Whenever I watch the game, I stop watching when he heads for the bench and restart watching when he enters the game. Also if they win or lose, it's same to me. Such a shame he couldn't get drafted by Phoenix.
Dennis Smith Jr reminds me of Westbrook, but in a bad way. He can't shoot at all, doesn't involve his teammates and actually makes them worse. Not to mention he's a below average playmaker for a PG and can't finish well at the rim. All he can do is dribble the ball and jump really high. They should just trade DSJ away for a pick and run their offense through Luka. Then in the offseason use that pick to draft someone more compatible with Doncic.
I think you are a bit too harsh on DSJ. From what I've seen, he's not that bad of a shooter (though not great by any means) and he is trying to play off the ball more since Doncic arrived. Also he's a decent passer. He's a great slasher...where did you get the idea he can't finish well at the rim? But as far as his shooting goes, if he can't get better at it in a season or two, it will really hamper their spacing.
For a starting PG, I don't really think he's even average in that department. I should probably elaborate on this a bit. I don't think that Dennis is terrible at finishing at the rim overall, but he definitely struggles when there's contact, which really limits his effectiveness and reduces the efficiency. Some finishing at the rim (in the restriced area) stats from point-guards in the 2017-18 season, anything around 58-60% is pretty good / average: Ben Simmons - 71.0% Gary Harris - 69.0% Eric Bledsoe - 67.4% Steph Curry - 64.9% Derrick Rose - 64.6% Jrue Holiday - 64.4% Elfrid Payton - 63.7% Ish Smith - 63.6% Darren Collison - 63.4% Jeff Teague - 63.4% Chris Paul - 63.2% Donovan Mitchell - 61.7% Kyrie Irving - 61.6% John Wall - 61.5% Kyle Lowry - 61.4% De'Aaron Fox - 59.9% Russell Westbrook - 59.2% Goran Dragic - 59.0% Jamal Murray - 58.6% Rajon Rondo 58.4% D'Angelo Russel - 58.0% D.J. Augustin - 56.9% Dennis Smith Jr - 56.7% Dejounte Murray 55.3% Dennis Schroder - 54.5% Kemba Walker - 54.1% Damian Lillard - 53.8% Kris Dunn - 52.6% Ricky Rubio - 50.9% Lonzo Ball - 47.9%
Well I should correct myself a bit...he is not a pure PG, I think he's been thrown into PG spot as a rookie because Dallas didn't have one. Yeah they have Devin Harris and JJ Barea, but they went with DSJ because their season was going to suck anyways. And since DSJ is more of a SG type of player, his vision is not that bad. I mean he got 5.2 assists and only 2.8 turnovers last season as a rookie on a team that went to Barnes' ISO a lot. Wasn't aware his % of finishing around the rim was so underwhelming. Maybe it had to do something with Dallas not having great shooters last year. This year, with Doncic and DeAndre on team, his finishing % should increase by a hefty amount. We'll see.
I'm doing other stuff while leaving the game on. Even when you don't watch, you can still listen you know
That's the definition of a DOF. Or even a LOF (Luka). Be careful, for him to truly succeed, he needs to rack up the Ws, and have playoff success. This can lead to the horrible medical condition known as, "Becoming a Mavericks Fan."
Is it possible to want Luka to win and not become a Mavericks fan? If I still don't care for Miami after three years of Dragic being there, I think I will be able to avert the medical condition haha
But his offense likely won't be nearly as good as Harden's. Sort of a Harden with better defense but worse offense.
Harden is one of the best offensive players in NBA history being a "Harden with worse offense" means he will still be a star level player which is more than I can say for Trae Young and esp. Bagley III lol
A game of two halves for Dončić. He was absolutely great in first quarter, then Carlisle sat him down with 2 fouls. All of his minutes after that were ranging from bad to abysmal. Two factors attribute to his play after benching: conditioning and freaking Trevor Ariza, who shadowed him much of the game. Well, those two go hand in hand I guess. But like I said many times, it's easier to get in shape than to learn how to shoot or pass. I guess he will have a bunch of games like this over the season, but also a lot of great ones.
