Why Luka Doncic is Impossible to Guard

If you follow the NBA on social media, there's a good chance you've seen some clips of Luca Donic just frying the Mavericks coaches and what I find so funny about these videos is that it almost looks like he's moving at 25% speed and barely putting in any effort, you turn on a random Mavs game and see him doing the exact same things with even the best defenders in the NBA. Luca is the definition of playing at your own pace. He makes every possession look so easy, but no one in the league can stay in front of him because his changeup is among the best we've seen, starting and stopping with precise timing, so defenders can't stop him from touching the ball. painting in moments in which it is intentionally inserted. really awkward angles of attack as a way to set up your man instead of bursting straight from a tween, you pause with your feet in a wide stance, but since you don't rely on speed you can make the first step just as effectively until the end. to the cup for a great finish with the body because he can literally come out of any position.

The defenders never know when he is going to start his attack, so what he will do is simply increase the spam size and hesitate to keep them guessing so that when he attacks. They are always a step late sliding in front of the lane. Here's one where he wants to set up a drive up the middle and to create that angle, he's really going to exaggerate a left hand hesitation at the exact moment Kyrie slides Luca. between his legs as he accelerates down the hill and just like that, he is left with a Runway towards the basket, the way he constantly stops and reads his Defender allows him to have a fast break for literally every situation, first he looks to turn into a drive, but Terrence Ross it does. nice job of changing his momentum to play that threat so Luca hesitates to come out of the spin only to explode again and that angles him around Rossford for a layup later in that same play, he hit him with the exact same movement first. a right-hand hesitation to spin to his left and then a hesitation into a drive as he sets up two more easy ones.

It's not just the acceleration aspect that makes Lucas' change of pace so lethal, but also how quickly he can slow down. He is in full control of his momentum at all times, meaning he can adjust it accordingly. His slowdown or ability to stop in an instant is among the best in NBA history. First you see the spam of size increases and hesitation as he looks to prepare. a drive and when he gets Lillard's first step, he throws all of his momentum down the hill only to stop abruptly right in front of the basket so he can float it over a tent obstacle.

This brake stroke pairs incredibly well with Luca's length. I can't really find the words to describe exactly what he's doing here, but the slow motion I exaggerate as he repeatedly speeds up and slows down sets it up for a high-quality finish to make things even more difficult. He will use the shoulder. punches while he stops completely for more separation and then the length and touch of him as a finisher are able to take care of the rest those types of plays are possible because of the strength of him, we are talking about a huge perimeter Creator in the place favorite of him.

Playing weight is 67,230 lbs and that's a big 230, he's moving mass so in case his initial change of pace doesn't create an automatic advantage he'll simply use his big frame to initiate contact and Bully his way to anywhere. he's trying to take this play, for example, he first looks to attack on a left winger, but Jaylen Williams cuts him off, so he drops his shoulder to get some space to change direction and instead attacks on the right , but that also closes, so again he creates contact before counterattacking by turning to his left and then you get that deceleration generating a very open floater that combination of size and strength allows him to abuse mismatches Dennis Smith Jr has the lateral quickness to stay between Luca and the basket, but as soon as that shoulder comes down it's like it's not even there, it's not just the smaller players that Luca will do this to.

Al Horford is a sturdy center who has had success against the likes of Giannis and Joel Embiid in the playoffs, but even he has nothing. For that big shoulder hit, the way Luca uses his body and constantly looks or plays through contact has made him a free kick machine, he also has a few tricks in his bag, like the way he uses feints to get defenders up and the way he can pretty atrociously sell even the slightest contact, but say what you want about his shamelessness because it works and he's an elite cajon of fou last year he hit line 10 times and a half per game, fourth in the NBA in everything.

I've talked up to this point about the size, strength and ability to stop on a dime also means that on his drives he has unlimited access to mid-range last season, he took about nine mid-range shots every 75 possessions and made 52.% of them, the only other player to reach both marks was Kevin Durant, who is probably the best mid-range scorer in NBA history. He will weaponize the change of pace that drives the threat with those surges and hesitations because he can simply back off. a jumper at any time outside of drives is where you see the strength and deceleration that these opportunities create.

He first attacks to the right, turning to the left while initiating some contact with his free arm only to slam on the brakes for a short jumper from inside the paint. One thing Luca really likes to do when his Drive cuts out is to drop his shoulder as he slows down and then spin to the perimeter to separate into a drop jumper. His footwork and body control are very smooth when performing these movements. All he needs is just an inch of breathing room because he is a very tough shooter. Another reason these spins are so difficult to defend is because you never know if he's looking to set up a jumper or if he's going to take it all the way. with those long strides toward a layup and then there's also the fact that his counters have their own counters that rotate toward the center for a jump shot, except he just throws it in on a fake before ducking down to finish with a scoop of the layup.

The way he uses these fakes and crafty footwork makes him a huge threat to score after taking his dribble first, it's a fake floater, then a fake pass that almost weakens Nas Reed and then turns into a shot in mid-distance jump without anyone near these things. He also helped him in the post, which has become a much bigger part of his game than I think a lot of people realize. Last season, Luca averaged four points per game fourth in the NBA and first by a wide margin among non-bigs and did so with an extremely efficient 1.14 points per possession.

These are numbers you'd expect from a guy like Joic or Embiid, not someone who does most of his creation with a lively dribble on the perimeter, of course the size and strength allow him to simply abuse mismatches to get up to the paint with ease and what he'll do against these smaller defenders is just patiently come back no matter how long it takes him to get to that spot, whether you like it or not, it's most often what he's looking for. What he needs to do is set up a post fade over his right shoulder, a shot he completely commands that helps power those incredible mid-range numbers, and he'll use the threat of that right shoulder fade to open up other opportunities, this one.

