One thing this game struck me about JRich's approach to defense and Luka's approach to defense, that has nothing to do with athletic ability: JRich constantly keeps his "head-on-a-swivel" whereas Luka plays defense many times with blinders on the ball. I think this one adjustment to Luka's approach would do wonders.
I've always thought Luka is an overrated rebounder, very few times does he fight for a ball, he usually just collects it on the weak side. Rarely does he keep his head on a swivel to block out anyone behind him. None of these 15 rebounds he collected impress me, as I watch the replays:
https://www.nba.com/stats/events/?ContextMeasure=REB&EndPeriod=0&EndRange=28800&GameID=0022000071&PlayerID=1629029&RangeType=0&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&StartPeriod=0&StartRange=0&TeamID=1610612742&flag=1&sct=plot§ion=game
And either he has supernatural peripheral vision or he just doesn't look for guys to back-door him or to set a screen on him.
JRich is constantly surveying the court around him, looking around, communicating. That is something Luka would do well to work on. I would actually like him to get fewer rebounds a game and just do his job defensively.
I've always thought Luka is an overrated rebounder, very few times does he fight for a ball, he usually just collects it on the weak side. Rarely does he keep his head on a swivel to block out anyone behind him. None of these 15 rebounds he collected impress me, as I watch the replays:
https://www.nba.com/stats/events/?ContextMeasure=REB&EndPeriod=0&EndRange=28800&GameID=0022000071&PlayerID=1629029&RangeType=0&Season=2020-21&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&StartPeriod=0&StartRange=0&TeamID=1610612742&flag=1&sct=plot§ion=game
And either he has supernatural peripheral vision or he just doesn't look for guys to back-door him or to set a screen on him.
JRich is constantly surveying the court around him, looking around, communicating. That is something Luka would do well to work on. I would actually like him to get fewer rebounds a game and just do his job defensively.