But very rarely in his career did he have moments like Luka has, consistently, every game. I can’t remember ever questioning his commitment to winning because of how disinterested he looked. He legitimately cared and tried no matter how bad it may have looked at times.
When Luka is engaged, he actually plays pretty good defense. But he is so seldomly engaged that it is concerning. He is the only Mav that doesn’t participate in rotations. Imagine practicing that. “Okay everyone else cover way more ground than any other NBA team cause Luka can’t be bothered.”
Love the dude. Amazing talent. But he is hurting this team with the defensive disinterest. I would rather he played 30 minutes of focused ball on both ends of the floor. If that means he never gets a triple double and scores 25 points per game, so be it.
Edit: since some are arguing that Dirk was always good at defense – https://www.basketballnetwork.net/latest-news/what-dirk-nowitzki-had-to-do-in-order-to-become-great
by uncleoce
26 Comments
I’ll never forget when an opposing point guard was asked about Dirk’s defense and his response was “you try shooting over him”
When Luka is playing tired, he just becomes a liability on both ends unfortunately.
Dirk is remembered as worse on defense than he was because he played so damn long. He was such an amazing offensive player even in his old age that he was still a net positive on the floor after he completely lost the ability to move laterally. Also he got great at slapping the ball away down low when he became unable to challenge players at the rim. To your point about Luka, there’s literally no way he’s gonna play 30 minutes per game or average less than 25 PPG so I wouldn’t get your hopes up there. He does need to be better on defense though.
Luka is so lazy on defense. Never contests, switches everything, doesn’t fight through screens. Just bad
Preach.
Dirk’s defense: Guard your man as much as possible, rotate, swipe the ball if you can
Luka’s defense: Guard your man while slowly creeping to the paint so you can get the rebound in case the opponent misses their shot.
the difference between dirk and luka on defense is dirk puts effort. Luka has the same defense care and effort as james harden. He literally doesnt even try, instead of called out wood how about kidd call out luka
its your time guys enjoy
Luka need to man tf up and play D. It’s embarrassing for someone so young to get out hustled so much. Stay off those cheeseburgers and hookah
Fond memories of Dirk’s pet swipe move still make me smile today. Still dearly miss the big German and always will.
For his part, Luka needs to stop dropping his shoulders and staying behind to complain to the refs when things don’t go his way. He’s had the absolute greenest of lights to do whatever he wants and someone needs to smack those bad habits out of his system. He has to stay poised out there.
Dirk was just a far superior player to Luka. Look at his on/offs compared to Luka’s. He also wasn’t lazy and entitled like Luka. We should’ve traded Luka at the end of his sophomore year when he was at peak value. He will never have a year as good as that one.
Dirk always tried. Luka doesn’t try 90% of the time.
It sickens me how often Mavs fans toss Dirk to the side and say Luka is already better. Give me Dirk 100/100 times over the guy who is generationally talented but doesn’t take it seriously.
Luka is incredibly selfish. He plays for his stats and that right there is painfully obvious. It’s no wonder the last 3 running mates didn’t work out with him. DSJ wanted out. KP was clearly frustrated plying with him. Brunson got out of here the second he could. Now we have moved on to Robin #4, who
Is now on his 7th team in 8 years. LOL.
Why is every Gdamn play an iso?
When I see the warriors, there are plays where multiple players have an opportunity to score. So far it seems like pickup basketball. We need some plays
He’s got Westbrook and Harden disease. Only triple doubles matter.
It’s sad because Luka shows the capability to play very good defense when he’s locked in. But that’s few and Far between.
You have to take eras into consideration. The game is much faster now, and virtually everyone takes plays off on defense.
At this rate. Instead of being like a lebron, kobe or mj. Luka is gonna be remembered liek shaq.
Godly talent but lack the discipline.
Dirk also did not bitch and cry every minute. I want to continue to love Luka but he is such a crybaby
A gentle reminder why Dirk is the Mavs GOAT and Luka still the baby GOAT in training.
Every player has its weakness. One thing is for sure, playoff Luka is different. I hate regular season Luka.
Luka needs to play with someone like KD or Kawhi to get his head straight. He knows he is the team and that team will only win if he plays well. My issue with Luka is that he frustrates his teammates when he is off and it’s really hard to get the team going when they are not engaged. That’s why I liked brunson on the team. He brought a different tempo and he could get by players and create open shots for his teammates.
I love Luka but god sent him to punish me for talking shit about James Harden his whole career 🙏
Luka’s actually good in the playoffs tho but when he’s gonna be at a championship playing level it’s gonna look a lot different then the play style he has now.
The irony about Dirk’s D is that for the era he was “bad” because it necessitated that bigs play tough physical post defense and patrol the paint. But he was actually good at weakside rim protection, switching, and drop coverage — which is valued in some ways today.
That said, Dirk rarely had any miscues that made me tear my hair out. He really is Germanic efficiency personified. Rarely missed free throws, rarely missed any shot he was squared taking, rarely got burned by a defensive assignment, almost everything he did there’s a sense of purpose and he’s always under control.
That’s probably why we’re so hard on guys like Luka who’s one of the most insane players I have ever seen — the bar Dirk set is just so damn high.
Well, Dirk didn’t need to playmake for the whole team and have a huge usage rate, he expanded less energy.
It only takes 2 games for all of you to turn on him? What a fucking shithole this sub is
It’s why I said Luka might never win an MVP award. He doesn’t have that Giannis/Jokic thing were they play every game like it’s the most important, and do whatever is needed for the team to win. Most of the time when the team comes out looking disinterested, it’s because Luka comes out looking that way and they follow his lead.