08-16-2024, 12:23 PM
(08-16-2024, 09:17 AM)Smitty Wrote: The argument I’m making is that minutes and usage are two different things. The Mavs have to find more ways to get the ball out of Luka’s hands while still being effective. To this point, they’ve never had the personnel to be competitive without Luka initiating nearly every half court possession with high PnR or ISO. I don’t think anyone in the history of the NBA could play 37+ mpg with a usage rate of 37% year after year.
Even Harden, who Luka is compared to often, has a career usage rate of 29%. It’d be one thing of it were for a season, but I think there’s no way he can keep it up and stay healthy for an entire season, let alone a career.
I agree with the idea that Luka's usage should decrease, but for the purpose of improving ball-movement and including more players, offensively. I don't veiw it as a means of lessening the load on Luka, necessariy. I agree with Gump about that - only Luka taking his conditioning and professionalism to a sicko, Kobe Bryant-like level (which actually isn't so rare when the sample set is only NBA superstars) can solve that. But, I think they've taken "Luka vs 5, find the open man" about as far as it can be taken. Don't get me wrong, I think that will always be a big part of this team's approach, but the finals showed us (again) that the Mavs simply must diversify their offensive approach. To me, that's the positive possible through lowering Luka's usage.