2021-2022 AROUND the NBA: GSW Champs [ARCHIVED]

[MaxiThreeba]

I'm excited to see this enforced on guys like Harden and Young, but I'm a little worried about its effect on Luka. 

https://youtu.be/pm702Pj0IBQ

I think Luka can adjust to it and see less of an impact to his game than those two.  

For Harden, it's been a genius (albeit beyond frustrating) exploitation of the way the NBA is officiated.  He is an absolute master and you can't argue with the numbers and how it has benefitted his game/stats and his teams.  I do think he has already adjusted his game in Brooklyn, becoming the true PG and utilizing this move less than when he had to completely carry those Houston teams.

For Trae, he too has been a wizard (and just as frustrating) at creating contact with non-basketball contortions of his body.  If this rule is actually officiated correctly I think he stands to be hurt the most by it.  His size is a negative for him and he has used his incredible craftiness to offset that by drawing fouls and making it hell to defend him without fouling.  He is still an incredibly gifted scorer and passer, but I think the hostage dribble will be much less effective for him because of his size and the fact he can't jump backwards into defenders that can still contest from behind.  Not saying he will fall off a cliff or anything but he will have to make the biggest adjustment to his game.

For Luka, the hostage dribble will still be incredibly effective because his size prevents defenders from contesting once he puts them in his back pocket.  He will have to learn to eliminate the wild foul drawing shots from his step back arsenal but his game isn't nearly as built around this as Harden's was prior to joining Brooklyn.  The biggest adjustment for Luka will continue to be how he reacts to these new non-calls (or worse offensive foul calls) along with all the non-calls he endures because he is a big strong dude.