LeBron's influence on Luka: A conversation with Gilbert Arenas

You know, I think what gives Luka the edge and gave him the edge early is because he's been playing professionally since 12, 13. So he's done adapted his game around pros. The league he comes from, everyone's fundamentally sound. You get drafted to the big league where athleticism is the dominant source here. So I remember when he first said, It's easier here because everyone's athletic. No one has fundamentals here. He splits the double team right down Main Street. I knew they were like, oh, man, he's about to eat. What's up? This is your man, Gilbert Arenas, breaking down the man, the myth, the only, Luka. I love that name, Luka. I really fell in love with Luka. I was watching him, you know, when he was coming through the draft process, and I was like, man, the guy is too slow. I don't know how he's going to get his shot off. And then I seen one live game, and I was like, I messed up on that one. When it comes to, you know, the Euro players coming in, they're all skilled. They all have an ability to adjust to the NBA game. But Luka's just different. You know, sitting at 6'8", 6'9", being a point guard, being a shooter, having an understanding of fundamentals versus what raw athleticism is, possessing it all. Like, there's a reason that he is performing the way he is versus others in the past, you know? He has the makeup that just makes him different, that makes him stand out. You know, no matter if he was at the one or the two, you know, you can see when he was at the two, he was very great. And it's like, you know what, just give him the ball and let him go, and you can see, no matter what, at the one, at the two, his dominance still shows. What makes Luka stand out, Luka's fundamental. You know, he has that old, and I hate to say it, that old Duke fundamentally sound, footwork, reaction, ability to create shots. I think that's what really sets him apart. You know, that's what sets a lot of Euro players apart is, you know, they learn fundamentals first. He's been playing professional since 12, 13. so he's done adapted his game around pros. What ends up happening is the league he comes from, everyone's fundamentally sound. You get drafted to the big league here in America where our athleticism kicks in so much that that becomes the standout, and we learn fundamentals later in our career if we ever actually do. And that's what separated Jordan from the rest, too, because Jordan understood that, hmm, hmm, for me to carry on, I need to understand fundamentals also. I need to learn what Bird has now before I start declining. So, you know, when you see Jordan back to the basket, understanding the up and under, the fakes, the, you know, all he's doing is watching what Bird was doing. And he said, you know what, I'm going to add that to my game now. So at 40 years old, when he declined, he still is averaging 20 because he understood, I can just use my fundamental. fundamental kills raw athleticism and that's what is going on with Luka now because you know everyone is they want to use their speed they want to use their 46 inch vertical they're gonna they're gonna always be out of position on a player like him because he's smart he's smart enough to understand that being fundamentally sound is the most important key about sports and the fact that he understood that because he was pro since 13 is giving him you know his second year averaging 29. We're gonna start from the beginning you know just for future coaches out there who's gonna be drawing out-of-bounds plays. The worst play you can design is this one. Going upward towards the ball away from the rim. You got 3.7 seconds left and everything counts. So drawing a play where the guy is running up towards half court takes away seconds because now he he has to stop his momentum to turn it back to go back towards the rim and that's what Luka had to do here so this is what makes Luka very special where he's already done processed this whole scene he realizes he can't go left he realizes he can't go full throttle right because someone is clogging the lane so he shifts twice in this same possession and you know for a guy that isn't fast and you sit and question, how does he get his shot off? He gets his shots off because the person who's sticking him is using his athleticism a little too much. And Luka is using it against him. So knowing that Reggie Jackson is a little faster than him, a little more athletic, he's shifting, you know, Reggie to shift. He's making him go left, making him go right. And when you go too much, he crosses back over. By the time you can get back to him, He doesn't hit you with a step back, and Luka does what Luka does, hit game winners. You know, with a player like Luka, because he also has great vision, and, you know, when you're