![]() The constant referendum on maximizing Luka infects the thought process about Black. Now it seems like the NBA is moving toward prizing the intersection of size, skill, athleticism and ball handling. A half-decade ago, everyone was copying “Morey-Ball”, the analytics-friendly construction of a well-spaced roster built around the pick-and-roll, coined after then-Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey. It’s a standardized set of allocated roles. ![]() A narrative has been built about the specificity of a roster around Luka, and it usually involves a stretch big, a roll big, a couple of 3-and-D wings and another shot creator. This is why I called the Mavericks’ roster building belief pervasive - it feels like a philosophical Stockholm Syndrome. What do Dallas fans miss that Thunder fans don’t? Why is there such fear over multiple players with guard-skills? It certainly sounds a lot like how OKC incorporates Giddey next to two driving, scoring guards. Draymond Green has guard skills, and yet no one calls him a guard. He’s 6’7 and a great defender, and if you can physically match up with your counterpart then you can play that position. The strange thing about discussion of Black’s fit has been the label of him as a guard, which is only theoretical - he has guard skills, but that does not make one exclusively a guard. Presti on his 2022 draft class- Andrew Schlecht June 25, 2022 There is less pattern and more rhythm, and those are rhythm players” Drafting Black to play next to Doncic and Kyrie Irving is a less poorly spaced proposition than one Mavericks fans might watch from afar and find envious. Think of how excited Oklahoma City fans are about the trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey - they shot the three a combined 8.3 times a game! I’m not saying OKC, in their current form, is the standard to strive for, but hell they finished with a better record than the Mavericks last season and their core are also young players and are already seeing the dividends of marrying size or athleticism with guard skills. Thunder GM Sam Presti, talking about his young core, called the sport “increasingly a game of decisions,” and prized that decision making over shooting. Neither Bam Adebayo or Jimmy Butler are real spacers but are quick decision makers. The Warriors have Draymond Green running actions so quickly that he creates spacing through split-second decisions and handling for a forward/big. If you can create space, close space quickly, pass with the advantage you created and pressure the rim, then you create the conditions for less spacing. The common denominator is that overall offensive IQ and athleticism can make an offense successful despite inconsistent shooting, which are traits Black has, as does an Ausar Thompson or Jarace Walker. You can go across the league to find examples of how cutting, screening, and movement allow for problematic offensive players to survive and thrive so the defense and transition game can be better. It’s on coaching to make players like Black fit. Dallas’ defense and collective IQ was so bad last year that you’d think fans would be more willing to work through icky spacing to rectify it. When a player screens for Luka and receives the ball with a spatial advantage which Luka’s gravity creates, and they don’t know what to do with that space, is that not just as infuriating as a missed three?Īnthony Black becomes a good case study, because he’s not a great shooter and plays with the ball. ![]() If something is Luka’s fault, we’ve come up against the limit of building around it. I don’t know the answer, only that it feels like we’ve seen enough of that rigidity. ![]() The Dallas Mavericks need size, defense, and raw talent and Anthony Black brings all three If he’s already predisposed to thinking he’s the best option to win, it can’t help to be repeatedly encouraged by the only NBA organization he’s known. But if it’s habitual, how much is nature-versus-nurture? I don’t believe Luka is inherently selfish. Yes, Luka is narrow-minded stylistically, not to mention a basketball player’s approach is habitual to a degree. I don’t know if this is true, but we have to ask the question. It is possible that constructing a roster that way only enforced Luka’s rigidity, and that Luka’s brilliance should mean you have more options, not less. Give Luka as much spacing as possible, with shooters everywhere, with a limit on players who couldn’t fit. The goal was peak efficiency for Luka himself, with the idea that he was so good that his own maximization would mean that of the team. You’ve heard the phrase “build around Luka” hundreds of times, but it hasn’t meant “build a complete team” as much as “build around Luka’s abilities”. For the entirety of the Doncic-era, there’s been a pervasive team-building philosophy. ![]()
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