Colin Cowherd reminded the LA Lakers that Luka Doncic is who he has always been, and they must work around the All-Star’s skill set.
Luka Doncic has been a major topic of discussion among NBA circles this week. The Los Angeles Lakers guard stirred up quite a bit of buzz with one simple video.
NBA fans were elated to see Luka Doncic vigorously working out in a video that went viral. Similar to his recent appearance at a Real Madrid game, the fan response was widely positive.
It appears Doncic is doing exactly what Gary Payton and Paul Pierce told him to, and taking his effort, health, and conditioning seriously.
The Lakers are looking to build their roster around Luka Doncic, while hoping he shows some improvement on defense. NBA analyst Colin Cowherd, however, thinks the Lakers should just accept him for who he is.
Colin Cowherd spoke on his show about what the Los Angeles Lakers should do with Luka Doncic. For starters, Cowherd believes the Lakers must accept a harsh reality.
Luka Doncic, unlike some of the greatest Lakers players of all time, will never be a strong defender. He compared Doncic to Carmelo Anthony, who had similar criticisms levied his way during his career.
“Before Luka, the eight greatest Lakers of all time all had one thing in common: they played real defense…”
“That’s the rub here with Luka. He’s a much better version of Carmelo Anthony. He’ll never be in great shape and never be a great defender…”
“With Luka, he’s never going to be a finely tuned and sculpted Adonis. He’ll never be D-Wade. He’ll never be LeBron James. It’s not who he is. He’ll also never be Kobe Bryant as a defensive player.”
So what can the Lakers do to fix this? Cowherd pointed to the Golden State Warriors accepting Stephen Curry’s defensive limitations and surrounding him with great defenders.
If the Lakers want to succeed with Luka, they must be honest about his defensive limitations.
“He’s a combination of Stephen Curry and Carmelo. Not his style, but the fact that he’s never going to be finely tuned or a great defensive player.”
“It’s not his mindset because offense comes so easy to him. But what the Warriors did to get titles with Steph is they acknowledged what he wasn’t.”
“Not just the obvious stuff… The Warriors were totally honest about Steph. So, they went and got Andre Iguodala, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson – all elite defenders.”
“Even Kevin Durant is a willing defender. Can the Lakers be honest and acknowledge he is never going to be a great defensive player?… Just acknowledge it, and build around it. That’s the question for the Lakers.”
Cowherd’s advice about surrounding Doncic with the right players is solid. Magic Johnson delivered similar advice to the Lakers when discussing how they can best position LeBron James and Luka Doncic to win a championship.
Unfortunately for the Lakers, that process won’t be easy. Landing Luka Doncic in February has really frustrated several teams, and they plan to make the Lakers overpay for any and all assets.
Rob Pelinka has a lot of work to do ahead of a pivotal offseason. With the deck stacked against him, how will the Lakers’ president respond? We’ll have to wait and see how he gets things done.