sitting a bunch of shooters out there, you have to actually play him one-on-one, which goes to his advantage, too, because he is a one-on-one player. You know, so the fact that you have all these shooting pieces on the court forces everyone to stay home, forces everyone to play straight up, which now you have the best offensive guy on Dallas going against the third best defender on the Clippers, which gives, you know, Luka the advantage, which was, you know, bad switch for the Clippers. Great read by Luka to understand that Reggie Jackson's going to guard me and I don't have to worry about the other two defenders. Being down one, shooting three takes a lot, a lot of cojones, and I'm not even going to lie. When you're down one and you have to make that, you have to be poised when you with this tie game those game winners are easy you know worst case scenario you're in overtime you know this right here you missed this it's game over so the cojones for the step back at 34 feet that's that's ballsy but that tells what kind of player he is switched on to luca you know he's he's a guy who's willing to take and hit the big shot What's up? This is Gilbert Arenas, a.k.a. Agent Zero. Here, breaking down my man, Tatum. I love Tatum because I've known him since he was little. The reason he wears zero is because of me, the hibachi, the Agent Zero. I love Tatum's game. Smooth, confident, plays at his own pace. Doesn't do anything that he can't do. Here's the lob to Smart to Tatum. Tatum. As a young player, that's very important. and doing things that, you know, you can do versus trying to do something that you can't do. You know, Tatum's style, you know, what they're building around is a smooth player, confident player, a player who doesn't get up, a player who doesn't get too down, just stays in the middle. The great ones, they don't get too high, they don't get too low. They're usually right in the middle. And, you know, you can see that from him early. I think we've all known, you know, from day one that he was the cornerstone of this team. You know, even when Kyrie was there, And, you know, when Kyrie was missing games, you know, you can see Boston still thriving. To Tatum, Tatum, some room. Drive the ball, watch out. You know, you can see that everyone responded well to Tatum as a rookie. So with, you know, Hayward moving on and they're putting their money into Tatum, just, you know, stamps it. This is your team, these are your guys, and let's build something special here. In the hands of Tatum, guarded by Siakam, on the drive, and throws it out of bounds. I always love to stop it at the beginning to show teammates not doing what they're supposed to do. The only person that's out of position is Kimba. He's put his guy in Tatum's zone. So if this defender was smart, he would have just jumped into Tatum's way to stop that drive because there's no way Kemba would have shot it from the E. But he didn't. He let Tatum drive. Tatum drives. Tatum gets stopped from going all the way. As a defender, you're told not to leave the corner shooter, but the fact that that's not a shooter in the corner, the defensive guy actually steps over and stops Tatum from actually driving. If you can see Tatum's face, Tatum is actually looking at feet. That's what great players do. We're looking at the feet to see where his feet is positioned on the court. He's seeing that the guy's in great position, and his natural instinct is to make the corner pass. I remember when this play happened, everyone yelled at coach. And everyone was like, man, if the coach wasn't there, he's on the court. He passed it to him. I'm going to say, please do not disrespect Tatum's intelligence. That is a coach in green. His teammate is in green. Here, what ends up happening is when we do drills and we do stop and pass drills here, we are taught you react by drifting down towards the corner. And that's exactly where Tatum's pass is going. And the fact that his natural instinct is to make that pass, but DT didn't react to it, it looks like he's passing the ball to the coach. I just hated the fact that we challenged Tatum's intelligence here by saying he thought that was the coach. You can see that Tatum, when he let it go, he's actually telling him where he should have been. You see that he, yeah, you can see that he's like, man, you should have been there because it's instinctual. A traditional drive and kick play that just didn't get the reaction of him. You know, as a rookie, I don't know if he would have made that play. I'm pretty sure, you know, as a rookie, he would have probably got the charge. You know, but the growth, the playoff experience to making mistakes, to understand that, hey, this guy steps up. I do need to make that pass. And now we can add next year's growth to that play. With every mistake becomes