Luka Doncic’s defensive effort level concerning? + Wolves’ offseason outlook | Get Up

Luka Doncic’s defensive effort level concerning? + Wolves’ offseason outlook | Get Up

welcome back to get up brought to you by gay by Gray Goose time now for the sound off where we dive into the most interesting sound bites from around the NBA we’ll start with our dog big perk who gave his theory about the Superstar potential leaving Los Angeles if the JJ reic era gets off to a slow start if JJ reck is not thriving and Anthony Davis is not playing at an elite level and he’s not happy I wouldn’t be surprised if he if he wants out of LA to be honest with I’m going to give it to Allstar break to see how this go though L what’s your thought after hearing that I don’t know why there would be any sort of assumption that he wouldn’t be look Anthony Davis arguably had his best year as a Lakers last year outside of the year they won a championship and he was you know what he did in the bubble for Lakers to win that title played more games than he had as a Lakers statistically up and down the guy was Sensational played well in the postseason you’re not going to completely come in and ren how you’re going to run this offense if you’re JJ reic so I think Anthony Davis is going to be a major priority for JJ reick going forward uh so I think Anthony Davis is going to love playing for JJ reick I think JJ’s brought in there to help maximize what this offense can do and it starts with Anthony Davis so I see no reason to think we would make an assumption he wouldn’t be happy playing for JJ reic yeah and there’s no reason to think that JJ doesn’t understand that Anthony is Anthony Davis is the center piece so this is one of those perk isms I was like okay yeah thank you per Yeah Wendy get the last word here yeah I’m not worried the Lakers have a bunch of different issues and challenges one of them is not taking care of and getting great play from Anthony Davis there’s a lot of other things on JJ’s list to worry about than this okay okay guys let’s talk a little bit of Luca coming off of his first trip to the NBA finals much of the talk surrounding Luca donic was about his defensive performance recently Paul George George spoke on his podcast and he chimed in with what could happen if you ask Luca to play even more defense as good as he is offensively it’s a reason why he’s half assing on defense because it’s hard to do that for a whole game offensively he’s in a class of his own like he’s a huge talent I just think when it comes to the effort part of it he’s got to give just a little bit more effort they came out game three or game four actually he played defense like he you can see it he he played defense and the team saw it and and they was like all right off that we speeding off that it changes everything if your team sees that like ah we playing defense today for sure I got your back Luka is it is it like just that simple Monica that Luca just give effort on defense I think we have to be careful not to make simple be confused with easy because yes in theory the statement is simple but right sustaining it it’s a reason why you know you praise guys that are three and D that are two-way guys and we when we start having conversations about the greatest you then have to narrow it down to offenses versus all around like it’s not easy to do it is relatively simple in the statement um but this is not new when it comes to Luca right like he is such a prolific offensive force that I think the Mavs have been willing to work around it now can he be better yeah and my theory would be that this experience in this run to the finals hopefully is the greatest teacher and he’s willing to take it to the next step all around what how much of it is about the ability to play defense quickness the length the the the understanding of angles in playing defense rotation how much of it is just that uh legs over his effort you described a lot that goes into it it’s a PO peria thing yeah right but it starts with want to yeah and that’s where I think what Paul George said is true there there needs to be more want to on the part of Luka Donas now here’s one thing we need to understand though Boston had a unique team and that they had that number of guys that could attack you off the dribble and get any switch they wanted at some point Luca was not able to be hidden on defense there’s a lot of teams in this league that are going to have a guy that Luca donic can rest a little bit more defensively and it can be covered up that wasn’t the case with the Boston Celtics I also think Jason King could do more things to to not just indiscriminately switch all the time and let Luca be picked on to that extent I think there are things you can do defensively with communication to avoid that so a lot goes into it but for me it starts with effort when quick Counterpoint though to that legs if that was the the peak right the peak of the mountain the summit whatever that was the finals like you need to be able like Boston you’re right everybody is not Boston but if that’s the team that you’re trying to go up against like you got to be prepared with the necessary effort to beat those Wendy is Luca doing everything he can possibly do to maximize his talent I mean it’s that’s a fair question it’s it’s not as simple as as answering yes or no to that look Luca is never going to be a great Defender and the Mavericks have won hundreds of games and will win hundreds more games with his defensive level what I think is important is that LCA can’t take him himself out of plays being not getting back or taking himself out of a game because of the foul situation that’s where he can improve he can improve on those three to five possessions a game it can really make a difference you know I think it’s interesting this is coming from Paul George because this is what Paul was known for when Paul was 25 he was spending 42 minutes out there in playoff games being the leading scorer at one end and defending the best perimeter score at the other so Paul is sort of saying you know play more like me because you know you know Luca is way more offensively talented than Paul is but but Paul’s willingness to play defense defined him in many ways early in his career so I don’t think that’s ever going to be what we see from Luca that doesn’t mean that Luca just with some maturity and some temperament changes couldn’t make a really big difference legs Monica talked about the peak the summit with Luca playing defense the way that he did in the finals is that the peak in the summit for the Dallas Mavericks or can they get over the hump and actually win a championship with him as their star with a guy that’s talented offensively you absolutely are you’re going into next season as a contender I don’t know that people viewed them necessarily that way going into this season because of the way they year ended a year ago there’s a lot of skepticism we needed to see Kyrie and Luke are going to mesh more it looked like their personal relationship developed as the year went on they added pieces they needed to add during the season to give them more athletic ability and defense around him his talent offensively is going to give you a chance to win a title the question is going to be you’re getting that extra bit of commitment out of him to set the tone leave a little more skin on the floor defensively and then obviously continue to tweak around this team and improving the margins they’re a contender now going into the season people are going to expect them to be able to make a run to the finals what your biggest takeaway from the finals about Lucas’s defense no not really I I thought my biggest takeaway of the Celtics are really good and they’ve been able to do it with their draft picks they’ve been Smart in the trade in terms of Trades Joe moula took a leap as a leader my takeaways were far more about the Celtics than they were about the Mavs because remember the this Mavs team literally came together what’s trade deadline February in terms of two big pieces being added in terms of rotation it is only year two of luuka and Kyrie and we literally sat up here for however many years talking about the Boston Celtics and it took them to this year to get it done was it I think it’s seven seasons for Tatum and those guys so it doesn’t happen quickly Wendy when we all were hyped up on the Dallas Mavericks after we watched them play the Minnesota Minnesota Timberwolves what can they do to fortify this team enough to beat the Boston Celtics if that’s the team they have to face in the finals next year yeah they’ve got some some room to do something to this roster Nico Harrison their general manager spoke at the end of last week saying that they to leave their core alone but they have some tradable contracts they have some some draft assets that they can trade and frankly Dallas is a place people may want to get to so I do think that they can add another piece and specifically like every single team especially when you’re looking at a team where you have to deal with Jaylen Brown and Jason Tatum you need Wing defense you need Wing two-way Wing players and that is what this draft is going to be about that is what this free agency is going to be about and that’s what Dallas like many other of their fellow contenders are going to be looking for I think when you listen to Monica it sounds like Dallas may be a year ahead so this could be an important offseason for them to get some of those intrical pieces that allows them to win the whole thing [Music]

On Get Up, Brian Windhorst joins Monica McNutt, Ryan Clark and Tim Legler to talk through Anthony Davis playing under JJ Redick, Luka Doncic’s defensive effort level and what the Minnesota Timberwolves can do to improve in the offseason.

0:00 Sound Off!
0:20 Would AD want out of LA?
2:04 Luka Doncic’s effort on defense
4:43 Is Luka maximizing his talent?
7:32 Minnesota Timberwolves

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