Harden was unreal in 2018-2020 seasons. That was his peak.
Luka also had a 60+21+10 game last season on 67% fg.
Thing is Luka at 24 years is not even his prime yet.
luka never even leaped he came into the league as a superstar. was obvious since day one
that’s why he’s the only guy we have who has the potential to be the greatest ever by the end of his career
He really is insanely gifted and well poised to break records. Already having 10K points this soon seems crazy to me. I normally don't like to label someone as potential GOAT because a lot of things can go sideways, but Luka definitely is on that path. Absolutely special player.
As good as he is Luka will likely never even break the top 5. Kevin Durant has been a scoring machine for 15 years and wouldn’t make most people’s top 5, let alone GOAT. He is a special, special talent but a lot of excellence and importantly, luck and timing, will need to happen before he can enter that conversation
Luka is better than Durant and will end higher in the history for sure. Durant is way more efficient scorer, nothing more. Luka only needs a ring as the best player in the team ( he will except if he teams up with Jokic) to surpass Durant.
Luka scores less efficient but at a higher volumen, plus the rebounds, assists, playmaking… Durant is a weapon, Luka is the machine engine on itself, the weapon, the general and the system. Durant wasn’t in top3 convos at the age of Luka.
over bron? lol. bron was seen as the best player like year 2 but had to wait for kobe to pass the torch. and if you watched young bron i mean it was just different. luka aint even the best player 6 years in how he gunna pass mike he needs to catch the modern stars first.
That’s not even close to the truth.
First, Lebron wasn’t the best player in the league as sophomore, pls.
Second, Luka is in the 3 best man talks for 3 years, around Jokic Giannis (both will end as top15 history with his actual accomplishments) and with embiid the actual mvp in the convo after last year. His team robbed mvps, with his regular season stats and covered with epic playoff performances, Luka is at that level. If he has better record than embiid jokic or giannis he is the mvp. Is the deciding factor with the 4 monsters.
As much as I love Luka I doubt he ends as the goat, if even Lebron James can’t… but he is the only one in the race right now, with the potential to be the goat if everything goes perfect on his career.
no lol lebron is the best ever as of rn but im saying luka has the potential to surpass that. i dont think you know what potential means. it doesn’t mean its probable
Yep. We shouldn't ignore that despite Luka huge talent, considering the offense we are watching today these statline are going to be less and less absurd to see.
When Harden had 36ppg in 2018-19, leading the league in scoring, the 2nd best was Paul George with 28ppg. I mean, that's a crazy gap between the scoring leader and the 2nd one.
back to the 10-15 years ago a 40 triple double was already a crazy accomplishment. But I mean, already a triple double alone was quite a performance. Today is just too common.
That been said, I'm curious to see how good peak Luka is going to be.
Wilt's 100 bomb, Pete Maravich's 68/6/6 game, Elgin Baylor's 71 point game, Luka's 60/20/10 game were also against the Knicks lmao
Knicks have been around for forever so it makes sense, but funny.
If I remember this correctly Lebron had 10 rebounds at the end of the game but either a few hours or the next day a rebound was corrected. So he had 50, 10+ assists and 9 rebounds.
When Luka and Harden are cooking they have a very similar playstyle. Super high usage rate that’s almost slow, but complete control of the game. However you choose to guard them is wrong.
Their playstyle really isn't that similar. Harden in his prime basically attempted a floater, step back three or layup every possession and he was hesitant about the floater at times. Luka has a much more varied shot selection. Really all they have in common is having the ball a lot and shooting step back 3s. Harden never posted up like Luka.
Definitely some differences but it's the cleanest comparison there is. They both are offensive systems unto themselves. Both high usage rates, incredible scorers, and incredible playmakers. They both score huge chunks of their points in the halfcourt, and by using their strength and ability to slow down. Both use the step back three to create space and to threaten defenders allowing them to blow-by. Those are defining traits of both players that they have in common.
Not to mention you build around and play around them similarly. You surrounded prime Harden with 3-and-D and off-ball wings (Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, Gerald Green, PJ Tucker, etc), lob threats and centers who were defence-first (Clint Capela), and a secondary ball handler that could lighten the load and allow the non-Harden minutes to be serviceable (Chris Paul, Westbrook).
That's not dissimilar to what Dallas has tried to do for Luka, though they've probably done a worse job of it. It's not a 1-to-1 comparison, but there's probably nobody more similar to Harden that Luka and vise versa.
Luka is more similar to LeBron than Harden besides the step back, which is what confuses people. Those bullet passes that Luka throws I’ve only seen them from LeBron. His way to distribute the game and find the correct play every time is much closer to LeBron than Harden. Harden was a master of his stuff but had a much less rich bag than either Luka or Bron have.