growth. And you can see that he's growing with each mistake, each game. That's what's more important. From his rookie season to now, this year, turnover. Next year, perfect play. Tatum again, adjust, gets inside. You know, two years, three years from now, you're going to see a player who's dominating this game on a Kobe level. Because he possesses, you know, all those intangibles that's going to make him, you know, compared to that guy. Kobe was great at everything. Mid-range, getting to his spot, and that's what Tatum's finding out he's great at, too, is getting to his spot. Shoots over Davis. Knocks another three-pointer on Jayson Tatum. You know, no matter what the defense is giving you, you're going to your destination. And when you get there, you rise up, you hit the shot. Step back three. And I think that's what Tatum is understanding more and more. You know, you're talking about a guy who lived his whole career hitting big shots, missing big shots. To be successful, you have to fail. You have to understand what you did wrong to understand what you need to do right. We usually just say, you know, he's not too high, he's not too low. We're the type, when you're a Tiger, you know, you're trying to figure out, you know, everyone's weakness. With the step. And right now, you know, he's so poised, you know, it's kind of hard to pick up on his telltale sign. You know, if he was one of those guys that, you know, worked off emotion, it's kind of easier, you know, to see what gets him ticking, what doesn't. Or is he a guy who celebrates every shot? because if he celebrates every shot that means he gets down on every miss you know he understands the game he reacts very well he bounces back very very very well i know there was game what four and five where he had probably zero to two points in the first half and he had to you know turn it up in the second half and finish with 28 and 30 you know but that shows his composure During tough times, during crucial moments of a game, it's amazing. For a step back three, Jason Terry with the clutch. This is Gilbert Arenas about to break down the king. One and only, LeBron James. What really made me fall in love with LeBron's play was we're in the playoffs. It was game five, four minutes left. And I picked up something in what he did. It kind of changed the series. He was playing decoy and, you know, we think in our game plan is shutting them down. And then he looks over at the bench and then gives them the nod. And the nod end up subbing Al Gausuran out. We subbed out Brendan Haywood. And when Brendan Haywood subbed out, LeBron James attacked that. But why I fall in love with it is he decoyed to give everybody else a chance to get involved into the game before he took over. and I just thought that was just like special because as soon as I got on the court I didn't care who was on the court I'm chucking I'm shooting I'm trying to be aggressive knowing that he needed these players throughout this game he let them during moments of the game while he took a backseat it took the whole summer to understand what he was doing and and realize that is that was brilliant to decoy yourself to get everybody involved get everyone plays then you take over and decoy again the decoy then I realized we never actually guarded this guy when he wasn't scoring it was him decoying he could have scored 70 against he could score 70 against everybody else so what ends up happening is when you actually think you're guarding LeBron you're actually not guarding LeBron he's just in decoy mode letting everybody else get a feel for the game and that's when I was like okay I like that from you know year 17, 18, to year one, what set LeBron apart was, you know, his IQ, was his ability to adapt, ability to read. That's what we didn't understand when we was first matching up in the playoffs against him, how smart he really was. So there were times where we're leaving a certain guy open knowing that no one in their right mind will pass, which he would. And the outcome was great. His film breakdown, where I'm watching him at home, I understood he understood the game very well, but I didn't understand and didn't realize then he's willing to sacrifice his name, his integrity of, you know, being bashed to make the right play. This one's huge. Damon Jones didn't play game five, nor game six comes in for the last, you know, 20 seconds of the game. We're gonna leave Damon. He's not gonna pass to Damon Jones. Damon Jones hasn't shot the ball in two games, and he actually makes that pass, which shows that he believes in his teammates, which gives them the sense that we believe in ourselves too. Jordan would have just averaged 60 and said, to hell with it. He wouldn't have still gave the ball to J.R. Smith after J.R. Smith done did what J.R. Smith has done. But because