technical basketball details etc

no dip finals

No idea how Sam Hauser did this pic.twitter.com/utQW58rlYu

— Savage (@SavageSports_) June 7, 2024

no dip zone

does “dip” refer to the ball or knees?

the ball

this finals was a great series for my revolutionary theory of the step back three is a bad shot unless youre steph or something maybe but even then why not take an easier shot

classic case of "just bc you can doesnt mean you should" *stares at luka's 32% 3pct*

tatum shot awful all playoffs but managed to not kill the celtics because instead of doing his favorite thing, taking step back threes, he drove the ball

i mean he still took some step backs but not that many, progress!

he led the finals in assists despite the famous passer luka also playing in the series

on one of the pods someone made the point that luka always going left w/ his step back is the kinda thing you can routinely get off in the regular season but once you get 4 rounds deep, that level of granular scouting that every player is put thru, it’s not sustainable to just have a move where you only do one thing. we know this, but watching horford guard luka was a really good example. we know everyone was making a big deal out of luka hitting a step back off his right foot vs gobert … this is prob the sorta thing — whoops this move you use all the time w/o thinking just got exposed in the finals — that should be happening to luka

i actually think there is a good argument for having the step back in one’s playoff bag bcuz sometimes you do need to be able to create a decent shot when you have nothing going on offense. in the recent playoff games where james harden has been really great the stepback features prominently. i think there are some similarities in footwork for luka too in terms of how he gets some midrange jumpers off when teams start to overplay his 3 shooting and driving

iirc luka is also statistically just a lot better at that shot than everyone else. i think the thing that really bothers ppl about the tatum stuff is that the shots rarely go in

heres some numbers from a few years ago not sure where to find the current ones, someone was much better at stepbacks but it wasnt luka lol

Step-Back 3P% (Min. 100 3PA)
1. Steph Curry ......... 47.2%
2. Zach LaVine ........ 36.9
3. Jamal Murray .......36.9
4. James Harden ..... 36.8
5. Dame Lillard .........36.0
6. Luka Doncic ......... 35.7
7. Jayson Tatum ....... 34.6
8. Jordan Clarkson ... 33.3 pic.twitter.com/nsmV9Xw33C

— Kirk Goldsberry (@kirkgoldsberry) May 26, 2021

luka did have his best 3pt shooting year this year 38% compared to 34 for his career but he was prob at least partially just hot, and indeed he was at 32% for the offs

those are some ok percentages but aside from steph theyre not great and more importantly its just the kind of shot that can turn to dust against a good prepared defense an already very difficult shot becomes impossible with a defender in yr face, if you want to take it at the end of the shot clock fine yr already kinda fucked whatever, could also step in and take a long two going towards the basket tho

relatedly in saw a clip of luka taking a catch and shoot three in the finals and it was so bad he just kinda flung it there was no intentional foot work going into the catch he looked confused, his game isnt normal

they also showed him pregame practicing movement catch and shoots where he caught and turned on the move he was miced up telling someone "this is me next year" buddy try the easy ones first why not

start with just moving off ball see what happens

nba tracking data has luka as going 169-421 on step back threes this year which is 40.1%. i don’t see a leaderboard for this stat but obv a big improvement from 2021 and a rate that would’ve been way ahead of everyone in the league aside from steph

in the playoffs this year luka was 38-118 on step back threes which is 32%

in the finals he was 6-28 which is 21%

i don’t think the exact link is working on my phone but if you go to his NBA player page and select “splits” and “shooting” and scroll all the way to “shot type detail” you’ll see it

https://www.nba.com/player/1629029/luka-doncic/

a lot of his game plays off the step back, guys jumping up on him and then he uses that to get in front of the guy and pin him on his back and then he’s going to the rim exactly how he wants etc. you see this happen all the time when he plays. it’s a fine line to where the threat stops being worth it bcuz the shots keep missing but at 40% in the regular season he was far above the red line so to speak. 32% is a diff convo, 21% is not one at all

ah very nice thats a lot of data https://www.nba.com/stats/player/1629029/shooting

it declined from 39% to 34 in the mavs playoff run two years ago which is not that bad but idk i just feel like cant you find a better shot its not only difficult its also static iso offense, i think one reason he does it is compared to how he gets his other buckets its not that tiring