And basically unguardable when he had it going. The championship he won in 2011 is only second to Hakeem in ‘94 in terms of the degree that a champion relied on an individual.
Yeah both of those were perfect examples of having the absolutely spot-on perfect roll players around a single super-star player who was capable of taking over games.
That is really one thing Lauri needs to develop, is a better ability to "turn it on" when he needs to take over games. I get that there haven't really been that many players that had that ability, and the list reads like a who's who of super-stars (Jordan, Kobe, Magic, Bird, Malone, Olajuwon, Dirk, Steph, Giannis, KD, Duncan, etc.) but that is really his next step. To figure out that one unstoppable thing in his game and exploit it to gain the upper hand when needed. Malone had the P&R and back to the basket in the post, Duncan was a master of the mid-range banks he could get off against about anybody, Jordan and Kobe probably the 2 best iso players of all-time, Dirk with the mid-range fade-away that was unstoppable, Hakeem with the dream shake, Kareem with the sky-hook. I really think that Lauri would benefit from watching a lot of film of players like Dirk, who are more fundamentally like Lauri is right now, and figuring out what he can do that just cannot be stopped without a full-on defensive assault. Doubles on Malone lead to kicking back to Stock or finding a player rushing the rim for an easy shot, Jordan drew multiple defenders so he was able to set people up well. Dirk was the same way and was a good passer from the high post when he drew the double team. Lauri needs some of this.
If I were to rank the 3 things he needs to develop more to be the killer first option we need I would say:
1) Develop the signature move. Without this he will always be just a player that has to be set up to score.
2) Learn to reliably draw the fouls. Getting to the line is critical for a super-star.
3) Become a better passer out of the post or even on the move. Giannis is a good example of this where earlier in his career he was just a bully to the rim kind of player, but as he developed a better passing game he became a lot more dangerous. He went from averaging around 3-4 assists per game to nearly 6, and that opened things up and netted him MVP honors and a championship.
In fact this is a common trend in super-star players. They take a huge step when they learn to set others up more effectively. Malone doubled his assists even playing with the single best play-maker of all time, from around 2 to well over 4 in his prime years. Even Steph, who was a good playmaker from the start, amped this up in his game to from 5 apg to 7-8 in his prime and through their championship years. Olajuwon doubled his from less than 2 to about 4 apg in his prime years. Durant went from 2-3 apg to well over 5 in his years with GSW.
If Lauri even develops a couple of these things he will be lights out for us, especially considering he is already a plus defender. He could be one of the all-time greats if these things get added to his game. I would already rank him as even if not a bit better for us than Mitchell was. And frankly he will likely be much better, even if just because he is a true 2-way player, where Mitchell phoned his defense in at best.
Man it is a fun time to be a Jazz fan!