he still believes in his teammates, they still believe in themselves too during crucial time. And that's what makes LeBron the GOAT. I think that we were spoiled by Jordan. You know, the grace he brought to the game, his fierceness, the way he ended games. And when Kobe came, we seen Jordan-like. So what ends up happening is, when you have a player like LeBron who comes into the game, who doesn't have the instincts of Jordan and Kobe, they're gonna take that last shot no matter what. We feel that if you're the best player, you're the star. You're compared to Jordan and Kobe, you should be Jordan and Kobe-like. which is not necessarily correct. Jordan and Kobe possessed something LeBron didn't have, which was a first step, which made them one-on-one players. LeBron came in as Magic Johnson, meaning his vision is his key. As someone who loved Michael Jordan and Kobe, we get mad and we want to knock him because he's using his vision when we allow them to use their one-on-one skill to finish plays. It's unfair to say you can use your one-on-one skills, but you can't use your gift. You can't use your vision. You can't, you can't see the open man. You supposed to chuck the shot up. And if it goes in, we're going to cheer you on. If you miss it, we're going to say, ah, he don't have it. No, you know, this is what makes him great. The ability to see the open guy, if he's not the open guy. Just like Jordan made himself the open guy, but we didn't knock him when he passed it to Steve Kerr. I mean, I mean, he didn't, he didn't pass it to him knowing he was going to make the shot. He passes to it, hoping he would make that . The screen, James goes the other way. Drives down the lane, back out to Green. Green for three! Off the mark, no good. So you have Morris and Pope running off of AD to afford decoy, and then Anthony Davis, a down screen for LeBron coming up for the ball. Now you have LeBron and Jimmy Butler guarding him. I'm pretty sure Danny Green was supposed to actually set a pick so Duncan Robinson can switch on him. So LeBron James has to react. Now, pause right now. Now this is very important to viewers at home. I'm laughing because it's just a horrible look at this point. You have a corner shooter in Twin who has his hands on his knees. I don't know if he's tired. I don't know if he's ready. I don't know what he's doing, but he's not actually ready to shoot. So when people at home are judging LeBron off of his decision, you have to look at it all as it plays out. You have the Twin, hands on his knees, not ready to shoot, can't pass on him. You have Crowder who actually interrupts LeBron's shot here. So the fact that he actually digs for the ball kind of throws off LeBron's shot attempt. Now, I'm pretty sure if you're a LeBron fan, you've actually never seen LeBron go right and actually do a running. He's never done a floater. He's never really been a floating type of guy. So what ends up happening is the dig by Crowder kind of throws off of his rhythm. So if he would have actually took this shot, I'm pretty sure it would have been 12%, which the actual play now is back to Danny Green. So me saying that, yo, I wouldn't have passed it, I wouldn't have, but I wouldn't have put myself in this situation in the first place. So for us to actually say what LeBron did is a bad decision, I would have took it. If you pause it right here and look at the pass he made, If Danny Green makes this shot, LeBron made the best decision that he could ever have made, which is the only decision he was supposed to make. He's watching film on top of film on top of film. What most people do in the playoffs, he does every single game. So he knows the ins and outs of all your plays, where you're supposed to be, where you don't supposed to be. you know when you try to trick him by calling a play he's going to pick up on and say that's not one of their plays and tell you where you're supposed to be I understood that when I was at his house watching him watch our play and because I'm a gray area player I knew well he's going to know every single play supposed to be so therefore for us to you know have a one up on him we have to to go off script sometimes. You know, if you don't understand the game and film and breakdown, you're gonna go into the game behind LeBron's mind. James on the drive! What's up, this is Gilbert Arenas, AKA Agent Zero, and this is what makes AD's versatility so amazing. Davis corner three. He can shoot the outside shot, he can dribble, you know, he can play the dunker spot, he can post up, he can play iso basketball. So you have an all-around offensive juggernaut, and there's a reason you can put LeBron Kuzma with him, and he can intertwine and, are you guys gonna be posting up? I'll set the three-point line. LeBron, you wanna be out? I'll be in the post. So you have