Let’s revisit some absurd Luka passes from Game 2… except with Klay Thompson on the floor instead

This will be long just FYI. I believe someone made a video on YT splicing Klay shots after a Luka pass, but I’m not that talented and think there’s actually much bigger ramifications Klay’s mere presence will have on defenses beyond “wow having the second greatest shooter ever taking those 3s should be fun”. I mean yes, obviously that’s a pretty neat option but these 6 plays from game 2 would be fundamentally different (probably to the extent they never happen) because of Klay’s pure gravity.\
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1. Luka-Maxi high ball screen, Kleber pops, great look just missed it. Live with that shot every single time. But imagine Klay is in the strong corner and Ky is on the wing, now what? First, before the play is even initiated I guarantee you White (I’m gonna leave BOS’ defenders as is for simplicity even though Jrue/White likely swap places) ain’t sitting top of the key off Ky. So just putting Klay on the floor has already eliminated the triple team lol that Luka ultimately receives. Now he can attack KP hard with no nail help from White, and Jrue or Tatum have a decision—we helping off Klay or Lively? OR let’s presume that’s Naji popping, Luka engages KP, makes same pass, and it’s a wide open look or more likely Naji putting that shit on the floor and stuffing it on Tatum’s head or dropping it off for an easy Lively slam. OR what if we use Klay’s strengths now? He starts in the weak corner (again White’s gotta go too) and when Luka initiates the high screen, Klay runs baseline off a Lively pin down to the SSC, or receives a second stagger screen from Ky and flashes to the wing—everyone ends up in the exact same spots but instead of BOS sending 3 to Luka and playing 2v4 they have to deal with multiple switches off-ball before actually trying to defend a Mavs stock PnR look.\
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2. Luka trapped, insane pass to PJ, just missed it. Live with that shot every time. But imagine just Klay out there while Ky gets a blow and it’s Hardy/Exum/Grimes/whoever for Josh. Again, you’ve probably eliminated that trap on Luka. But now you simply slide PJ to the corner and Klay on the wing. Either of those is a far better look than PJ above the break. There’s plenty of other things you could do but since the trap likely doesn’t come it’s irrelevant.\
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3. Luka drives, kicks to Green, best corner look all series just missed it. Live with that shot every time. But imagine Klay is in that SSC—you can be damn sure Jrue ain’t the one helping off now. Which opens up endless possibilities but the important thing is everything changes based solely on a different guy standing in the same spot.\
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4/5. Luka blitzed, finds open shooter. More A+ looks. The key thing on these is reiterating the dilemma teams will have deciding to send multiple guys at Luka with Klay one pass away. But I think what could be very fascinating is how you wanna guard Klay setting the screen? You can ignore DJJ popping top of the key—wouldn’t recommend it with Klay. You can trap and rotate to Klay but that’s perfect. The issue DAL had vs BOS wasn’t just missing shots, it was the complete inability to get them in rotation. When you have to actually guard 5 guys that’s a bit harder to pull off.\
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6. Luka silly pass to Exum, play reset. The intriguing part of this play (besides with Klay that bitch going up lol) is despite the Mavs accidentally running some off-ball motion action and they ended up wide open which they somehow never thought to try intentionally, but I digress. Klay is literally the best at that in basketball history so I thought that was a good example how even the simplest movement when it’s Klay Thompson moving also opens up endless possibilities. And none of the things I’ve mentioned require the Mavs to change their offense (although I think and hope they will at least a bit).