Luka Doncic’s LA debut and other thoughts over the All-Star break

For all the excitement in LA for Luka’s arrival, his debut was unexciting.

Even though I live in Los Angeles, I don’t go to many Laker games unless the Spurs are in town. As recounted here last month, I had tickets to both of what were supposed to be back-to-back Spurs games in January. The first of those was postponed because of the LA wildfires, and the Spurs “smoked” the Lakers in what would have been the second game. I will be attending the postponed game. which is set for St. Patrick’s Day, March 17. I will not be wearing green, and I don’t expect any Laker fans will be wearing green either, for obvious reasons.

This is a long-winded way of saying that I attended a Laker game this week that did not involve the Spurs: the debut of Luka Doncic in a Laker uniform last Monday, something that neither Luka nor Laker fans could have predicted just a week earlier. The only thing that could have been predicted was that Anthony Davis would suffer yet another injury.

We just didn’t know the injury would happen while AD was in a Mavs jersey, making the worst trade ever even worse. Although I have referred to him as FI-AD (Frequently Injured Anthony Davis), I feel genuinely sad that AD’s career has been marred by injury. Unlike other players whose conditioning has likely contributed to their injuries (the center for the 76ers, for instance), I don’t believe that has ever been an issue for Davis.

Speaking of conditioning, Luka’s lack of conditioning apparently contributed to the Mavs’ decision to trade him, I note that anyone who averages 30/9/9 while not in shape must be one heck of a player. But as a former coach, I understand the frustration that an organization must feel when the team’s best player is also not the hardest working and most focused, as opposed to players like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, LeBron James, etc. That doesn’t excuse the trade, it just helps explain it — which are two different things.

Laker fans were understandably thrilled that Luka fell into their laps, though perhaps relieved that the 265 pound Slovenian did not do so literally. His debut in LA was the first non-playoff Laker game I have ever attended in which everyone arrived on time. When we arrived, each of was gifted a Laker gold Doncic 77 shirt. Many fans (not this one) immediately put the shirt on and wore it for the game. (I am giving mine away.)

For the pre-game introductions, LeBron graciously moved to the fourth spot, leaving Luka’s first introduction as a Laker to last. There was a groundswell of noise as the crowd heard “Starting at forward wearing number 77, Luuuuuka Doncic!!”, but that groundswell did not turn into a wave. My buddy Marc, a Knicks fan who was sitting next to me, leaned over and said that a Madison Square Garden crowd in the same situation would have been so loud the game would be delayed. Alas, laid-back LA fans did not delay the game with their cheering. Sadly, a little more delay would have been good, as the game itself was a snooze, with the Lakers going up 20 points over the outmanned Utah Jazz in the second quarter. The game never got any closer, Luka did not play well (5 for 14 for 14 points, 5 boards, 4 assists) and many of the early arriving Laker fans left early too.

Interestingly, 1. the Jazz were also the opponent for Kobe’s last game and 2. didn’t look all that undermanned two nights later when they beat a full-strength Laker squad 131-119. In that game, Luka was again not great (16/5/5). Perhaps his conditioning is an issue.

Other thoughts, including some about the Spurs!

• Nate Silver, poll-taking maven, also drifts into sports, including the NBA. A recent column entitled “NBA Future of the Franchise Rankings” is interesting. Many NBA fans, including Spurs fans, assume that the Spurs’ future is the brightest because of … well, you know. Nate disagrees, though he does place the Spurs at number two. He opines that Victor, if he stays healthy, can be in the MJ/Lebron/Kareem pantheon as the four best players ever. Some may recall my article predicting that Victor is much more likely to follow the Kareem health path than those like FI-AD. Nate also likes Stephan Castle (along with everyone else who has seen him play) and the Spurs’ treasure trove of draft picks. However, he puts OKC in the number one spot, and it is difficult to argue with the conclusion. Unlike the Spurs, OKC is already great, with great young talent (including a Victor-lite 7-footer in Chet Holmgren) and more draft capital than anyone in the league. Spurs fans need to remember that having a generational talent does not guarantee a bunch of crowns, or even one.
• I was playing in my own game Wednesday night for the Spurs’ last game before the break (and raining threes from all over) and therefore had to speed-watch the Spurs-Celtics game. While that was a bad game on which to end the “first half”, it was also just weird. The Celtics has 16 offensive boards, and it felt like 15 of them came after bricked three-pointers that ricocheted off the rim to a another guy in a green jersey — who of course nailed the second (or third) opportunity at a three. Yelling “box out” at the TV screen doesn’t ever help (especially on tape delay), but sometimes boxing out just doesn’t matter. With the Spurs missing a huge chunk of their own threes, this was just not a game the Spurs were destined to win.
• I ended the week by going out to Claremont McKenna College for their second rivalry game against Pomona Pitzer. As a reminder, I coached basketball for eight years at Claremont. For most of those years, Gregg Popovich coached Pomona. It remains a great rivalry and the house was packed. Even better, Claremont prevailed 90-77, shooting 60% from three. Pomona chose to double-team the outstanding Claremont post guy (averaging 21/10 on 68% shooting) who had 8 assists out of those double-teams. It felt like all of those assists went to three-poin shooters. The easiest three to make comes from an in-to-out pass, as the shooter is facing the basket with his feet already set. Because Claremont has two such Shooters (they went 7/10 and 5/7 from three), those post to shooter passes were the key to the win. The Spurs should do more of that.
• I am looking forward to the rest of the regular season. While the bad last week with the two very tough close losses hurt, the Spurs remain barely in the playoff hunt. Even if they don’t make it in, I want the young guys to experience the feeling of being in the hunt, when every game, and every play, matters.