What does a rested Luka Doncic mean for the Mavs

ah oh that's good isn't it hello I'm Ryan from ball in Europe here and today we're here to talk about Luca donic who is coming off by quite some distance his most rested summer in a very very very long time so we're going to talk about the impact of that rest like how it came about obviously although that's pretty straightforward why it matters and then we're going to get into sort of you know how that rest kind of has to still be an ongoing thing it can't just be well he got a summer off and then we're going to look at the ceiling for the Mavs uh before we get into all that if you haven't already please subscribe the button is somewhere there uh we're keeping driving forward uh thanks all the support so far but we got to keep people coming to this channel to get more love get more people joining in so thanks very much and now let's get to the first point all at rest so by by far this has been Luca's quietest summer in a while we've got to go all the way back to the summer of 2019 seriously uh since he L had this much rest because we can't count 2020 because of course the season ended much later due to the pandemic and the bubble etc etc uh so then we get to 2021 when the Olympics happen and of course he goes all the way to the metal round so was playing all the prep before that was playing every game came in the Olympics and had obviously been the key man for Slovenia there so comes through to that season with the Mavs and they do pretty well in the playoffs don't go all the way but do pretty well then we get to the summer 2022 and it's Euro basket and Luca's usage is through the absolute roof it's Skyhigh usage for slovenia's National side both in the prep games and in y basket as a whole they exit in the quarterfinals with Luca looking absolutely exhausted the season even with the Kyrie trade didn't work out and it's like oof oof oof he is running himself hard he is being run hard and we go on to 2023 and it's more of the same World Cup preparation games the World Cup itself where again they go to the quarterfinals again that's where they're eliminated This Time by Canada and by the way we've got a Canada video I'll point to that there and again he's exhausted but he gets through and the narrative through throughout the playoffs last year I was talking about it I was writing about it is how tired and broken Luca looked and just how all that wear and tear was building up and we were coming through to yet another summer of heavy Luca usage and here's the thing before we get to how light this summer was next summer is going to be heavy as well I fully expect Luca even if the Mavs go all the way we'll talk about ceilings in a minute uh but even say hypothetical for this even if the MS go all the way and win the championship this year so you're bringing them into late June play playing playoff games then in September and really in the prep before September he's going to have Euro basket again actually it starts in late August so again we can expect him to be heavily featured for Slovenia in the next EUR basket as well I'd be very surprised if he doesn't suit up so this summer though is different this summer he didn't have that kind of usage there was the Olympic qualifying tournament sure but he played a total of three games three games and there wasn't much of a lead into that either so this and that ended very importantly on the 7th of July the whole tournament he was actually finished a day or two earlier because of course he went out in the semi-final round but that early exit meant Lucas had by Far and Away his biggest rest coming into a season for the Mavs just off a season where he carried them on his back to the NBA finals was in the conversation for the MVP award and now it's a case of wow this is going to be the healthiest and most importantly least fatigued Luka in a very long time for Dallas so what will that mean well it means they got to keep thinking about rest so we've seen a pattern in recent years developing where you almost have a choice you either win MVP or you got a shot at the championship and while part of that is coincidental there isn't entirely coincidental fact to it that whoever is winning MVP is going to have extraordinary usage I mean really really really high minutes really high numbers we saw yo we've seen it with embiid we've seen it with jannis and we saw it with Luca who was a contender last year and we're going to keep seeing that if you're going like you can be in the conversation for MVP and not uh you know be quite at that level in terms of usage but you probably can't win it without some really really wild usage at the current point just that's cuz where the NBA is right now and when you look at sort of what the Mavs need to do this season cuz this is a brutal West no doubt about it I'm thinking any anything top six is great and you might go they could be the best team of the West they could win the West just to be clear again I'm saying the regular season top six up that's the goal basically avoid the playin because if you avoid the playin that's of course at least one game for you possibly two games for you depending on where in the playin you land but more importantly to be honest you have gotten with the way the West is about as good as the draws it's going to get because this is to stack West that you don't want your guys to be killing themselves just to go out in the first round to a great opponent and they will all be great opponents in the west playoffs this year I think that's the one narrative