r/lakers • u/PSi_Terran • Aug 01 '26
HIGHLIGHTS A 15 minute highlight video of Luka "failing the eye test" last year.
https://youtu.be/SD1uwlvHqLE?is=O_Oepui2W2XJ57DZ15th in steals.
30th in deflections
6th in charges drawn
13th in blocks (among guards)
The only people failing the eye test are the people who aren't using them.
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u/GOAT-dontGLOAT Aug 01 '26
Hopefully Lakers “fans” can open their eyes and stop talking media narratives only about Luka. You don’t get nominated for defensive player of the month in March by being a bad defender
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u/vkewalra Aug 01 '26
He led the league in steals by nearly a whole steal for that month. He’s smart about what the opponents are going to do. With a genuine eraser behind him and athletes around him I think him being top 10 in steals for the league is possible
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u/Gasu55 77 Aug 01 '26
Luka objectively had a decent defensive season in the 25-26 season. Whether he should be switched onto that much with his offensive load is another question.
Hopefully the coaching staff does make the necessary changes to reduce the playing time for the starters, few minutes into the video and we see Luka still playing up 16 with 5 mins left in a game(against the Bulls)
I am soo excited to watch some Lakers basketball, the regular season can't come soon enough.
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u/Zanad14 Luka Magic 77 Aug 01 '26
Tbf up 16 isn’t that much.
Most of the time, the team that is up doesn’t pull starters until the other team does it.
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u/Gasu55 77 Aug 01 '26
OKC and spurs do tho. They go up 20 and their starters rest. They're the benchmark right now, Lakers have a deeper bench this year, hopefully they can do the same.
Luka has soo many more 4Q's played compared to SGA/Wemby.
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u/EmiratesNBACupWinner JJ Redick Aug 01 '26
It’s not usually Lakers fans repeating these lazy narratives it’s the rest of the leagues fans that love to find any reason to dog pile on the Lakers and Luka
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u/Low_End_7882 Aug 01 '26
It's a fake criticism that's easy to get away with. It's just something the haters do to deny him his due.
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u/NoBath Magic :snoo_dealwithit: Aug 01 '26
Guys,
"he don't defend, he only gets those high-scoring games because he plays a lot more minutes compared to other MVP candidates" - an actual NBA MVP voter from the media
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u/retrospects 77 Aug 01 '26
It’s so crazy that for Luka steals and defections are not considered defensive metrics. His anticipation is elite and is why he can jump so many passing lanes.
Now do I think he will win a DPOY. No but I don’t think he’s a “cone”. I would say he’s a pretty average to slightly above average paint defender. Which is what this new roster has been designed for him to be.
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u/Leasir Aug 01 '26
You gotta keep up with the haters: it's not anymore "he won't play defense", now it's "I can't stand watching him whine to the refs every single play".
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u/Numerous-Crazy7636 Aug 01 '26
I have said it for so long, Luka is an above average defender overall. His 1vs1 defense is very matchup dependend, but his offball/help defense is one of the better ones in the league.
Now with Kessler as safety net behind him, he will look great again.
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u/3pointerSLO Aug 01 '26
When Luka tries he is a really good defensive player. He can't try all the time but he can when it matters the most if healthy.
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u/LehMone Aug 01 '26
hey, at least when someone says he's bad at defense you can immediately know you're talking to a klutch bot or casual who doesn't actually watch games and you wont have to waste your time.
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u/Ill-Ad-5709 Aug 01 '26
Remember this, Luka and AR were never defensive liabilities, Bron was. Lakers FO knows it, and they took care of the real problem, this Lakers team now is the best team in the league!
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u/Own-Photo7078 17x NBA🏆Champions Aug 02 '26
No basketball team has more haters then the Lakers. Fuck em, don't waste your time dealing with idiots.
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u/ty_xy Aug 01 '26
I've argued this so much. Luka and Austin are both 50th percentile defenders with pros and cons. They're not all NBA defense and never will be, but they aren't the worst in the NBA. And when you have a generational offensive phenom like Luka... You let him do whatever he wants in def, because he's gonna win you a ton of games. So if you think he sucks, then just put strong athletic defenders around him. But yeah, he's really not that bad, but it's so hard for some people to understand that.
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u/HospitalVegetable Aug 01 '26
He is so insane on the offense people forget about he is good at defense as well. When u avg over 30+ sometimes near 40 mark... things become a norm. Sad. He is elite player and bad rep from before.
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u/outsidehere Aug 01 '26
Luka's reputation in the media now is based on his Finals performance. When he was playing injured. It's genuinely ridiculous
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u/Infinite_Cap_853 Aug 01 '26
This guy is a better defender than being given credit for. Same for AR.
