People are just obsessed and enraged by every single SGA foul and they are posted more than anyone else’s so it sticks out in their mind and then snowballs from there

Luka has been getting shit for his antics the entire time he’s been in the league

Yeah just looked it up as well. He’s been 2nd or 3rd in FTA’s in the league since 2022 until now.

For what it’s worth I understand it’s part of the game, and an ugly part of the game that’s not fun for fans, but what I’ve never liked is how he’ll throw himself into defenders, or flop egregiously to get the call where it goes well beyond selling contact. And the refs officiating hasn’t been equal. On top of that he’s so skilled he doesn’t have to do it in the first place to still be incredible.

Exhausting

Professional victim! Does deni and trae do it the (w) right way? But I guess those guys don’t fit your narrative.

Reputations are just very hard to shake. And he has one as a flopper while not having a sizeable amount of defenders. So he’s gonna always get picked at and treated like one even if other players do similar shit.

I dont think fans intuitively link SGA’s flopping to his teams rough defense. Especially given that its not like OKC has ever been a team that doesn’t particularly foul. The year they won it all they actually gave up the 4th most freethrows in the league and shot the 5th most themselves.

Hell even last year when the hysteria was peaking in the playoffs and we had daily whining about it they shot less freethrows than the other teams they faced. Feels like a funny narrative that doesnt actually play out long term, but clip culture can easily plant a narrative in folks mind and once its there its there.

Saying it doesn’t matter that Luka foul baits because his team doesn’t play physical defense is dumb as hell

They’re killing you and not even responding to the fact OKC were allowed to play football on defense

From a couple years ago now Luka flops

He rarely moved from the corner during half court offense in Washington. You’ve got to force defenders to make choices to get a lot of FT attempts.

Consistently top 3 for a while now.

Did you read my comment? I’m not really talking about numbers, I’m talking about how his game translates to the numbers. He is not a flopper. He does get fouled

My favorite part of this argument is that OKC is typically bottom 10 in fta and have an awful ft differential.last season was slightly better, this season back down to normal for the whole team.

So if that’s their strategy, they clearly aren’t good at it. Yet, the notion persists.

This isn’t an original opinion. You’re being a parrot.

OKC “got away” with it because they’re one of the best defenses of all time. Stop trying to compare mediocre defenses getting fouls called on them to OKC

Yeah, this is the part of the narrative people forget. Watching Caruso and Dort literally play like NFL linebackers on one side of the court and then transition to flopping soccer players on the other side of the court is horrible to watch

So do the Spurs?

is the biggest thing people hate about it his game

When I hear theories like this it always makes me scratch my head. How many Shai fouls look like that? The vast majority of Shai fouls are normal drives with help being out of position or the pump fake foul. I thought embellishing and flopping was the issue - now it’s apparently this super niche play where he pushes off NOT for a midrange but for fouls? lol

he’s not getting to the line anymore cause he’s not getting to the rim though. Dont think that’s related to the push off rule

Except it isn’t a push off, it’s bumping into a defender. A move that has been done for decades. Shaq, one of the most glazed offensive talents of all time scored 20+ points a game by doing this…

Damn I feel like a Thunder fan the way I gotta explain this man lol

brother sga haters only found out about pushoffs last offseason. The freethrow narrative got debunked and you guys have been talking out of your assholes ever since. You guys called him “FTA”, then said it wasn’t about the free throws, it was how he got them. Then some bullshit fall% stat in the playoffs, then in the off-season it was all about push-offs. Now we’re in the first game of the 26-27 season and now you guys turned into facebook uncs and say he’s travelling.

Considering how cramped his landing space was after every single shot I’m more than happy he fell 17% of the time to save those ankles

The falling down is often about protecting his own body when shooting off-balance. Of course that’s not always the case, but everyone loses their fucking minds.

Yeah, Luka sitting at number 1 makes the SGA flopping talk feel weird.

Prove this to me

Rather see flopping then someone assaulting people on the court by kicking them in the nuts

Who cares though?

I was having this argument with my friend all last year’s playoffs. It doesnt meaningfully impact the freethrow differential. Its just ugly. His team usually gives up more freethrows than they get.

Drawing fouls and seeking contact has been a part of the game since the late 80s.

This is a good analysis of Luka tbh

Same for me with luka.

I think he’s mentally drained from watching 4 guys go out for extended time, two for the season. Caruso should be back in a couple weeks, but Chet out another 3 months.

Can be draining and he needs to adjust.

Not even great players average 1.5 pts/fga. MJ and Bron hovered around 1.35 even when MJ was averaging 12 FTA.

The problem with relying on free throws for production is a slight change in ref enforcement can wreck your game plan. This happened to harden every post season when his foul baiting for fail and he didn’t have an answer for it.

Sga is such a hard watch because hes the best foul baiter I’ve ever seen. Every game I have to watch him pump fake a three get a player to jump then he side jumps directly into them for easy free throw. Just disgusting to watch and works every game.

It comes from Luka’s own mouth lol