Luka Doncic is Posting Up More, Providing Mavs with Major Advantages
Luka Doncic has begun the 2022-23 season by scoring at least 30 points in each of his seven performances. He's averaging a league-most 36.1 points while also dishing out 9.0 assists. For a player to produce such large results, it requires a layered approach that balances workload with the timing of countering the approach of the defense throughout natural game flow.
Doncic had to shoulder a heavy workload with heavy focus of the defense when leading the Slovenian National Team in EuroBasket 2022, which occurred during the NBA offseason after the Dallas Mavericks' Western Conference Finals run. After Jalen Brunson's departure, it's only intensified as his usage rate is at 39.0 percent (league-high), up from 36.8 percent just a season ago.
An effective technique that Doncic utilized during EuroBasket to help bring balance to his offensive repertoire was to operate more out of the post. In fact, Doncic was most efficient when operating out of the post during EuroBasket. He produced 1.344 points per possession in those situations — trailing only Nikola Jokic when compared to the 26 players that logged at least 30 post-ups.
"Just that you get less tired (when playing out of the post)," Doncic told DallasBasketball.com about the advantages of him attacking out of the post. "I think it's good to be posting up. Sometimes they're going to double, sometimes no you get into the paint. And you just play for them. Our bigs are doing a great job of flashing when they double and we just move the ball from there."
Doncic has found success playing out of the post with the Mavs to begin the NBA season, scoring a league-leading 5.9 points per game directly derived from post-ups. He's utilizing such plays at a frequency of 24.5 percent when including passing, an increase of 10.5 percent in frequency compared to his 2021-22 regular season production. Doncic is producing 1.231 points per possession as a scorer out of the post — an elite rate of efficiency.
Doncic tends to take a mismatch in the post to force the defense to decide between giving up the disadvantaged matchup to stay home on shooters, or send help and putting their defense out of rotation after a pass. With how defenses have attempted to stay home on shooters while trying to take away the gap out of traditional ball screen coverages by switching, Doncic has had to utilize a more varied approach in attacking the defense.
“That’s another luxury to have Luka be able to post up, to be able to play out of the post,” Mavs coach Jason Kidd told DallasBasketball.com after Tuesday's practice. “Not just score (in the post), but be able to play make. I think again, one of his strengths to be able to find cutters. I thought he did that well (against the Magic). Also, if they're not going to double then punish the defense by getting to the rim."
The first option when Doncic is playing out the post is for him to aggressively attack to score. If the defense has been doubling out on the perimeter, it can cause the Mavs' offense to stagnate. If the offense needs Doncic to remain the focus of their scoring attack, posting him up gets the ball to him inside the 3-point line to pressure the defense in different ways.
"One thing we can look at if we're not looking for the Red, or to stall our offense, is to put (Doncic) in the post," Kidd told DallasBasketball.com about the benefits of Doncic getting post touches. "To be able to run the offense there where we can still get looks at 3s, find cutters for layups, and last and first option is for him to look to be aggressive to score."
A common approach has been to attack on the right side of the floor with an empty corner, often with a ball screen set from a wing shooter to force a swing — resulting in a mismatch. In these situations, he tends to use multiple backdown dribbles, likely scanning the low-man to probe if baseline help will come. When the coast is clear, he tends to get to a drop step, taking advantage of his frame to overpower the defender. When the defender is trying to hold their ground, he uses that to his advantage by countering their momentum.
If the defense pre-rotates the low-man to show help against a potential drop step, the Mavs have shown the use of a flash cut to put pressure on that defender. The low-man now has to keep tabs on a potential pass being made to the flash cut from one of the NBA's elite passers — making it challenging to commit to helping. Sometimes, it neutralizes that outcome altogether and creates a clean path for Doncic to drive baseline.
Other times, the defense will instead favor having the on-ball defender play Doncic to prevent the baseline attack while showing help from the nail to pressure an attack middle. The Oklahoma City Thunder attempted this since they trust Luguentz Dort, another big-framed guard with strength, to hold his own. Doncic utilized a turnaround jumper in this instance.
Doncic manages to overcome help sitting in the charge circle and a dig coming from the nail. In a recent play against the Jazz, he swept the ball through low to protect the basketball before finishing a floater over the top of Jordan Clarkson, who got vertical to pressure the shot attempt. Such an approach can require a tough shot, but again, he's more than comfortable of executing.
Doncic can get the job done using a one-legged jumper when he likes that option over attacking baseline or driving middle. He did so on opening night against Mikal Bridges as the on-ball defender with Deandre Ayton on the floor to offer rim protection. Bridges wasn't trying to give contact for Doncic to counter, making a one-legged jumper a great counter to exploit the cushion.
The approach naturally changes when Doncic is attacking from the left block since attacking middle gets to simpler right-hand outcomes as opposed to how that's the case when attacking baseline from the right block. With this comes a different set of challenges for the defense to consider.
