While there were a lot of unfair criticisms lobbied his way, one of the more fair — and persistent — critiques of Luka Dončić has been his defense.
Throughout his career, Luka’s defense has come under fire
time and time again. While there is no expectation of him being a top defender given his offensive responsibility, the performance from Luka on that end on that end of the floor has been excruciatingly bad at times.
One of the hopes of Luka getting in better shape this summer was that it would have positive consequences on his defense. And while it’s still a small sample size early in the season, hope has become reality.
Luka has not only had a much more spirited effort on that end of the floor, he’s also taken on the role of being a vocal leader as well.
“There’s been a couple of games where he’s gotten off to a slow start defensively, just in terms of his physicality and engagement,” Redick said after Wednesday’s win over the Spurs. “But overall, I think it’s been really good. To have five steals and two blocks on the night when you’re in foul trouble, still staying active, still participating…there wasn’t matador defense. He still guarded. That was huge.”
The expectations of Luka on the defensive end are never going to be as high as they are on the offensive end. However, there is a certain level of compete both coaches and teammates will want to see and expect.
“If you savant on one end, they usually don’t talk about the other end and the things that you can do, but we know Luka can play [defense],” Marcus Smart said. “It’s just it’s tough. We’re asking him to go out and do what he do on offense and then come out and play defense like me, it’s impossible…It’s going to come in spurts and we acknowledge it and we’re thankful for him giving that effort.”
While Luka is going to be limited in what he may be able to physically do on that end of the floor, he isn’t limited in what he can provide vocally. That’s been one of the areas where he’s helped the most this year.
Early this season, he’s often been positioned defensively as the low man, which allows him to see the whole court. Luka has taken advantage of that to communicate with his teammates and be a quarterback on that end of the floor.
“He’s trying to be more vocal compared to last year,” Rui Hachimura said. “I can [tell] he’s more vocal on defense. He’s trying to talk. He’s trying to be more aggressive. That’s why he almost fouled out, literally. I’ve never seen him like that. But he’s trying to be more aggressive and that’s what we need from him, too. It’s been great.”
Luka has addressed a lot of criticisms of his game over the last eight months, which includes his impact defensively. Even if it’s not huge changes, his teammates are noticing and appreciating the effort.
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