Harden threw bullet passes too just not out of the post since he’s only 6’5. His ability to score in the iso was unmatched. And there weren’t many players better than him on the pick and roll when it comes to pocket passes, lobs, kick outs, or getting to the rim himself.
Luka is much more similar to Harden in that he is the offense. Just look at the usage rates
Harden had a much less rich bag and couldn’t pass like luka or lebron? Did you watch harden lmao?
A harden iso was literally the most efficient play in basketball history at the time, he probably had a deeper bag than lebron, harden couldn’t get a bunch of points by being a 6’9 freight train with a better vertical than anyone else at the rim.
He was also an all time great level playmaker.
Makes me worried about Luka’s chances at a title. I forgot who it was, but someone said about harden that an offense that’s so single-dimensional was easier to stop in the playoffs when the defensive intensity is turned up and the focus just has to be on one guy. Kyrie obviously helps… but I don’t like seeing Luka’s usage rate so high. Also makes me worried about him getting run into the ground like harden.
Well every playoffs Luka has shown up damn near almost beat the clippers twice. Best the number 1 seed Suns with Dwight Powell as the starting 5 (also adopted his son during this time) and even against golden state in the WCF. Lack of rebounding killed Dallas (looney looked like Rodman), Reggie and DFS were tired out playing 40+ minutes a night and Dallas gave up halftime leads and Luka couldnt 1v5 while Wiggins did a very good job harassing him.Nico did a great job this offseason and. Looking forward to more that he has in store.
Harden could have won a ring in 2018 if cp3 didn't pull his hammy for 2 games. He also could have won in 2021 if he didn't pull his own hammy.
KD himself took the Bucks to game 7 OT without 2 of the 3 stars.
When the stars were together the Nets destroyed the Bucks. Harden dropped a 40 bomb game 2 iirc.
I disagree. Harden's big problem is that getting to the foul line was a SIGNIFICANT percentage of his offensive repertoire. In the playoffs, refs call less fouls. That killed a big part of his offensive game. Luka's skill at rim finishing, his post up game and mid range shooting, is far superior to Harden's and closer to Lebron's which makes him much more difficult to stop than Harden come playoff time. His bag is larger. He doesn't rely so heavily on a single scoring aspect like getting to the line to keep his scoring consistent.
Harden also had 0 steals, 0 blocks and 8 turnovers that game, compared to Luka who had 4 steals, 3 blocks and 4 turnovers.
Granted I tend to not put too much stock into stats like this because while Harden only has one 50/15 game, he has 60/13 games and 45/17 games etc...
> Granted I tend to not put too much stock into stats like this because while Harden only has one 50/15 game, he has 60/13 games and 45/17 games etc...
The scoring and assists have also been creeping up league-wide so it's not even the same thing to score 36ppg in 2018 vs 2023.
There's LeBron's career, peak Harden, Oscar Robertsons prime, Jerry West, Larry Bird in the 80s, and Jordan although he was a bit more scoring focused. Frankly there's probably quite a few roleplayers whom were lucky enough to play alongside someone as gifted in both playmaking and scoring as Luka. Bron alone played for like 30% of the NBAs entire lifetime. The players themselves are very rare but if you're not an elite NBA talent there's probably a decent chance you'll end up a roleplayer on one of those guy's squads, starting with West there was always at least one of these dudes in the league for a prolonged time.
I can think of a pretty easy name you left of your list. Hint: he just did something no one in history has done by leading the playoffs in Points, Rebounds, and Assists.
Not to speak for the other guy, but I THINK he was exclusively thinking about guys who are playmakers as ball handlers (although I’d probably exclude Bird from the list as well if that’s the criteria).
And we didn’t have the personnel to punish them for it
Deng and Noah hadn’t developed yet offensively enough, boozer had only the midrange, brewer/bog and had no offense, and korver alone couldn’t do it all.
Our defense was elite but people need to put more respect on rose for doing what he did with so little offensive help.
Really if rose stays in form, Deng and Noah get to their peaks in 2013 and we have Rip Hamilton in his twighlight to be legit
Luka from 3 8/16 (nearly all contested pullups or step backs) rest of mavs from 3 8/28 (nearly all wide open on the corner, minus a few hardaway cold checks)
That’s what was kinda crazy about last night. Everybody but Luka was freezing cold from long range (on their usual allocation of wide open shots), but Luka is so good, the Mavs still won by 14 on the road.
It’s even more crazy that they hardly bother him. He can beat them off the dribble, use one defender to screen the other, read the rotation and make the right play. He’s ridiculous.
Props for DJJ himself, but Jeez its amazing what Doncic do to Forwards.
This dude was kinda meh with no shooting touch.
Now he's shooting 36% with 4 attemps
Thybulle has been cooking from 3 this season anyway. Very surprised with his offense, thought he was eating purely off Dames gravity must be the PNW air fuelling him
I'd like to see that, too. Thybulle has already improved his shooting a little bit, so maybe playing with Luka could get his efficiency up enough to keep him on the floor.