a guy who can interchange and interlock in different positions, and that keeps your flexibility wide open because of a player who can play multiple positions. You know, winning with AD as a centerpiece is, you know, he's growing into that role. He's understanding that, you know, with me hitting great shots, I still have to make great passes. I still have to make great decisions with the ball in my hand. This is a great Lakers play because here two guys play decoy to a third or fourth option. It is tie game, and you have the King laughing with 4.5 seconds left. Me, I know personally that the King was not gonna take this shot because he was not in King mode here So if I'm a defender, I'm trying to watch to see who's the serious guy here Now we have Kuzma at the dunker spot He can go set a screen for Anthony Davis where Anthony Davis goes and posts up in the spot that Kuzma is at So let's see the action here. All right, so Kuzma goes sets a pick on Anthony Davis Plum does a great job fighting over the screen, which forces Anthony Davis to take the under route. Anthony Davis does a great job by going hard, even though he's the decoy. By selling that cut to get the ball is what makes this play great. Because he runs off of this like he is going to hit that game winner, it forced Plumlee to actually run with him, even though there was already a switch. So now, because he sucked in two players, it left Kuzma open by himself. He could have just stopped at the dotted line to catch this play. And the fact that he's still going on with the rest of this play lets you know he was actually coming for this jumper. He was so happy to come for this jumper that he didn't realize he was open at the dotted line. So it's more about the detail in this play versus the wide open shot. because the wide open shot was wide open once Plumlee lost Kuzma reacting over LeBron's back cut. If I have to correct Kuzma here, I would say that he should have stopped about there. So he could have shot that shot behind Anthony Davis' screen. You know, Kuzma in the future has to understand that this could have ended bad if Bo Bo would have sniffed this out also. Because Bo Bo is playing Anthony Davis, he still is playing regular defense. But if he would have sniffed this out earlier, he would have seen Kuzma coming, and Kuzma went right into his defensive zone where he could have just jumped and blocked that shot. So he went outside of Anthony Davis' screen where this could have been a great defensive play versus a great offensive play. Great reaction, boom. He's going to set this up pick with LeBron. LeBron is not moving fast enough to go for the lob. But the fact that Plumlee thinks LeBron is coming, he doesn't guard Kuzma. So basically, Kuzma is naked and has an open shot, and he takes it. Here comes Kuzma for the win. When you're a decoy and you're the superstar, sometimes you don't go as hard as you're supposed to. It's just like a receiver who knows he's not getting the ball. He doesn't really run that route really hard. But the fact that Anthony Davis did run his route hard actually made this defense shift. The fact that after LeBron passes the ball, he goes in, makes his guys shift. You know, so I think Lakers did a great job in, you know, being decoys and reacting the way they did to force Denver in confusion. A little misdirection play here. You know, this is exactly what makes champions. The whole arena is looking at two players. And those two players is like, I know you are, but this is what we're going to do. We're going to live and die with our decision to give it to our third option. You know, and when you have your first and your second option players making and giving themselves up for the betterment of the win, that's why they're champions. This comes with growth because any young superstar is going to try to take this shot on himself anyway because he thinks that's the best play. Me hitting game shot so everyone can say I'm the best and everyone can give me the credit. You know, but the credit is here. I see the guy who's wide open. I make the pass. Pass that was nearly stolen. Davis goes out to KCP. You're rewarded when you do that amazing, unselfish play, and you get killed when it doesn't work out in your favor. But with great players like that, great veterans like that, they understand it's about the long game. We can sacrifice our selfishness to get great plays to know that it'll pay off later, because next time we try this and he comes off naked, Ball might just run out there, and he leaves me open, and not realizing I still have the ball. So, you know, they're set-up plays, they're set-up moments in games, and you just gotta understand them, which they do. Facing up, step back, jumper. And there you have it. That was the breakdown. This is Gilbert Arenas on Whistle Sports.