How Luka Doncic, LeBron James & Austin Reaves maximize impact for Lakers | NBA Mailbag
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Jason answers mailbag questions from subscribers on topics including how the Los Angeles Lakers trio of Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves can best coexist on the court, Cade Cunningham’s NBA playoff impact for the Detroit Pistons, dream NBA duos, what makes the San Antonio Spurs organizational culture so strong, and more.
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Timeline
0:00 – Start
0:30 – Luka’s media coverage
4:28 – Lakers trio issues
17:10 – Cade Cunningham & Pistons
20:43 – Spurs basketball culture
27:09 – Dream NBA duos
29:15 – NBA officiating
33:55 – Should Lakers
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30 Comments
Mailbag: in response to your sga over Tatum argument, how can you fault Tatum for not making clutch shots during his title run like shai when so many of those games were blowouts? Shai gets credit for having multiple series go 7 games I guess? You say Tatum had multiple 30mil guys on his team but leave out the fact that KP missed the last 12/15 playoff games. Tatum did more all around for his team during that title run than Shai did, objectively.
Luka has played the same way his whole career and is just now getting any real criticism besides his weight which was a cover up for a bigger situation in Dallas dealing with casinos.
Ayton is killing all chemistry. Lakers should start with Luka, Austin and Hayes and Vando, LeBron comes in with Rui, Smart and Maxi Kleber. These two groups can stagger minutes and create chemistry.
Luka putting up empty stats with no defense, all his fault.
😂 loving Vuori, sure
Mailbag:- what's spain pick n roll, i see a lot of analytics sayin boston running spain pick n roll is one of the reasons of their success in this season
Its time to get through the season then blow it up, Let LeBron go to Cleveland, use his salary to get 3D guys, but in the end Luka still has to stay in shape and lock in on D period
The problem with European players complaining about the refs is that they grew up and learn basketball in a game where rules are "exact and unchangeable." In contrast, in the NBA, the rules are "flexible and interpreted" – it is up to a judge to decide not to call something a foul even if it was.
This is what is triggering them all to behave as they behave, they are not some crybabies on their own…
where was jason when lebron dropped 3 from 17 masterclass. i didnt see “scorch earth”😂😂😂😂 he ran away and closed his mouth like good girl 😂😂
AAU baby? What was that fan talking about! Then he mentions being in shape. AAU babies are all in shape especially compared to European players. What are you talking about!? Luka plays for LA now and he has many flaws. The criticism is legitimate. I like how you bring up Luka but somehow haven't realized that Bron is the most coitized player in the history of basketball. Stop the trolling man. The comment seemed like it is coming from a place of implicit hatred for a certain group of people. If you don't like NBA basketball, move to Europe and go watch the games there.
when you say Luka is covered fairly because he got some criticism this week. I can’t disagree with that more. A big reason why the frustration with Luca had built up is because the media and his fans have played with kid gloves when it comes to criticize him …it was taboo to ever criticize him. Every year. He lost everyone’s piled on a bunch of excuses for him, said that he’ll come back next year and win in finals MVP. Then the cycle continues, the only difference now is because he’s playing for the Lakers and people are finally starting to wake up with his problems instead of just watching his highlights
The Lakers big three cannot exist physically or financially going forward. I love AR going into next season but Lakers can’t afford to pay him 40mil+ and still contend for a championship. Hopefully both parties can agree on a contract like 4 years for 150 mil
Lakers need to run the triangle with Luka, AR and Bron. So they are all involved. Or play through Jaxson or Ayton in the Center and have the 3 play around them from the middle of the floor. That will require cutting and that is where AR and Bron can be utilized more. They are both good cutting to the basket and attacking and sometimes getting that head of steam in the half court can help out. One the best offensive performances I've seen from the Lakers involved this action. Playing through a Center in the middle of the floor. Hayes and Ayton both did very well.
I think it is simple…Luka needs to abdicate some of his power to AR and Bron for this season and JJ needs to run better plays and make better rotations.
To anyone not subscribed, if you really enjoy in depth, high quality basketball content, this is the guy
Lebron is to old, no defense and his offense isn't reliable or efficient. Austin is only good with average to below average teams. If a quick and strong defender covers him, his production goes way down. Luka is the only true star they have anymore. No Lebron next year, somebody more athletic and younger. Should have traded Reaves, now stuck with him.
That first question is ridiculous. First, Luka actually comes in great shape to start each season. Secondly, he’s one of the worst covered players in the media. Dude had a 73/10/7 on 25/33Fg and the next day coverage was how there is no defense in this league. He averaged 34/10/9 on 38%3PT and he couldn’t even crack top 2 in MVP.
Are you still blaming Luka?
Jason can't figure out why Bron is struggling with Luka on the floor but playing well with the defensive lineups. Every defender is struggling playing next to Luka. He isn't checked out. You just have to protect Luka so much because he players flu by him every single play. I noticed that his mindset is to go and help Luka a lot and it ends up biting him badly. Luka never keeps players in front of him. Ever! That means the already bad defense has to collapse and help out and they just aren't spry enough to rotate multiple times. It is simple tbh, it happened all last year when Luka came and again this year.
The current use of the term "foul grifting" is typically misused. Tricking an opposing player to foul me (by pump faking as an example), is a legitimate play and not "foul grifting". Tricking the referee to call a foul that didn't occur is an illegitimate play and is "foul grifting".
12 more freethrows and they lose to the Phoenix bench? Balderdash!
Spurs not in Jason's Top 5 cultures? Really? Wow. I mean Memphis ahead of them?
And about their 3 stars. One is 41 yo and will be history next year, another disappears when play off begins and third you trash him as he is only one on this trash la team. Probably you think he needs to score 40+ points ever’y day or even better he should just win alone every game. Maybe but probably not that would shout you a little bit. LA should find him some decent players to play with and not a diva, a boy who disappears in play off, decent center and at least normal coach. ( and not a coach who owns everything to lediva and do as he wants to)Until then LA don’t deserve luka doncic
What ppl thought that 2 non defensive guards paired with an aging superstar would be some formula for success?
Trading Lebron or Reeves was the only way to build for success. Lebron has a no trade clause. So that leaves AR.
Another solution was to go after at least 2 3&D wings in the offseason and bring AR off the bench, playing close to 30 mins. Just give him the ultimate green when Lua is off the floor. And stagger mins where those 3 play as little time on the court together.
And this is for keeping AR. They clearly love him and think he should be with Luka long term after Lebron.
So, stagger mins and get some defensive wings in the starting lineup.
Talk about that rockets comeback. Lakers stink, nobody cares about LeBron and Luka.
Seriously does Ayton, Smart, or Laraiva play for any other contender?
With the first question you answered, I disagree. When it comes to mvp voting he will always get the benefit of the doubt because of his pretty numbers, but has he impacted winning? On top of that he sucks on defense and is a poor leader. If the other mvp candidates were as bad on defense as him they would be lower on the list.
Ant and Jokic would be a Nuclear bomb on the NBA
The foul thing is just not accurate. It use to be an art form where offensive player gave no option to stop them but a foul (Kd/kobe). Now it’s just random with no consistency where the ref just calls fouls when random players are just faking it. I could argue that Harden and SGA would not average above 20ppg if refs didn’t just call random fouls that they don’t call for anyone else in the league ever.
Non athlete Allen drives into the paint and Doncic and Lebron can not stop him. Even worse. They collided in the air. 2 bowling pins going down. Funny as hell.😢😢
Thanks I get driven crazy by some of the "playcall rate" type discourse. It seems so myopic – that entire discourse feels like a correlation-causation error.