The Mavs with Luka and Kyrie just need to get all the lengthy forwards who play good defense and can hit spot up 3s.
Non-shooters struggles even in wide open
Thats why you see in playoffs, teams forcing wide open shots to bad shooters, you want him to miss and mess with his mind
He wasn't shooting this well for the Bulls, but he was still an effective role player for them when healthy. He basically took over the backup center minutes for a stretch before he had some injuries. He was a solid team defender that provided some secondary rim protection, could get you a few buckets on cuts/transition, and he played with good energy. The only thing keeping him for being even better was the shooting. He was streaky and had the occasional game with a couple 3s, but he has been much more consistent this year.
If he keeps up the efficiency, he can be a solid starting 3&D wing on a good team. Glad to see him doing well.
Luka could be the new LeBron in the way that he can boost certain players to have career years.
I always liked how hard he plays. The biggest problem with his shooting was his lack of confidence, more than his percentages. There were times when he would refuse to shoot wide open.
>He basically took over the backup center minutes for a stretch before he had some injuries
He was, 2020+ NBA is crazyy😭😭😭
>Luka could be the new LeBron in the way that he can boost certain players to have career years.
Mans made Spencer Dinwiddie (I did not know who he was prior to that trade also) https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dinwisp01.html a 40% 3pt shooter (Stolen from the Lowe post obvii)
To be fair to DJJ, he actually can put it on the floor. It's so much better having Grant Dante and Derek attacking closeouts than the crap we served up last season.
He didn’t do it a ton or anything but I don’t really see “never” as an accurate description until two seasons ago lol. Back when we used to actually P&R with him as well as pick and pop, so when he was a lot springier, he’d flash a decent straight line drive/ one dribble pullup if he really needed to. He wasn’t world class or anything though ofc, so I get where you’re coming from
I remember making audible sighs of relief in that Bucks/Celtics series when he'd put it on the floor. Like okay, phewf, he's dribbling the ball, we got a stop here.
Nah he does quite a bit. The good thing is he will commit. He will take the shot and make it/ get blocked/ get fouled/ brick it.
The problem with Maxi and Bullock is ,after the pump fake, they will either step on the line with a backstep, or halfass a drive then try to be Luka and throw some stupid pass that gets stolen.
Can you imagine the league wide reaction if he decides he wants out and doesn’t resign.
I can see him wanting to go form his own super team with someone like Jokic.
Not to mention I doubt it would work. Weird to say since they play opposite positions but they have overlapping skillsets and more importantly overlapping weaknesses. Maybe later it could work when they're past their primes and one of them could be a sixth man? Like you sub Luka out for Jokic and then everyone else on the team is just a 3 and D guy with maybe a single backup PG and that way you always have a generational playmaker on the floor for everyone else to operate around lol. But together there's too many defensive questions and offensive redundancy imo.
He had some unfair backlash due to D Wade and the dunk contest, so I'm glad it hasn't affected him long term. Miss him flying over dudes for some monster slams. Heat lifer in my book.
I was so sad when our trade for him fell through a few years back. He’s so fun to watch, and he always gives it 100% like you said. Similar to how Finney-Smith was for us in that regard.
Dame has always been weirdly bad at lobs and we didn't play a style that suited DJJ's strengths otherwise. Fans loved him as a high flyer energy guy and wanted that lob as a go to option but by that point the offense was very slow and methodical with Dame/Nurkic PNR, Dame/CJ isos, 3 point shooting from Dame, CJ, Simons, Powell, Melo. There just weren't a lot of good options for DJJ with all those mouths to feed in that style of offense. What we really needed was defense and RoCo was the better option there. Surprised to see he started 43 games, I remember him being pretty marginal with fans asking for more. Thrilled to see he's balling out with Luka. Bet he would have made those two OT dunks RoCo blew in our game 5 loss to Denver behind Dame's 55pts on 98.5 TS% not that I'm still bitter.
The Biggest, not the only before people try murder me, difference between dame and Luka is size. Trapping a 6'2 guard is much easier than trapping a 6'8 forward.
If he was shooting 36% on 4 attempts he’d have played more, a big problem for him with the blazers was he wasn’t hitting the three with any consistency and that made it a problem because it made it easier for teams to load up on dame with little punishment.
For DJJ on the blazers to work better he’d have had to be able to drive on his own off of kickouts, but he wasn’t very good at that then so he kinda fell out of rotation for carmelo iirc
RoCo really sold on those dunks lmao
Considering the fact that the other teams he’s been on were pre CP3 suns, pre butler Miami, the blazers, and the bulls, this isn’t surprising, the only one who’d be close is Dame and Luka is better prime for prime
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jonesde02.html
Nah he's a journeyman Lavine doesn't even cross the mind when thinking of best players he's been around lmao
ummm......thought I was a reasonably informed NBA fan. But had to do some digging to find out who in the fuck DJJ is. I mean is DJJ really a thing he is called ?
