"Looks kind of chubby"- NBA analyst advises Luka Doncic to put on muscle and lose body fat
Luka Doncic's conditioning in the offseason has been a hot topic of conversation. He's again in the news for it after he looked slightly out of shape at former Slovenia teammate Goran Dragic's farewell game. Doncic's lack of conditioning has often resulted in him losing his sharpness as the season progresses, especially defensively.
NBA analyst Jason Timpf explained why the Mavericks superstar must avoid starting a season in poor shape, suggesting he needs to put on muscle over fat.
"I'm not saying that he [Luka] needs to just go get skinny," Timpf said on his podcast on Wednesday. "Ideally there's a version of this where he's in peak shape.
"And he has the same amount of weight maybe that he has now, but it's more functional because it makes him mobile because it's muscle instead of body fat."
Timpf pointed out that's the issue critics have raised with Doncic as it's impacting his defense.
"It's not just that he's struggling on defense, it's that he's struggling on defense and he looks kind of chubby. That's where it has like a bad optic element to it."
Despite not being in peak shape, Luka Doncic continues to have a high usage rate and minutes. He's also able to dominate smaller defenders, especially most opposing point guards, because of his frame. However, that also leads to a lack of aggressiveness defensively.
He has his moments on that end against the bigger players but often gets hunted and scored on against switches, making him a weak spot on defense.
Luka Doncic improving on defense brings him closer to an NBA title
Luka Doncic's defense has been one of his weaknesses. His lack of lateral quickness and mobility makes him a liability. However, Doncic had his best season on defense this past year. His exceptional efforts throughout the three conference series' helped the Mavs reach the finals for the first time since their 2011 championship win.
Doncic couldn't keep the intensity up in the finals, though. The Celtics exploited his defensive frailties. His lack of foot speed resulted in him getting blown by more than any other player on the Mavericks. Doncic often lost his man in the rotation, too. The pace and schemes caused him plenty of trouble, unlike the previous three series, where the Mavericks had favorable matchups.
Meanwhile, Doncic's All-Star counterparts Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum proved to be two-way threats. The former guarded him one-on-one primarily, while the latter made the most pivotal sacrifice on defense by guarding the bigs. He single-handedly altered the Mavericks' offense, taking their go-to pick and roll away.
That's the blueprint for Luka Doncic to learn from as he hunts his first NBA title this upcoming season in a stacked conference.