There are strong takes and what this great stated about Luka Doncic.
Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks is one of the NBA’s best players right now. After generating unprecedented stats in the 2023-24 season and leading his club to the NBA Finals, almost everyone feels he is one of the league’s top two or three players. But not everybody.
Michael Cooper, a Hall of Famer who won five championships and was named Defensive Player of the Year with the Los Angeles Lakers, hosts a podcast and does the traditional Start, Bench, Cut game in his most recent episode. He had to choose between two Mavericks talents, Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving, and Milwaukee Bucks guard Damian Lillard. If you expected he’d start Doncic, as most people do, you were mistaken. Cooper started Lillard, benched Doncic, and released Irving. What’s his reasoning? He believes Doncic is lazy on defense. “Luka gives you a triple-double virtually every night, but he’s too slow for me. If he wasn’t a scorer, I would release him. He can score, and you have to give him credit, but I think he’s lazy. “Does not hustle back on defense.”
He started Lillard because he loves speed and athleticism, but he cut Irving since the two players are comparable. This is an awful take, no matter how you spin it. Cooper’s co-host properly started Luka Doncic, benched Kyrie Irving, and released Damian Lillard. When you look at the figures from last year, it’s obvious. Doncic isn’t a great defender, but Lillard has historically been one of the worst in the NBA. When comparing Doncic and Lillard just on defense during the 2023-24 season, Doncic had more blocks, steals, a higher defensive rating, more defensive win shares, and a higher defensive box plus/minus. There is no defensive metric that favors Lillard over Doncic.
The same goes for Kyrie Irving. While defensive stats are more evenly distributed between Irving and Lillard, Irving continues to outperform in all categories. With Irving’s superior offense and efficiency, Lillard was easily the poorest of the three last season.