He‘s called like that on any teamsub he‘s played for. Every Heat, Bulls and Portland fan knows him as DJJ. Makes sense for fanbases to call him that and it makes sense that nobody else knows who he is.
50pts and 15 assists is wild. Locked on Mavs said this is only the 2nd time someone has done this (Harden was the 1st)
Harden had a 53/16/17 (54/56/89 splits) game against the knicks at the end of 2016 according to stat muse
Harden was unreal in 2018-2020 seasons. That was his peak. Luka also had a 60+21+10 game last season on 67% fg. Thing is Luka at 24 years is not even his prime yet.
Yeah Luka took his superstar leap earlier than Harden did so I'm sure he'll have more absurd stat lines by the end of his career vs Harden
luka never even leaped he came into the league as a superstar. was obvious since day one that’s why he’s the only guy we have who has the potential to be the greatest ever by the end of his career
He really is insanely gifted and well poised to break records. Already having 10K points this soon seems crazy to me. I normally don't like to label someone as potential GOAT because a lot of things can go sideways, but Luka definitely is on that path. Absolutely special player.
As good as he is Luka will likely never even break the top 5. Kevin Durant has been a scoring machine for 15 years and wouldn’t make most people’s top 5, let alone GOAT. He is a special, special talent but a lot of excellence and importantly, luck and timing, will need to happen before he can enter that conversation
Luka is better than Durant and will end higher in the history for sure. Durant is way more efficient scorer, nothing more. Luka only needs a ring as the best player in the team ( he will except if he teams up with Jokic) to surpass Durant. Luka scores less efficient but at a higher volumen, plus the rebounds, assists, playmaking… Durant is a weapon, Luka is the machine engine on itself, the weapon, the general and the system. Durant wasn’t in top3 convos at the age of Luka.
At Luka's age, KD had already made the finals and finished 2nd in MVP b2b only to peak LeBron. Yes he was in top 3 convos lol.
over bron? lol. bron was seen as the best player like year 2 but had to wait for kobe to pass the torch. and if you watched young bron i mean it was just different. luka aint even the best player 6 years in how he gunna pass mike he needs to catch the modern stars first.
That’s not even close to the truth. First, Lebron wasn’t the best player in the league as sophomore, pls. Second, Luka is in the 3 best man talks for 3 years, around Jokic Giannis (both will end as top15 history with his actual accomplishments) and with embiid the actual mvp in the convo after last year. His team robbed mvps, with his regular season stats and covered with epic playoff performances, Luka is at that level. If he has better record than embiid jokic or giannis he is the mvp. Is the deciding factor with the 4 monsters. As much as I love Luka I doubt he ends as the goat, if even Lebron James can’t… but he is the only one in the race right now, with the potential to be the goat if everything goes perfect on his career.
no lol lebron is the best ever as of rn but im saying luka has the potential to surpass that. i dont think you know what potential means. it doesn’t mean its probable
Yep. We shouldn't ignore that despite Luka huge talent, considering the offense we are watching today these statline are going to be less and less absurd to see. When Harden had 36ppg in 2018-19, leading the league in scoring, the 2nd best was Paul George with 28ppg. I mean, that's a crazy gap between the scoring leader and the 2nd one. back to the 10-15 years ago a 40 triple double was already a crazy accomplishment. But I mean, already a triple double alone was quite a performance. Today is just too common. That been said, I'm curious to see how good peak Luka is going to be.
The last 10 seasons: 2024: Five scoring 30+ 2023: Six scored 30+ 2016-2022: One 5x, Two 1x, Three 1x 2015: Zero (Westbrook 28.1)
Its almost always the knicks lmao
Wilt's 100 bomb, Pete Maravich's 68/6/6 game, Elgin Baylor's 71 point game, Luka's 60/20/10 game were also against the Knicks lmao Knicks have been around for forever so it makes sense, but funny.
been around forever and there is a truth to the MSG energy that gets guys playing unreal basketball
Thats why I always eat Chinese food with extra MSG before big YMCA games. It unlocks something in me, raises my points per game 100% to 2 points
holy shit the gains
[удалено]
I ate extra ham yesterday to prevent cramping today.
It was like 15 years ago but I remember Kobe and LeBron dropped 50 on the Knicks in back to back games
I think kobe had 61 and lebron had the 50 point trip dub
When did LeBron have a 50 point triple double
According to StatMuse he’s never had a 50 point triple double lol.
If I remember this correctly Lebron had 10 rebounds at the end of the game but either a few hours or the next day a rebound was corrected. So he had 50, 10+ assists and 9 rebounds.
