Luka’s old school strategy that’s driving teams mad

Wait a second, was that an old school post up with another teammate in the paint in the year 2022? A minute later in the same game there it is again, Luka Doncic flashing to the post and what in the name of Kevin McHale is going on? The post up used to be the cornerstone of most NBA offenses. Back when the three point shot was only an afterthought, big men fought for position close to the hoop so they could show off their back to the basket games. And even as the three point shot started to space out the floor a bit in the 1990s, these were often inside out offenses using the post up to draw a double team and then find better looks. We don't have tracking data before the mid 2000s, but in the last decade or so we've seen a radical drop in the number of post ups per game as teams have prioritized shooting, spacing and a steady diet of pick and roll to create offensive advantages. The radical decline in the post game led to this Rick Carlyle eulogy in 2020. Post up's not a good play anymore. It's just not a good play. You know the value of those situations has plummeted. And he's mostly right. It's hard to match the efficiency of the pick and roll game by running offense through the post. One reason for that is that good post players are rarely great passers. The angles are different from the post and defensive rotations aren't as tricky if there's a double team. Doncic himself is a master of the pick and roll game where defenders have to worry about three simultaneous pressures. First, Luka himself taking it all the way home and coming downhill to score. Second, Luka hitting the screener for a high percentage shot. And finally, third, Luka punishing a defender who sags toward the paint by kicking it out to an open three point shooter. Dallas still runs plenty of offense like this, but they've also added more Luka post ups this season because Doncic is an elite scorer and passer in these situations. They tend to look for size mismatches that Luka can exploit when defenses throw quicker, smaller players at him. But he also has a ton of moves to throw at bigger defenders. Watch how he bumps Franz Wagner twice toward the middle here so he can spin back to the other shoulder for daylight. And against Mikhail Bridges, he throws a little shimmy to set up the one leg Dirk Nowitzki fade away. My goodness. Luka's footwork is fantastic in these spots, this time turning a drive into a post up and then he pounds the defender to set up that left shoulder fade only to pivot back the other way, but it's an up and under and that is glorious. And you can see how absurdly strong Doncic is for a guard as he completely absorbs the blow from his man. This time the 6'8 Cam Johnson cuts off his drive, but Luka could just turn that into a post up opportunity. And look at how occupied Phoenix's defenders are with the weak side movement. So Luka doesn't have to worry about a defender jumping him from the corner and he has all that space to play with, so he spins into it for a scoop layup. This is an impressive set of counters to have against a variety of defenders with up and unders and fallaways over both shoulders. And I'm also really impressed with how well he uses his body to carve out shots. This is against the 7'2 Bull Bull and Luka decides to back him down, bullies him under the rim and uses a little fake to create space and finish. Let's stop and appreciate what's happening here. Dallas's point guard attacked a switch against a 7'2 player by backing him into the post for an easy 6 footer. I mean, welcome to the future ladies and gentlemen. The Nets felt the brunt of this in their game in Brooklyn in the first quarter where Luka overwhelmed smaller defenders like Kyrie Irving and with a mismatch he can read help and create wide open threes. Again, notice the movement on the weak side. JaVale McGee can slip under the rim for a layup and that leaves one defender to guard these two shooters. It's the same configuration here. The double can only come from one side of the court and now Luka is attacking this defender, freezing him by looking up top and he says corner threes are more efficient. Although there's another card that Doncic can play in this spot. Irving is worried about the shooter this time so it's a no look lob to McGee and sometimes it's better to be lucky than good. You've probably noticed all the jump passes and no look deliveries here and an added perk of running offense through Luka is he can blend just about every shot into a pass, waiting until the last possible second to manipulate defenders once the defense commits to helping. Luka torched Portland with his post up game recently and here's our video coordinator Mike De La Rosa with more on that game. Early this season, the Mavs have been setting Luka up in this pinch post area, which is interesting because this zone was sort of the office of a lot of 90s and 2000s wing scorers. Nowadays though, Dallas blends these isos with modern off-ball activity like staggered screens to occupy the defense's attention. Notice all three blazers here looking away from the ball which then allows Luka to attack his man without any help. What this setup does is it allows Luka to see all five defenders at once and help can only come from one direction with the side being empty. So on this one, an opening is not immediately clear to me, but if you watch Luka's head, he's looking at Bullock in the corner which then shifts this defender's balance ever so slightly and then it's an easy read to find the open man for DFS. He can also post up in the middle of the floor, adding modern twists like this nasty little step through to set up a no-look pass for a wide open three. So down the stretch against the blazers, Luka ruthlessly attacked Portland's small guards from this pinch post area. Down two with three and a half minutes left, Luka goes to work against Lillard and gets deep in the paint with a nice little spin move and gets the easy two. Interestingly, Portland gave away these switches without any resistance. Then a few possessions later, the Blazers decide to junk it up with their version of a zone, but Simons is out to lunch and it's an easy three for Dinwiddie. Dallas then goes back to their bread and butter. They get their switch, Portland has to send help, and Luka collapses the defense leading to another wide open three for the red hot Spencer Dinwiddie. After Lillard gets a layup on the other end, at this point you already know where the Mavs are going. This time the Blazers send help from the middle and that causes a chain reaction with the defense being one step behind the ball as the Mavs move it around the horn back to our guy Dinwiddie for his third three in a row. So for the final time, Luka gets his switch on Simons, draws a double team, and the Mavs move it around with the ball eventually finding Finney Smith to then seal the victory. Thank you, Mike. I love all these high post actions with Luka because they blend one part of the offense with the other. This starts with staggered screens, so Luka has a roll man and a popping shooter, and it organically flows into that pinch post action instead of trying another pick and roll. And this works because he's an elite ball handler and post weapon, so if they don't double on the repost, he goes to work and scores himself. Doncic actually leads the league in post up points right now, and the Mavs are scoring a whopping 1.22 points per possession on his post ups that immediately result in a shot. And it's almost like Dallas has turned Luka's usual pick and roll reads on their side in these post actions. They love running staggered screens away from the ball where Doncic can read backdoor cuts and find teammates. When he's in the pinch post, the two screens are horizontal, but he's still reading his cutters and looking for home run passes like this. Here it is again with the big man cutting. The first screener then turns and comes off a pick himself, and this turned into a three shot flagrant foul. So on the very next play, the Mavs run the exact same action. The Magic jump to the shooter this time, but then that third screener can float out to the line. So this is still a game of three pointers and layups with Doncic as the quarterback. But the difference between this and say, Golden State, is that Luka just goes to work himself when the cutting options fizzle out, and that's an incredible plan B. So the post up might not be an efficient option for most players around the league, but when your point guard can just turn his back 20 feet from the basket and still generate high percentage layups and threes, I'd say it's an effective weapon regardless of what year it is. To support this channel, check out patreon.com slash thinking basketball. We just launched a new site with leaderboards that update daily for players and teams. These are the stats I use every day when checking up on players and other patterns in the league. Thanks so much for checking this one out, and as always, I hope that you are having a great day.