TORONTO – His early season case for Most Valuable Player consideration is underscored by his NBA-best 34.0-point scoring average. And his league-leading four 40-point games.
The evolution of Luka Doncic’s game of which he is most proud, however, is illustrated by more modest-sounding data, such as 3.3, 1.4, 1.8 and 1.0.
How many MVP voters and for that matter Mavericks fans know that Doncic’s 3.3 deflections per game ranks ninth in the NBA? Or that his 1.4 loose balls recovered average leads the league?
Or that his 1.8 steals average ranks fourth? Or that his defensive win-shares estimate of 1.0 ties him for fourth-best in the league with, among others, fellow MVP favorite Giannis Antetokounmpo?
Doncic in his fifth season quietly has transformed into a well-above-average defensive player. Dare we even pronounce him a good defender?
“People are not going to admit it, but I think this year I’ve really taken a big step,” he said. “I don’t need people to believe; I believe in myself. I think I’ve been playing defense way better than the first four years and I think I’ve taken a huge step forward.”
Let those words sink in. That’s as close to a boast as we’ve ever heard Doncic make about any facet of his game, and in this case it was only because I asked about his steals ranking.
Mavericks fans should be every bit as elated about Doncic’s defensive growth — and the pride he’s taking in it — as his 5.6-point scoring-average leap and improved conditioning.
If not for Doncic fine-tuning his diet and body, his defensive uptick would not be possible, but it’s all attributable to a change in mindset this offseason, as he simultaneously trained for Slovenia’s World Cup-qualifying and EuroBasket runs and the 2022-23 NBA season.
“The start of last season for me was very bad,” he said. “I was out of shape. It just wasn’t me. I didn’t play good. So I took that as a motivation for this season.”
Mavericks coaches say Doncic’s defensive improvement actually began to show late last season.
Perhaps it was a subliminal response to Mavericks coach Jason Kidd’s periodic public challenges for Doncic to “participate” on defense.
Kidd and most of the Mavericks’ coaching staff were in their first season. While transforming the historically porous Dallas into the league’s sixth-best defensive efficiency rating, Mavericks defensive coordinator Sean Sweeney tapped into Doncic’s ultra-competitive nature.
After a 13-point win in Houston on March 11, Sweeney surprised Doncic with an odd question.
“What is your favorite Mavs jersey?”
“Why?”
Sweeney repeated the question.
Again Doncic replied: “Why?”
“Because when you’re up for Most Improved Defensive Player and we make the poster, we want you to look good.”
Doncic laughed. Of course the NBA does not bestow an award for most improved defense, but Sweeney was making a point.
“Hey, man, there’s 450 players in the NBA each season. And last year you were 450th defensively. You’re up to at least 250. That’s a 200-player jump.”
Doncic again laughed. Point taken. To heart, turns out.
Two days later in Boston Doncic blocked a potential game-tying 3-pointer by Marcus Smart in the final seconds. He was called for a foul, but Doncic emphatically gestured to Kidd to challenge the call, arguing that he touched Smart’s hand after the ball was released.
The call was reversed. Dallas won.
The Doncic-Sweeney wavelength was strong — and amusing. When Doncic made a big steal or block or one-on-one stop he’d jog past the Mavericks’ bench and, without looking at Sweeney, announce “One-fifty.” Then, in time, “One-twenty-five.”
It was his way of announcing that he was moving up the NBA’s defensive ladder, from mediocre to serviceable to good.
“He helped a lot,” Doncic said of Sweeney. “When he came to the Mavs, his coaching for defense really helped the team, and me. Just the way the way he explains things helps me a lot.”
Doncic learned, the hard way, a fact of life as an elite NBA scorer who was not-so-elite on defense.
Opponents habitually attacked Doncic in pick-and-rolls. It wasn’t merely a case of sensing a Mavericks weak link. Teams often attack an opponent’s leading scorer to perhaps get them in foul trouble, and to prevent them from conserving energy for offense.
When the Mavericks fell behind No. 1 seed Phoenix 2-0 in last season’s Western Conference semifinals, allowing 121 and 129 points in the two games, Kidd in essence called out Doncic before Game 3, citing former teammate Dirk Nowitzki as an example.
“There’s no secret,” Kidd said. “They’re gonna put him in every pick and roll. They did the same thing with Dirk until Dirk participated and stuck up for himself.”
In the final five games of that series, Phoenix averaged 96 points. Reggie Bullock and Dorian Finney-Smith and Maxi Kleber had a lot to do with that, but Doncic’s “participation” helped keep Dallas tied together defensively.
And this season? Kidd describes Doncic’s defensive improvement as “huge.”
Reporters and many Mavericks fans probably had accepted that Doncic would never be a quality defender.
In reality, though, it’s not surprising that a linebacker-sized 6-7, 235-pound point guard with uncanny ability to see the entire court and anticipate what opponents will do defensively would eventually learn to put those traits to use defensively.
“He’s got great, great instincts,” Sweeney said. “He’s incredibly intelligent. He knows our schemes exceedingly well.
“And that’s part of the reason why you see him with the steals at a high rate right now is, because he’s got that instinct, that IQ. He’s in the right spots and oftentimes putting forth the effort do that.”
Kidd who played five seasons with Nowitzki and helped him lead Dallas to the 2011 NBA title, said teammates would tell Nowitzki to slow the player he was guarding for two seconds per semester, buying them time to rotate and help if needed.
Doncic apparently has higher defensive aspirations. The two-second request doesn’t apply to him this season.
“He’s asked that we not help,” Kidd said. “He wants to guard guys with the ball. And so that helps our defense, but we’re also still in the mode of protecting one another. That’s how we’re built defensively.
“That doesn’t mean that Luka’s always on the ball, or we’re always helping when he’s on the ball. He’s coming up with those steals on the backside, which shows that he’s engaged.”
No one is confusing him with six-time All-Defensive team member and 2020 Defensive Player of the Year Antetokounmpo, whom the Mavericks will face Sunday in Milwaukee, but the strides Doncic has made in the past nine months are encouraging.
Sweeney says that when Doncic has a defensive breakdown, he asks questions and studies tape in an effort to correct the problem.
“I really, really enjoy coaching him,” he said. “He’s been great to be around and teach and work with.
“The thing about his competitiveness is that it shows itself in many ways. One of the ways it’s showing up more this year is how vocal he’s been. He’s taken a step forward in how he communicates with his teammates, delivering important messages.”
Doncic’s chances of winning Most Valuable Player this season probably will hinge more on how the Mavericks fare as a team, but Doncic’s defensive efforts should be taken into account by voters.
“He feels that he wants to have the total package,” Kidd said. “Not a lot of people can say they have that. Hopefully we can help him get there.”
So where does Doncic rank now among NBA defenders? Top 100? Top 75?
Whatever the number might be, he’s come a long way from where he was even at this time last season. And yes, Luka, some of us are noticing.
