How Mavs' Spencer Dinwiddie Made Most of Playing 'Luka Role'

With Dallas Mavericks superstar Luka Doncic sidelined due to an ankle injury, Spencer Dinwiddie admirably filled the role of being the top option.

Spencer Dinwiddie has filled the "Luka role" for the Dallas Mavericks as Doncic recovers from a sprained ankle. About three minutes into Thursday's win over the Phoenix Suns, the three-time All-NBA First-Team guard went down with his injury. With Christian Wood also sidelined, Dinwiddie became the top option, finishing with 36 points, six rebounds, and nine assists. 

“He’s an MVP,” Dinwiddie said of playing without Doncic. “We’re not going to be better without him. That’s not the way the game works, but we understand our role, we understand what we have to do."

Doncic and Wood remained sidelined for Saturday's loss to the Utah Jazz, requiring Dinwiddie to shoulder the load offensively once again. He certainly answered the call, scoring 35 points while racking up four rebounds and eight assists to go along with. 

“Luka is one of a kind, and you can’t replicate him,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said before Saturday's matchup. “But Spencer Dinwiddie does a pretty good job of getting close in terms of their style of play. He’s a heckuva pick-and-roll player (and) he’s a heckuva of an isolation player.”

With Doncic being sidelined for all of three minutes of the Mavs' previous two games, the team's lack of depth was on display. Dinwiddie accounted for 28 of their 43 points derived from drives and 36 of their 45 of their points created by pull-up jump shots. Additionally, the group was devoid of a post-up threat or motion shooting presence in the lineup. There was a genuine need for Dinwiddie to step into the "Luke role" as a result. 

The bulk of Dinwiddie's shot creation occurred while receiving a ball screen as the primary initiator of the offense. He was aggressive in attacking the switch if one occurred, but he wasted no time getting his shot off if there was a sliver of daylight from beyond the arc against more neutral pick-and-roll or handoff coverages. Not how late into the clock some of the plays were in the video below. He had to take on that responsibility of taking "time bomb" shots, but still managed to be highly efficient from deep. 

Similarly, Dinwiddie did his greatest damage as an attacker when he drew a switch and broke the defender down out in space before getting downhill. The emphasis from the defense was clear: Make Dinwiddie work over and over to wear him down since we aren't worried about alternative lane penetration options in the Mavs' offense.

Dinwiddie had a layered approach when attacking traditional pick-and-roll coverages, like when Deandre Ayton or Walker Kessler was deployed in a drop. If the situation called for getting downhill, he was patient getting into a floater or finish. If the drop was deep enough, he did have a possession that ended with him snaking the screen into a mid-range jumper. 

Perhaps most intriguing of the Mavs' counters to drop coverage to generate a quality finish for Dinwiddie was the use of "Stack" pick-and-roll. It's a favorite of Doncic when orchestrating the offense against a traditional defense, too. With a shooting threat setting a back-screen on the big defender, it requires attention to detail and communication from the rest of the unit. 

As is the case for Doncic, Dinwiddie faced "different doses" from the opposition throughout each of these two games. Sitting back in a drop coverage clearly wasn't going to be a viable solution on a consistent basis. However, switching everything puts individual defenders at a risk. Sending double teams was a good option to make someone else beat them. 

There were a few genuinely jaw dropping plays from Dinwiddie that you don't tend to see from him, including a pair of tough 3-pointers while evading two defenders. One of those makes was a deep jumper that might as well have been launched from Park City.

With an emphasis on playing faster, Dinwiddie went straight into a pull-up 3-pointer in transition at times. Before waiting to have to work for a tougher look within the flow of a possession, he made it a point to capitalize on his chances for a quick look early in the shot clock when afforded the chance.

In those transition situations, Dinwiddie was aggressive in attacking the rim if the defender picking him up was playing up in order to be in a better position to contest a possible pull-up jumper. Even if they weren't pressing up, smaller defenders are more at his mercy given he's a bigger guard that is at his best when using his frame.

It was important to take advantage of those early offense looks given the risk of the offense becoming discombobulated if the defense sent a double-team. Without a go-to scoring threat like Doncic or Wood to attack from a different spot, getting the job done quickly was helpful. 

An integral element of Dinwiddie's impact was derived from creating quality looks for his teammates, whether in the paint for finishes, or on the 3-point line for catch-and-shoot looks. He generated 44 total assist points created with 17 assists, along with six secondary assists. 

The majority of shots created by Dinwiddie's passing were derived from him being unselfish by making the pass to the open teammate. If the defense left a shooter open, he had to make the pass to take advantage. Other times, being patient for a cutter to get behind the defense paid off, leading to an easy finish attempt after a defensive breakdown. 

Part of being an effective top option has to do with keeping teammates engaged even when the double team doesn't come. The simplest method of doing so for Dinwiddie was to leverage ball screening passing chances. Against drop coverage, he was patient to create a lob chance, but if the low-man was leaving the corner open, he took advantage of that, too. 

Dinwiddie's performances against the Suns and Jazz were impressive, to say the least. He had never recorded at least 25 points and six assists in consecutive games prior to this two-game stretch in his NBA career. He stepped up as not only the top scorer, but as the facilitator of the unit, too.

It remains to be seen if Dinwiddie will need play the "Luka role" when the Mavs take on the Detroit Pistons on Monday. Doncic was upgraded to questionable as far as his injury status is concerned. 

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