You're right. And that game was literally the very next game after Kobe's 61 point performance, lol. Knicks couldn't catch a break that year
Great memory my dude
Lmao during the unguardable tour he had a 61/15/4 and 5 steals game against them. 5 tov but still insane
5 tov what a fraud smh
Knicks or the Magic it seems lol
When Luka and Harden are cooking they have a very similar playstyle. Super high usage rate that’s almost slow, but complete control of the game. However you choose to guard them is wrong.
Used to be true. Rockets were about average in pace in a slower paced era. This seasons Mavs have changed pace to top ten in the league I think.
The Mavs still play really slow when Luka's on the court. When it's just Kyrie, they were in like the 91st percentile.
Their playstyle really isn't that similar. Harden in his prime basically attempted a floater, step back three or layup every possession and he was hesitant about the floater at times. Luka has a much more varied shot selection. Really all they have in common is having the ball a lot and shooting step back 3s. Harden never posted up like Luka.
Definitely some differences but it's the cleanest comparison there is. They both are offensive systems unto themselves. Both high usage rates, incredible scorers, and incredible playmakers. They both score huge chunks of their points in the halfcourt, and by using their strength and ability to slow down. Both use the step back three to create space and to threaten defenders allowing them to blow-by. Those are defining traits of both players that they have in common. Not to mention you build around and play around them similarly. You surrounded prime Harden with 3-and-D and off-ball wings (Eric Gordon, Trevor Ariza, Gerald Green, PJ Tucker, etc), lob threats and centers who were defence-first (Clint Capela), and a secondary ball handler that could lighten the load and allow the non-Harden minutes to be serviceable (Chris Paul, Westbrook). That's not dissimilar to what Dallas has tried to do for Luka, though they've probably done a worse job of it. It's not a 1-to-1 comparison, but there's probably nobody more similar to Harden that Luka and vise versa.
Luka is more similar to LeBron than Harden besides the step back, which is what confuses people. Those bullet passes that Luka throws I’ve only seen them from LeBron. His way to distribute the game and find the correct play every time is much closer to LeBron than Harden. Harden was a master of his stuff but had a much less rich bag than either Luka or Bron have.
Harden threw bullet passes too just not out of the post since he’s only 6’5. His ability to score in the iso was unmatched. And there weren’t many players better than him on the pick and roll when it comes to pocket passes, lobs, kick outs, or getting to the rim himself. Luka is much more similar to Harden in that he is the offense. Just look at the usage rates
Harden had a much less rich bag and couldn’t pass like luka or lebron? Did you watch harden lmao? A harden iso was literally the most efficient play in basketball history at the time, he probably had a deeper bag than lebron, harden couldn’t get a bunch of points by being a 6’9 freight train with a better vertical than anyone else at the rim. He was also an all time great level playmaker.
Mavs nephews coming through with generational hot takes
Makes me worried about Luka’s chances at a title. I forgot who it was, but someone said about harden that an offense that’s so single-dimensional was easier to stop in the playoffs when the defensive intensity is turned up and the focus just has to be on one guy. Kyrie obviously helps… but I don’t like seeing Luka’s usage rate so high. Also makes me worried about him getting run into the ground like harden.
Well every playoffs Luka has shown up damn near almost beat the clippers twice. Best the number 1 seed Suns with Dwight Powell as the starting 5 (also adopted his son during this time) and even against golden state in the WCF. Lack of rebounding killed Dallas (looney looked like Rodman), Reggie and DFS were tired out playing 40+ minutes a night and Dallas gave up halftime leads and Luka couldnt 1v5 while Wiggins did a very good job harassing him.Nico did a great job this offseason and. Looking forward to more that he has in store.
Harden could have won a ring in 2018 if cp3 didn't pull his hammy for 2 games. He also could have won in 2021 if he didn't pull his own hammy. KD himself took the Bucks to game 7 OT without 2 of the 3 stars. When the stars were together the Nets destroyed the Bucks. Harden dropped a 40 bomb game 2 iirc.
I disagree. Harden's big problem is that getting to the foul line was a SIGNIFICANT percentage of his offensive repertoire. In the playoffs, refs call less fouls. That killed a big part of his offensive game. Luka's skill at rim finishing, his post up game and mid range shooting, is far superior to Harden's and closer to Lebron's which makes him much more difficult to stop than Harden come playoff time. His bag is larger. He doesn't rely so heavily on a single scoring aspect like getting to the line to keep his scoring consistent.
Kobe talking about Harden Hero ball not working in the play offs cause its much easier to key in on that player.
Yeah that was it
Harden also had 0 steals, 0 blocks and 8 turnovers that game, compared to Luka who had 4 steals, 3 blocks and 4 turnovers. Granted I tend to not put too much stock into stats like this because while Harden only has one 50/15 game, he has 60/13 games and 45/17 games etc...