Clay's obviously coming in that'll be quite a good guy to have he's great with the ball and hand me wrong but his off ball work is going to come in really handy you've got Kyrie one of those generous men known to humanity on the court it's i' I've waxed lyrical before about how how you can see when you watch Kyrie Irving play why other players love playing with him because he's willing to take it on but he's so happy to defair he is just like ultimate teammate if you were a basketball player like he's who he's a guard you want to be working with in terms of just you know the love part on the floor like Luca for the Superstar part is also the guard you want to be playing with but different roles and you look at L and LC is obviously a guy who needs a lot of that ball but like Luc is Ru himself hard these past few years I'm hoping this rest this summer is vital to him U because you know we don't want to see Luca donic you know just burn himself out to win MVP great superb he will eventually win an MVP I feel Loth is was he very competitive and very tight and that being said what does Dallas care about him winning the MVP or them winning the championship and I think you got to pick between one and you got to shout at the championship with this roster I think you know obviously this window like clay isn't getting younger neither's Kyrie Al Kyrie is playing like he's ageless so we could have a bit of a LeBron aging situation there with Kyrie who knows uh but uh you know it's still a few years yet don't to judge that but yeah it's I I just look at this and I go the focus should be on having your core players all your best guys in the best possible Health come April come May when the games really really matter like they're going to have to win a lot of games to get a top six finish don't get me wrong but be smart with the the over usage of Luca like don't lean too hard on him and that'll also obviously help the rotations in the playoffs so now we get into how far can the Mavs go yeah they can win it but it's that simple um because obviously the Mavs won the West last year were beaten in a gentleman sweep by the Celtics 4 to one in the finals this will be a case where I think the Mavs obviously they look to have improved overall on the on the floral like the addition of clay is going to be great but how you use them is going to be matter mattering as well and I look at this I go yes they can they're definitely good enough to win the NBA championship getting out of the West and not being exhausted is going to be the hard part like yall if you're watching this y certainly were following that uh playoffs run from the Mavs with me like I was mostly watching them the morning after because Irish time but still like it was you were seeing just how much it was taking out of everyone involved obviously focusing on the MS you go was taking a lot of the MS but every team was being drained in the west and that's only going to increase this season I feel I really look at this West and I go this is going to be a brutal Western Conference players now the one thing that has as an upside is Battle hardened they will be ready for anyone coming out of the East whether it's Boston Philly whoever and the key question is will they have enough energy so getting out of the West is not going to be easy like some very good teams are going out in the first round that's a guarantee like very very good basketball teams will lose in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs because there are just that many very good basketball teams in the Western Conference so it's going to be tough like you've got some serious outfits there OKC mini Denver just come off the top of the head like you got to think saako are going to be improved we don't know what the Warriors are going to be like but they're not going to be pushovers and and that's just a few to name like you know there's more to think about as well so there's so much to get through so much to deal with that the West is going to be tough but yes it is a winnable season for the Mavs and it's more winnable because Luca has gotten some rest this off season it'll be more winable again if they can manage his minutes in the regular season like we should not be seeing crazy minutes for Luca donic this season this ideally the Mavs will actually give him his lowest minutes per game since his rookie year is what I would actually like to see for the Mavs if not as lowest minutes per game all time like which sounds bizarre for the guy but that's the level I want to see I want to see this I want to see his minutes come way way way down and uh that way he'll have him fresher for bigger heavier minutes in the playoffs cuz Luca is ready to do the hard minutes we he's got enough he doesn't need this regular season to be reminded of what doing hard minutes are like and also he's going to have a few games where he does them anyway but we need to see games where he is basically not the guy and that's just way it is I think and so yeah great potential great opportunity but we'll see what happens and if you want to keep seeing what happens please be sure to subscribe uh we're trying to drive it up thank you to Ms fans slovenians whoever's tuning into this even if you don't follow either you just like to watch basketball videos we love you all and if we could just keep those subs going up keep those views going up tell your friends we really appreciate it but we'll be back Wednesday with our next video this week it's Monday Wednesday Friday for all our videos but until then I'll see you soon