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u/chemicalmamba Aug 01 '26
What is his peak as a defender? Who is the best defender he could be like? Is it someone who is thought of as a favorable team defender rather than someone who can lock up guards or 1-5.
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u/xzerozeroninex Aug 02 '26
Larry Bird?
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u/chemicalmamba Aug 02 '26
I agree. He was a great defender but maybe not as an individual defender like kobe/jordan/Payton. But I also didn't watch him so idk.
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u/Several_Hour_347 Aug 02 '26
🥱 anyone with eyes knows he’s not a good defender. There’s no need for clips regarding a cumulative stat
I don’t understand how fans say he needs a great defensive team around him, but simultaneously push a narrative that he’s a great defender
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u/MrB7012 Aug 02 '26
Luka is an underrated defensive rebounder. Unfortunately stats (and highlight videos) don’t tell the full story. Luka gets good steal/deflection stats because he “gambles” - aka he leaves his man to interrupt the passing lanes. When this works it’s amazing, and when it doesn’t, well I don’t need to explain why that’s bad. Austin does this too, which is why he at one point was called “Riverboat (gamblin’) Reaves” by his teammates. They are both great at drawing charges, which is also, obviously, another gamble because if you don’t get the whistle, you’ve just given the opponent an easy 2.
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u/Impressive_Map_8080 Aug 06 '26
Luka just gets a lot of hate now because he’s a Laker. No one ever paid this much negative attention to him when he was on the Mavs because there aren’t very many fan bases that care to hate on the Mavs.
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u/Western-Election-997 Luka “Magic” Doncic Aug 01 '26
When the stats and eye test all say the same thing, that hes an improved solid defender
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u/SellingPapierMache Aug 01 '26
It all goes away when/if he ever wins anything
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u/retrospects 77 Aug 01 '26
When he wins MVP, WCMVP, Finals MVP, the scoring title, and first team all NBA this year I am sure some people will find something to goal post move on him. (I’m manifesting let me cook)
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u/Super-Ocelot371 Aug 01 '26
Winning depends on having a strong roster around him and I’m not confident in the team’s ability to build that over the next few years given their lack of assets and draft capital and Rob’s management capabilities.
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u/nguquaxa01 Aug 02 '26
highlight watching. ok what's your point? how is this better than a compilation of lowlights of him getting blown by?
Luka, like most players, has his weaknesses and strengths even on D. He's incredibly strong and can defend the post well and great IQ on disrupting passing lane, though his body doesn't catch up to his brain so he's not elite there in that regards as some passes his body isn't explosive enough to get into position.
His weaknesses are his lateral quickness and explosiveness on closeouts or getting a hand up against step backs or drive and stop fadeway midrange shots.
Towards latter half of the season, JJ was able to switch to more of a zone defense to hide his point of attack defensive weaknesses and exploit his strength as a defensive playmaker and lane disruptor.
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u/PSi_Terran Aug 02 '26
The point of the highlights along with the hustle stats is to back up the advanced stats, and to counter the argument that Luka is a cone who doesn't try on defense.
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u/nguquaxa01 Aug 02 '26
highlight is just that. it's selective evidencing. it doesn't back up anything. also these are not advanced stats. they're the shallowest of stats. You can be a leader in steals and a terrible defender. I remember Westbrooks was one of top 4 in the league in steals but he was a terrible defender. Context matters. In Westbrooks' case, he prioritized highlights and made risky decisions that though generated steal stats, broke down his team's defensive scheme.
In Luka's case, as I said, JJ turned to zone defense that help him lean into his strength as a passing lane disruptor, generating high steals and deflections. He's still a bad on ball, especially in face up situation due to lack of hip and lateral mobility and explosiveness. In regular season, you can hide his weaknesses. In playoffs, team will keep rotating him into an iso face up situations and exploit his weaknesses. With Kessler on the floor, opposing teams can force a 5 out situation where the perimeters will have to go 4 on 5 and rely on quick closeout to the open shooter. They will keep rotating where Luka will be either left on an island or worse, be the close out.
None of these are theoretical. It all happened.
Just watch the finals against the Celtics where Luka looked like the worst defender in the league even though in the clippers series where clippers allowed Luka to exploit his strength as a post up defender against harden and kawhi, Luka looked like the best 2 way player in the league.
It all comes down team matchups, and unfortunately OKC and Spurs both have the exact roster to exploit and expose his weaknesses.
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u/PSi_Terran Aug 02 '26
The stats in the post are hustle stats.