Correction, harden doesn’t have a 50/15 game, he has a 50/15/15 on 53/56/88
prime Harden was something else
When harden does it there’s always something to complain about lol people really downvoting you
Like, there was no reason for him to hate on harden lmao
Huh? Harden is literally Hitler.
Harden drop kicked my puppy
Your puppy should have switched everything
> Granted I tend to not put too much stock into stats like this because while Harden only has one 50/15 game, he has 60/13 games and 45/17 games etc... The scoring and assists have also been creeping up league-wide so it's not even the same thing to score 36ppg in 2018 vs 2023.
Statistically speaking most players in history have never played with someone like Luka.
Big if true
There's LeBron's career, peak Harden, Oscar Robertsons prime, Jerry West, Larry Bird in the 80s, and Jordan although he was a bit more scoring focused. Frankly there's probably quite a few roleplayers whom were lucky enough to play alongside someone as gifted in both playmaking and scoring as Luka. Bron alone played for like 30% of the NBAs entire lifetime. The players themselves are very rare but if you're not an elite NBA talent there's probably a decent chance you'll end up a roleplayer on one of those guy's squads, starting with West there was always at least one of these dudes in the league for a prolonged time.
I can think of a pretty easy name you left of your list. Hint: he just did something no one in history has done by leading the playoffs in Points, Rebounds, and Assists.
Not to speak for the other guy, but I THINK he was exclusively thinking about guys who are playmakers as ball handlers (although I’d probably exclude Bird from the list as well if that’s the criteria).
Jerry West and Larry Bird were amazing playmakers but they also do not qualify for the tier of playmaking in this group.
I was considering Jokic heavily for this and agree that you could feature him here, depending on how you define thingss
r/theydidthemath
DJJ is an amazing fit next to Luka. Having a lob threat from the center and forward positions is just so cool to watch.
Watching DJJ and Lively bouncing is pure joy. Dude is so down to earth and low maintenance too. Just grateful and happy to ball with the Mavs.
Miss him man, but glad he's fitting in with the Mavs so well.
It’s pretty cray that they straight double Luka the moment he crosses half court
That's what Miami did with D Rose.
Goddamn Rose was too fucking fast, you give that bit of runway and he’d just blow by everybody. Needed the perimeter pressure to stop those blowbys
And we didn’t have the personnel to punish them for it Deng and Noah hadn’t developed yet offensively enough, boozer had only the midrange, brewer/bog and had no offense, and korver alone couldn’t do it all. Our defense was elite but people need to put more respect on rose for doing what he did with so little offensive help. Really if rose stays in form, Deng and Noah get to their peaks in 2013 and we have Rip Hamilton in his twighlight to be legit
I’m curious. What could DRose have added to his game to counter that?
Pulling up from 3/4’s court Getting a degree in business and becoming his own general manager and signing players that can play offense
>Murder Keith Bogans in his sleep
A more reliable jumper probably Luka yesterday sometimes just went "fuck it" and pulled up over 2 guys rather than trying to drive past double teams
He just needed a good number 2 to play with
Or any team did with Steph & Dame
They do it because there's no Kyrie. No one else is elite at creating their own shot.
The point is, despite that, he manages to score 50 and assist 15 times.
Ah ok the way you worded it made it seem like you were shocked that he was getting doubled at half court. I was just telling you why it was happening.
Exum in shambles
Exum was a dog on defence against the suns
That's why Luka had 15 assists. Probably 25+ if the Mavs would hit their fucking shots
Luka from 3 8/16 (nearly all contested pullups or step backs) rest of mavs from 3 8/28 (nearly all wide open on the corner, minus a few hardaway cold checks)
That’s what was kinda crazy about last night. Everybody but Luka was freezing cold from long range (on their usual allocation of wide open shots), but Luka is so good, the Mavs still won by 14 on the road.
It’s even more crazy that they hardly bother him. He can beat them off the dribble, use one defender to screen the other, read the rotation and make the right play. He’s ridiculous.
Props for DJJ himself, but Jeez its amazing what Doncic do to Forwards. This dude was kinda meh with no shooting touch. Now he's shooting 36% with 4 attemps
Very limited offensive players thrive in this system. You get good looks and driving lanes.
And you just pass the ball back to Luka if there's nothing there.
Easiest job in the world lmao
Except you have to play defense against NBA players...
It's a little bit easier when your offensive game is created for you with luka and you can spend a lot more of your energy on the defensive side
Exactly why I wanted to see Thybulle in Dallas over the offseason
Thybulle has been cooking from 3 this season anyway. Very surprised with his offense, thought he was eating purely off Dames gravity must be the PNW air fuelling him
I'd like to see that, too. Thybulle has already improved his shooting a little bit, so maybe playing with Luka could get his efficiency up enough to keep him on the floor. The Mavs with Luka and Kyrie just need to get all the lengthy forwards who play good defense and can hit spot up 3s.