If the defender tries to hold their ground against Doncic on the left block, he tends to probe the defense using backdown dribbles before attacking middle to get to a right-hand jump hook. The defense is limited with sending help from the big since the Mavs tend to occupy the dunker's spot with a big. The main read is whether help may come from the nail. If it doesn't, he attacks.
Similar to how Doncic likes to get to the one-legged jumper on the right block against a longer defender, he tends to attack using a turnaround jumper on the left block. Again, that's natural for a right-handed player considering the comfort with the angles of those approaches. If the defender is sagging off, he can play bully ball with the backdown dribble before clearing space and getting into the turnaround. Otherwise, he can shoot over the top against a smaller defender trying to hold their own.
When attacking from the middle of the floor, Doncic has a lot of options playing out of the backdown dribble with how challenging it is to send help in those situations. His patient approach using pivots tends to lead to outcomes for short-range jumpers whenever he wants while at other times, he often draws a foul going toward the rim on the attack.
"I think with Luka, like most superstars, you can't keep giving them the same doses," Mavs assistant coach Jared Dudley told DallasBasketball.com about the value of getting Doncic touches in different ways and spots. "They'll trap you, they'll pre-rotate. Him posting up at the elbow like Dirk used to, I think going to the post, I think him iso'ing bigs, iso'ing guards, he has to have a different balance. At the same time, to be able to get his teammates involved so they have a difference energy to guard and play defense at a high level."
The defense has to make tough decisions when Doncic gets into the post. If they send a double-team, he's already inside the 3-point line in a favorable position to get the ball to an open shooter or cutter. With how Doncic stays poised after drawing multiple defenders and his ability to manipulate the backline defense, it's a lot of pressure to contain him and creates different advantages for the Mavs' offense than other methods of attack.
"Doubling from a different way," Dudley said about the advantages of posting up Doncic. "A lot of times they double from the top of the key because he has it going, so the post just opens different angles for our guys in the corners to get catch-and-shoots if they double from the baseline. If they double from the top of the key, there's a lot more driving lanes. It just opens the angles for the driving lanes and shooting.
"Also, for him, it saves energy. Even though the post-up wears on you a little bit, having to bring the ball up with full-court pressure and having to go by them the whole time — it's easy when someone else brings it up, he gets into the post, it conserves energy to get ready for the fourth quarter."
There are simple passing outcomes that result from post touches that can help to create quick looks from 3-point range. The simplest of reads occurs when a double comes from the strong-side wing — making it easy to identify the opening in addition to the execution of the pass. The Mavs haven't converted at a high clip out of these pass outs yet, but the execution can quickly result in the defense staying home on future possessions.
Partly, what makes deploying Doncic in the post such a weapon is the combination of attention he draws due to his scoring ability deep on the drive, and his passing execution to counter. The post touches offer the option of attacking what is often an advantage in terms of matchup while being close to the basket — resulting in the defense feeling compelled to send help. When the ball starts moving, it's difficult for the defense to recover.
When Doncic draws two defenders, he has a rare ability to stay poised before scanning and analyzing where the ball needs to go on a pass. Whether the help is coming after he attacks the rim out of the post or when getting doubled early, vulnerabilities in the defense's handling of the weak-side will be exploited.
The Mavs often deploy a big man in the dunker's spot to maintain a potential relief option based on where help is coming from. When the defense sends help from that spot, Doncic can take advantage to get the ball to a cutter. Whether he's using a no-look pass to deceive the defense, or simply drawing two defenders deep on the attack, he is able to take advantage.
It's challenging enough for the defense to attempt to contain Doncic in the post and account for the basic passing outcomes that tend to develop with general defensive approach. There are ways the Mavs can put additional pressure on the defense by building on some techniques they've already shown some flashes of utilizing.
A potential are the Mavs can build on is the use of decoy weak-side actions to create breakdowns for Doncic to exploit with his passing out of the post. With how the defense has to keep a close eye on Doncic as he's using his backdown dribbles, it's hard to keep tabs on what's going on in the weak-side. There was a recent play that featured Reggie Bullock screening off-ball for Dorian Finney-Smith, who took advantage of ball watching for a cut — Doncic found him on the pass for an easy finish.
Another option for the Mavs to integrate more into their offense is the use of Doncic as an off-ball option to begin possessions — allowing him to gain pre-catch positioning in the post. He can flash middle before a possible entry pass. With deep positioning on the catch, the defender is naturally going to be challenged with balancing not fouling and not giving up an easy look.
Any offense that deploys Doncic as the head of the snake will naturally have countless ways of attacking the defense. Continuing to solidify the threat of his post-ups will make switching on screens more challenging of a decision to make. It will also apply a lot of pressure pre-catch on possessions he begins off-ball. Overall, that's a real weapon for the Mavs to utilize.
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