TDL Archived: The 2nd Rnd Pick Yankee Swap

[cow]

I think that Luka showed enough over the course of the season last year that he is indeed physically capable of playing defense. Unfortunately, especially in the playoffs, he slacked again. It's mental. He has to decide he wants to do it. Part of that is having other guys who can do the heavy lifting on O. While losing JB is addition by subtraction personnel-wise due to his own defensive warts, I think that's more than evened out right now by the additional wear-and-tear Luka is going to accrue by being one two instead of three principal ball handlers. That's why it's a major banghead smiley moment if the Mavs don't get Conley, Kemba, Schroeder, or someone else to fill those JB minutes.

The amount of ball handling he does takes a toll.  The amount of rebounding he does takes a toll.  Playing defense takes a toll.  I think we've addressed the rebounding to an extent and Luka would do himself a world of good by getting and staying in better shape.  And if we are honest, in our wildest dreams, Luka being a serviceable defender who uses his bball IQ to read passing lanes is about as good as we can hope for.  He's never going to be LeBron as a two way player.