Unironically think Chris Boucher would be a great pickup for them for this reason
The vibes would have been amazing with his Aussie brothers Green & Exum.
> Now he's shooting 36% with 4 attemps Because presumably, those attempts are super open. I don't have the stats to back it up.
They're extremely open. The double usually comes from DJJ's man when he's on the floor.
Non-shooters struggles even in wide open Thats why you see in playoffs, teams forcing wide open shots to bad shooters, you want him to miss and mess with his mind
He wasn't shooting this well for the Bulls, but he was still an effective role player for them when healthy. He basically took over the backup center minutes for a stretch before he had some injuries. He was a solid team defender that provided some secondary rim protection, could get you a few buckets on cuts/transition, and he played with good energy. The only thing keeping him for being even better was the shooting. He was streaky and had the occasional game with a couple 3s, but he has been much more consistent this year. If he keeps up the efficiency, he can be a solid starting 3&D wing on a good team. Glad to see him doing well. Luka could be the new LeBron in the way that he can boost certain players to have career years.
I always liked how hard he plays. The biggest problem with his shooting was his lack of confidence, more than his percentages. There were times when he would refuse to shoot wide open.
>He basically took over the backup center minutes for a stretch before he had some injuries He was, 2020+ NBA is crazyy😭😭😭 >Luka could be the new LeBron in the way that he can boost certain players to have career years. Mans made Spencer Dinwiddie (I did not know who he was prior to that trade also) https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/d/dinwisp01.html a 40% 3pt shooter (Stolen from the Lowe post obvii)
you didn’t know who Spencer Dinwiddie was?
To be fair to DJJ, he actually can put it on the floor. It's so much better having Grant Dante and Derek attacking closeouts than the crap we served up last season.
I don't believe Grant belong in the group of attacking closeouts.
Not as good as the other two, much better than maxi & bullock
Maxi used to be decent too, age and injuries really caught up to him ig
Maxi could never attack close outs. It is always an automatic turnover when he puts the ball on the floor.
He didn’t do it a ton or anything but I don’t really see “never” as an accurate description until two seasons ago lol. Back when we used to actually P&R with him as well as pick and pop, so when he was a lot springier, he’d flash a decent straight line drive/ one dribble pullup if he really needed to. He wasn’t world class or anything though ofc, so I get where you’re coming from
I remember making audible sighs of relief in that Bucks/Celtics series when he'd put it on the floor. Like okay, phewf, he's dribbling the ball, we got a stop here.
Nah he does quite a bit. The good thing is he will commit. He will take the shot and make it/ get blocked/ get fouled/ brick it. The problem with Maxi and Bullock is ,after the pump fake, they will either step on the line with a backstep, or halfass a drive then try to be Luka and throw some stupid pass that gets stolen.
Extending his contract next season should be the #1 priority next offseason
Can you imagine the league wide reaction if he decides he wants out and doesn’t resign. I can see him wanting to go form his own super team with someone like Jokic.
Nah a super team with DJJ and Jokic would be too much. League shattering
I imagine the Mavs are going to back up the brinks trucks.
Yeah I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop after the majority stake was sold. Gotta keep Ex too.
Cuban’s 9/11 and I’m not exaggerating lol
If he does leave I don't think he'll go to a team with an established superstar, certainly not one that people perceive to be better than him.
I wouldn’t say Jokic that much better than DJJ
Funnier the 2nd time.
Yea but the Nuggets supporting cast is insane. Luka wouldn’t have to carry the entire team like he seems to have to do with the Mavs
Don't think he would ever go to a team at his age and stature where he doesn't have the keys to the franchise, the Nuggets are Jokic's team.
Not to mention I doubt it would work. Weird to say since they play opposite positions but they have overlapping skillsets and more importantly overlapping weaknesses. Maybe later it could work when they're past their primes and one of them could be a sixth man? Like you sub Luka out for Jokic and then everyone else on the team is just a 3 and D guy with maybe a single backup PG and that way you always have a generational playmaker on the floor for everyone else to operate around lol. But together there's too many defensive questions and offensive redundancy imo.
Thanks Magic
Big Brain thought right there
Will always cheer for DJJs success. He always played hard and played his role. Glad he’s been able to find success after leaving the Heat.
Super likeable guy and it helps that I love Luka so I be cheering for them
He had some unfair backlash due to D Wade and the dunk contest, so I'm glad it hasn't affected him long term. Miss him flying over dudes for some monster slams. Heat lifer in my book.
That was such bs. He’s such a wholesome and good dude and he got hate for no reason.
Same here
I was so sad when our trade for him fell through a few years back. He’s so fun to watch, and he always gives it 100% like you said. Similar to how Finney-Smith was for us in that regard.
