Luka Doncic is one of the best young players in the NBA, but has he underperformed for the Dallas Mavericks thus far in 2019-20?
American actress and singer Jennifer Lopez once said, “don’t push your weaknesses, play with your strengths“. The Dallas Mavericks should follow this advice if they want to get the most out of Luka Doncic. Dallas originally drafted Luka in 2018 with the belief that he could improve his 3-point shooting.
According to Tim Cato of The Athletic (subscription required), the organization believed that Luka shot 31 percent from behind the arc during the 2017-18 season with Real Madrid because he was the focal point of the offense. Being the focal point of the offense meant that he wasn’t getting open looks as the opposing team was focused on stopping.
The Mavericks thought Luka would get more open looks because he wouldn’t be the focal point of the offense. Dallas’ belief that Luka would get more open looks was correct as 87.3 percent of his threes were uncontested during the 2018-19 season.
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Unfortunately, he only converted 33.87 percent of these attempts. Luka’s struggles to convert his open looks played a vital role in him shooting 32.7 percent from behind the arc on 7.1 attempts. Unfortunately, he has only been able to create 6.9 points per game from these 3’s. The 6.9 points is 32.5 percent of his total scoring output, as he is currently averaging 21.2 points per game.
Luka’s shooting struggles affected the rest of his game as 43.3 percent of his field-goal attempts were 3’s. This is because Luka Doncic has experienced most of his statistical success in the NBA on drives to the basket. Doncic drove the ball to the basket 14.7 times per game during his rookie season. The 14.7 drives allowed him to create 7.5 points on 5.7 field goal attempts per game.
Furthermore, these drives allowed him to get 1.7 assists on 6.4 passes. The drives accounted for 35.4 percent of his points and 28.3 percent of his assists as he averaged 21.2 points with six assists.
Despite the success on drives, the Dallas Mavericks continued to encourage Luka to take more threes. Head coach Rick Carlisle told Eddie Sefko of Mavs.com last month that Luka and Kristaps Porzingis were working on extending their 3-point range. This is because he believed that they could hit long-distance 3’s consistently with practice.
It is not the first time that Rick attempted to turn a player’s weakness into a strength. For example, Rick Carlisle started Dennis Smith Jr at shooting guard in late February of his rookie season.
Carlisle made this decision because he wanted Smith to learn how to play without the basketball in his hands. Unfortunately, Carlisle’s plan didn’t work out as Smith requested a trade the next season because he was unhappy playing off the basketball.
Rick Carlisle’s second attempt at turning a player’s weakness into a strength isn’t producing results yet. 93.2 percent of his 3-point attempts have been uncontested by defenders through the first ten games of this season.
Unfortunately, he only converted 32.93 percent of these attempts. Luka’s struggles to convert his open looks played a vital role in him shooting 31.8 percent from behind the arc on 8.8 attempts per game.
Three-pointers currently account for 44.9 percent of his field-goal attempts. Unfortunately, he has only been able to create 8.4 points per game from these 3’s. The 8.4 points is 29.7 percent of his total scoring output, as he is currently averaging 28.3 points per game.
On the other hand, Doncic has driven the ball to the basket 19 times per game this season. The 19 drives allowed him to create 11.4 points on seven field-goal attempts per game. Furthermore, these drives allowed him to get 2.9 assists on nine passes. The drives accounted for 40.2 percent of his points and 31.9 percent of his assists as he averaged 28.3 points with six assists.
In conclusion, Luka Doncic can much perform better if he cut back on the 3’s and increase his drives to the basket.