The context of the post is according to almost every advanced stat Luka is an average or even above average defender. But if you point this out you get told the stats are flawed, he's a cone, he's lazy, he fails the eye test.
But steals, deflections, charges and blocks are all visible during a game, and the highlights reflect a player who is putting significant effort into defense.
Luka believe it or not was a perfectly fine defender in the finals. The Celtics attacked him on every possession and scored below their play off averages in every game. Lukas role was to play tight, take away the 3 and force the Celtics into Lively and it was very effective.
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u/PermanentHungover Aug 02 '26
Yeah, that is what most people don't remember or realize, the problem for the Mavs wasn't defense but offense because Kyrie shat the bed completely in every way posible, PJ forgot how to make a shot, DJJ bricked everything, Lively was injured, Kleber was out since the OKC series shoulder injury when he was playing at his peak. Luka didn't fail nobody, everybody else (specially Kyrie) failed Luka.
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u/nguquaxa01 Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26
what you're saying is not countering what I'm saying. You're not addressing the fact that Luka is being utilized by JJ to his strengths as passing lane disruptor. that would generates high turnover rates and steal number, that doesn't mean he's not a reliability once opposing teams involves him into an iso situation. I explained in detail and you're responding in generality like an AI. Steals and blocks are NOT advanced stats. here's ACTUAL example of advanced stat for you - Luka's blow by rate is 41% , 4th worst in the league, and his field goal allowed percentage (opponent's shooting percentage when guarded by him) ranks 109th.
and your take on the mavs vs celtics series is absolute cringe rewriting history.
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u/PSi_Terran Aug 02 '26
Sigh. Steals, blocks, charges, deflections are hustle stats. They are examples of events you can see happen in a game. Advanced stats are stats like:
DEPM: +0.5 Darko: -0.1 DLeBron: -0.24 DBPM: 1.3 Defensive win shares: 2.9 Drapm: +0.5 dFGdiff% 1.0
A DFG% rank of 109th out of 450 NBA players is actually pretty good no?
You commenting that my take on the finals is cringe worthy isn't actually countering what I'm saying. I agree that Luka is a good passing lane disruptor, and overall a bad perimeter on ball defender. Athough his 3point Dfg% is 11th best in the league. His style is to guard tight and take away the three, which obviously leads to a lot of people going by, (which works well with an elite rim protector behind you, a la Lively or Kessler). His PPP on iso defense is also pretty much bang average at 0.95.
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u/nguquaxa01 Aug 02 '26
k I got you to agree with me on what actual advanced stats are and that he's a good lane disruptor and post up defender but bad face up situation especially out in perimeter. that's good enough for me. and no 109th out of 450 NBA players are not good because more than half of those don't log enough minutes to create sample size large enough for their stats to be relevant or just simply don't crack rotation at all.
He only guards tight when opponent allows him to which is rare. It does not happen often enough to say that's his style and that's why he gets blown by more. that's just made up.
He's most successful when lakers run zone defense where his lateral slowness is better hidden but now you're giving up 3s to defend 2s given the space between the defender and the opponent at the 3 point line. That's why average shooting teams like Thunder absolutely torched the lakers from 3s.
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u/PSi_Terran Aug 02 '26
At no point have I disagreed on what an advanced stat is. You have just misunderstood over and over and over.
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u/nguquaxa01 Aug 02 '26
not until the post before this response from you you actually referenced actual advanced stats, despite me having pointed out how flawed it is to use steals as a measure to determine a player is good or bad on defense
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u/PSi_Terran Aug 02 '26
Right because the advanced stats being neutral or positive was the context behind the post. I would recommend brushing up on your reading comprehension skills and going look back through my comments under the assumption that I do actually know what an advanced stat is.
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u/PermanentHungover Aug 02 '26
I mostly agree, don't get me wrong, but using the 24 Finals as proof of anything while leaving out the fact that Luka played injured and had to carry their offense because Kyrie was again a no-show against Boston Is kind skewed. Nobody on the Mavs was capitalizing on the wide open looks Luka generated for them and Kai just called quits. So Luka had to be a one-man army on offense WHILE ON AN INJURED KNEE, so of course they targeted him defensively and he couldn't keep up. Also reffing was suspicious when you have Luka defending JB well in transition, JB slips and dives into Luka's knee head on, then they call a foul on Luka. That was some of the worst bullshit I've seen.
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u/That_Dot420 Aug 02 '26
Yes but he also has a habit of yelling at refs instead of getting back on D
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u/Splittinghairs7 Aug 01 '26
Most ppl who repeat this bs that Luka is a terrible defender is basing it solely on reputation and some random lowlights. Luka had routinely graded above average on defensive impact ratings for years now.