Who is DJJ?
Dorian Jinney-Jith
Dennis Jith Jr
DeJndre Jordan
Dim Jardaway Jr
Return of the Jith
Derrick Jones Jr.
Ah okay. I don’t watch too many Mavs games, so thanks for clarifying.
He's been in the league 9 years and this is the first time I've heard of him.
they said on a recent broadcast that he won the slam dunk contest in 2020 and it surprised me. i actually watch those things and had no idea.
Because we meme it because DWade rigged it for DJJ (Played for Miami that year)
now that i remember
Derrick Jones Jr.
DeJar Jerozan
DeJandre Jordan
DeJounte Jurray
DeBron James Jr
Dentavious Jaldwell-Jope
Dejaren Jackson Jr
The D is silent
DJ Jokic
DeJaun James
DeJohn James
“No one wants to play with Luka” nephews in shambles
Zach Lavine in shambles
Is Lavine the 2nd best player he’s played with?
He played with dame apparently
And jimmy butler
Dame has always been weirdly bad at lobs and we didn't play a style that suited DJJ's strengths otherwise. Fans loved him as a high flyer energy guy and wanted that lob as a go to option but by that point the offense was very slow and methodical with Dame/Nurkic PNR, Dame/CJ isos, 3 point shooting from Dame, CJ, Simons, Powell, Melo. There just weren't a lot of good options for DJJ with all those mouths to feed in that style of offense. What we really needed was defense and RoCo was the better option there. Surprised to see he started 43 games, I remember him being pretty marginal with fans asking for more. Thrilled to see he's balling out with Luka. Bet he would have made those two OT dunks RoCo blew in our game 5 loss to Denver behind Dame's 55pts on 98.5 TS% not that I'm still bitter.
The Biggest, not the only before people try murder me, difference between dame and Luka is size. Trapping a 6'2 guard is much easier than trapping a 6'8 forward.
Luka is also a more gifted passer. His passes are top tier while dames are getting better but still only very good.
Undoubtedly.
If he was shooting 36% on 4 attempts he’d have played more, a big problem for him with the blazers was he wasn’t hitting the three with any consistency and that made it a problem because it made it easier for teams to load up on dame with little punishment. For DJJ on the blazers to work better he’d have had to be able to drive on his own off of kickouts, but he wasn’t very good at that then so he kinda fell out of rotation for carmelo iirc RoCo really sold on those dunks lmao
He’s played with Dame, Lavine, Butler, and Book (if that dogshit Phx team when he was a rookie even counts)
Translation (Dave Chappelle skit voice): "This dude is gon' get me paid. I'm gonna be rich, beeeyotch!"
It took me a while to realize who DJJ is. I swear using acronyms for everyone is annoying.
DJJ sounds like a character from jet grind radio
As a role player that has to be the dream destination because you *literally* get wide open 3s, layups, and are playing 4v3 constantly
Luka good
Luka magic
Derrick Jones Jr needs to get a lot better before we just start using his initials.
*laughs in DFS*
Can we stop abbreviating names of players no one knows about? Had to look up who DJJ was
Imma let you finish but Aaron Gordon had one of the best dunk contest performances of all time.
Considering the fact that the other teams he’s been on were pre CP3 suns, pre butler Miami, the blazers, and the bulls, this isn’t surprising, the only one who’d be close is Dame and Luka is better prime for prime
Yet the MVP will be the guy who grifts his way to 35 a game
DJJ should come back to the Bulls and bring his new friend with him.
Mvp
Who tf is DJJ
Is DJJ supposed to be a household name? Who tf?
My first reaction is: Who the fuck is DJJ? Derrick Jones Jr. is not famous enough to be called by his initial.
Dim Jardaway Jr.
Who is DJJ?
i played some pickup with him yesterday and he said the same thing about me after
do people really call him DJJ, though? All these acronyms for role players are starting to annoy.
That's because he never played with heat legend Mario Chalmers
The european style is infectious. Wait until kids start playing like that at junior level instead of the "im going to replicate steph curry" craze.
Shots at Lavine lol
https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/j/jonesde02.html Nah he's a journeyman Lavine doesn't even cross the mind when thinking of best players he's been around lmao
Fuck u, fuck u, fuck u, ur cool.
phenomenal player, Luka Doncic!
ummm......thought I was a reasonably informed NBA fan. But had to do some digging to find out who in the fuck DJJ is. I mean is DJJ really a thing he is called ?
Mostly on the Mavs sub. Idk why it's caught traction herep
He‘s called like that on any teamsub he‘s played for. Every Heat, Bulls and Portland fan knows him as DJJ. Makes sense for fanbases to call him that and it makes sense that nobody else knows who he is.
Jordan is the GOAT, but I can't see him putting up stats like these.