I think Luka has indirectly caused Dallas issues with what I call ‘The LeBron Effect’.
When teams draft a franchise rookie they usually have time to slowly build picking up more lottery talent along the way. But players like LeBron & Luka are elite win share producers from the offset. As a result, their team is pushed up into a winning position that the GM isn’t ready for. Without pre-hoarding other teams picks Cavs were never able to get the best young talent around LeBron and I think this could be the case with Luka.
Well it doesn't help that they blew the 9th pick the year before Luka (Dennis Smith) and to get Luka they traded a pick that would end up 10th (Cam Reddish). They then traded two future 1st's for the Zinger. So they didn't help themselves in the young talent acquisition department.
Imagine if they'd taken Mitchell or Bam instead of Dennis Smith Jr
Luka and Bam would have formed one of the best PnR duos in NBA history (imo, the best). They'd be unstoppable! Swap Zinger with Bam and I bet the Mavs would have won it all this season. At the very least, they wouldn't have been using two oversized bigs at the same time. Why on earth were they starting both Zinger and Marjanovic? Neither of them can play D on the perimeter. It makes zero sense to me.
Wouldn't like the fit of Mitchell next to Luka. They are both ball dominant guards. Mitchell runs the show in Utah. I really don't think he would have been the same player if he were playing off the ball.
It also doesn't help that the Mavs need very specific types of players to take them to the next level due to Doncic's skillset (a defensive stud who has an off-ball game on offence like Garnett/AD or an off-ball specialist who can also defend like Klay).
For all of the talk about Doncic needing a secondary offensive star next to him, I'm not sure if it would even be worthwhile to do so. Sure, another offensive star can improve the Mavs' attack - in Brooklyn's non-Durant lineups this year, lineups quarterbacked by Harden (a player functionally similar to Doncic) averaged 117.3 ORTG, but lineups with Kryknee supporting him jumped by more than 3 points to a whopping 120.4 ORTG. However, those offensively-slanted lineups were also porous defensively, leading to the latter having a worse net rating than heliocentric lineups around Harden. Unless you're adding an incredibly scalable offensive superstar to the Mavericks like Curry/Jokic/Bird, it's difficult to get the crazy 6 point bump that Bird 'gave' the Celtics in '88 (the same core in '89 minus Bird had an offence 6 points worse than their '88 attack) to make what you're giving up on defence by replacing a strong defensive role player with said star a significant net gain for the team.
Going forward, the Mavs might be better off surrounding Doncic with 3 and D role players in the starting lineup and a couple of ballhandlers (they already have a very good one in Brunson) to keep the offence afloat when Doncic is taking a breather unless they can find the type of rare star detailed above. This is why scaling is so important - you get huge diminishing marginal returns when you add more and more on-ball talent to your squad on offence, and sometimes it might even be better to add an 'inferior player' who defends well and complements on-ball teammates on offence than said 'star'.
Couldn't agree more. TP! Luka led the NBA is USG% this season. It makes zero sense to pair him with a ball dominant player. Ideally, the Mavs should go after a mobile defensive big man who's a PnR specialist. For instance: AD, Bam, Capela. Alternatively, Luka would also thrive alongside a 2-way star who's happy to play off the ball on offense. For instance: Kawhi, KD, Paul George, Middleton, Tatum, Brown, Klay. Obviously, these guys don't exactly grow on trees. If none such player is available, the best they can do is surround Luka with 3+D (s)wings, plus one defensive minded big.
Theoretically, Porzingis is a nice fit next to Luka. He ain't mobile enough to defend the perimeter, but you can hide him in a drop scheme on defense. I mean, he comfortably led the league in BLK% in 2018. At the same time, he's perfectly happy to play off the ball on offense. Unfortunately, he's injury prone and he's massively overpaid.
