How Luka Doncic and Lakers Master the Pick-and-Roll

Who are some of the teams that are the most famous for playing pick and roll? Or some of the very first ones to do it? Well, Kobe Bryant used to be really big on that, right? Because he always wants the ball in his hand. Now, what he used to do is, yes, in his later years, he used to pull up for a jumper. But if you leave space on him, and then you try to close in on him, he used to drive right by you. You know, it used to be back in the day. You want to go way back in the day. Way back. Tim Hardaway, Alonzo Mourning, the old school, they used to do that. That was the first. Yeah. How do you go around Alonzo Mourning? You can't. And you can't fight, you can't fight. But right now it is Luka. Now here's the thing though. It's very physical. Because the person doing the screen basically has to be like an offensive lineman. And then the defender almost has to play like a defensive end and get around him. So it's a very physical play and it brings bodies together. But no matter what, you create those options. And in basketball, you want options. You don't want to be cornered into having to do something. If you know the guy's going to shoot no matter what, you close in on him. You've got to close in. But if you know that he can drive by you, he can pass the ball to somebody slashing, it puts the defenders on their heels. And that's what has the Lakers as the top team of the West because they have so many options. They have shooters on Luka, on Reeves, on Kessler, and they are very quick. They can move. Yeah, and there's a lot of technique involved too. You can be quick and not fast. And I think that's what the Lakers have. And in basketball, quickness, yeah, because, you know, quickness is a lateral movement. When I played football, I was shifty. Now, on a straightaway, I'm not burning anybody. You're catching up to me. So in basketball, you do have guys that don't look like they're fast, but they're quick. They can move in a small amount of space very quickly, very shifty. Luka has that. Now, look at how this thing works. There's a lot of people talking crap, a lot of ex-NBA players, because they're like, he's so slow. How do people not defend him? How does he create space with these little things? He does have a very quick pullback. So even though he can't run. I think what people are sleeping on Luka is that he has a very quick change of pace. And I see that in soccer a lot. Players that seem slow, but they have the ability to explode very quickly in the opposite direction. And even if you think like they're slow, actually you kind of. Slow down yourself to match their speed. And when they perceive that you have slowed down, that's their cue to explode in the opposite direction with a speed that you're not gonna be able to react. Now there's something, throw me the ball, Lalo, if you don't mind. The thing about Luka, too, man, is that, again, he's so deceptive, and he does have this, he can cross over very quickly and create just that millimeter of space. And he's not short, he's 6'6". And not only that, he's shot. He's shot so clean. It's crazy. To turn the body in any position after the jump to get that shot. He shoots from whatever angle. Now, there's something that I have an issue with. And this is happening. His defense? No, no, no, no. Yeah, his defense, yeah. But not so much the Luka. In terms of rules. Okay, the traveling is out of control. That's exactly what I'm saying. The traveling is out of control. So there's this pull back. What, what, what, what? They'll do a thing where they'll pick up the dribble and pull back. But sometimes... I saw a clip of Lamelo and he did like... Yeah, like three steps back. Like three steps, like bro, come on. So, you know, they'll also do the post-up, well, the post-up, and they'll do two steps back, and sometimes it's three steps. So some of these things that are creating space, I feel are breaking the rules and being a little bit of a traditional. A lot of leniency from the refs in this situation because... In the name of the spectacle and the show, you have to let that play, you know. But if they would clamp down on that, I think the game would be tighter and some of the scores, look, I'd like a high-scoring game. I think that people love high scores and they love these 100-plus games. But 138 points is too much, man. 138 points is a lot. That used to be record-breaking. Like, back in the 90s, 2000s, anything over 120, everybody was like, dude, that was a crazy night. Someone had 40, 50 points. Now, any given guy is putting 40 bucks. The famous Heat-Knicks rivalry of the late 90s, the scores would be 70 to 80, you know, so they wouldn't, they would call walking. Also, the whole start of the game at the time was the defense, right? Like in the 90s, the defensive effort was the one that was really Los Malos of the Detroit was the example, Dennis Rodman. We don't have players like Dennis Rodman. We don't have guys anymore. And you can also, you can also, no, no, finish that thought? Okay, you forgot already. I shouldn't do that to you. No.