Maybe it's a feint. and passes absorbing the contact for two points plus the foul on this one, again he starts with a fake but his defender doesn't bite so when he passes that it's just to set up another turn towards the middle and this time he's going to take the fade with that separation additional. Here's an example where Dallas clears an entire side of the court for that Luca post and with the baseline completely unoccupied and a big man digging in from the middle, it almost seems too obvious that he's going to turn that over. right shoulder for a jumper, so instead of doing that, he breaks the help up the middle, which causes a reach foul and becomes a hook for another potential three-point play.

I know I said he prefers to spin on his right shoulder on his fades, but when that starts to get over the top, he's also capable of spinning on jumpers on his left, so what you get is this level of unpredictability because he's a threat. to turn on your left and you will use it to open more things on your right. this time taking a half turn to freeze his Defender and that's all the space he needs for two points up again. It's all about timing perfectly when we're talking about the change-of-pace attack that typically describes driving, but Luca has that too with his Back to the Basket, feeling out defenders and throwing spins over both shoulders, he's not super agile, but because of how well balanced he is and perfect body control, his spins are actually ferociously fast and can leave you with open layups, it's not just with his Back to the Basket where he'll operate from a standstill, he's also a guy who can look up from anywhere inside the ark.

Remember I mentioned how he can get out of awkward angles with his feet facing the center of the floor, but in one motion he's exploiting the baseline for an open dunk. This is a really similar play, except this time his initial step closes, so he just drops his shoulder and makes his way to the rim like a pro fullback. Luca is by no means an explosive or traditionally athletic guy, but he has all those tools that make him an incredible walking athlete. The mismatch between size, strength and length with change of speed, balance and general coordination leaves you with this guy who is simply

impossible

to contain inside the ark.

He'll hit a point every time he touches the ball and defenders will just have to deal with it hoping he misses or whatever, and on top of all that, he also happens to be a high-level three-point shooter at the dribble so it all comes full circle and back to that live dribbling game on the perimeter. Defenders can't move away from him at the point of attack or play softer, paint-oriented coverage because he has the outside threat wanting to step back. to the left of him at an almost 45° angle and to set it up he will use those hesitation and UPS size that I keep coming back to before aggressively backing away to create space once again.

It's all about perfect timing to set his man up as if he were watching. He drives before taking his shot and it's not like he needs too much separation anyway because sometimes he's a ridiculously difficult shooter. I feel like he wants to be very competitive rather than open, there's also the range that he will hit from several feet. The Ark has shot pretty consistently since 2021, taking just under 7 and a half three-pointers every 36 minutes and making 35% of them. These are truly impressive numbers, especially when you consider the difficulty of his shooting diet and the way he blends in with the rest. of his attack gives you this by taking advantage of the threat effect that allows him to access all three levels whenever he wants, he is spamming that cross size signature up and from that position we all know he will explode into a disk, so when in his place re-enter a jump shot, he's a late contest and he's comfortably up for three points, but when he spams the size up, he throws a couple of hesitation, he backs away aggressively like he's looking at Fire and his Defender bites, which just He opens a driving lane and is racing toward a clear one. two points at the rim and finally when he threatens a three-pointer and that cuts well, he can resort to that mid-range scoring that's close to the best in the league, you hear the term three-level scorer used to describe all the guys. time, but he is one of the few that actually uses all three in volume and with good efficiency, there is the high rim pressure, he was third in the NBA with about 20 drives per game last season and, although I never delved too deeply into his Arsenal like a finisher, he has it all.

The clever leans strength and length to always generate a good look. He shot 72% at the rim with a pretty difficult shot quality. Another thing is the touch, which is especially noticeable from a little further away when he goes. For the small hooks and floats on him, the guy shot 58% from 3 to 10 feet last year for the sake of this content. If Yic were erased from history, he'd probably say Luca has the best push shot I've ever seen big time. Shout out to his new teammate, Rwn Holmes, although if a defender is able to somehow slow down that area of ​​his game, he has the midrange with the skills to make shots and create, literally have a release valve. quality in everythingmoment and eventually, I'll get 7-8 in threes per game at a respectable rate and there's nothing a defense can do to take that away from the overall result, leading the league with about eight isolation points per game and generating 1.11 points per attempt, only one unholy combination. of volume and efficiency and if you even think about bringing in an extra defender or two to slow down his scoring, he is one of the most versatile, creative and lethal playmakers the game has ever seen.

As a result, I don't think there is a player in the NBA. who can really compete in terms of how much offense he is able to generate with the ball in his hands and Dallas has leaned toward that ball dominance. He had the ball in his hands for over 9 minutes per game last year, right where Westbrook and Harden each landed in their respective MVP seasons, this also doesn't fit into Luca's pick and roll game and despite dominate the ball so much because he's so good at it, you still get absurdly good offensive results with Luca on the court, the Mavs produced an Offensive Rating of 120 and that's a lot.

During his time alongside stationary defensively inclined players, he has It's been amazing to see what he's capable of doing at such a young age and I really like what the Mavs have built around him this season and I can't wait to see how he and Kyrie continue to make fools of opposing defenses. If you enjoyed this breakdown, be sure to leave a like, subscribe, and turn on notifications for my posts to be the first to get more content if you're interested in my deeper research. Be sure to visit my website and social media profiles. You can find those links in the description.

Feel free to let me know in the comments what you think of Luca as always. I hope you all have a great day and I will see you. In the next