Luka's bag of tricks includes lethal stepbacks, sneaky-quick drives and a 'Baby Dirk'

God Shammgod springs to his feet successful beforehand of the Dallas Mavericks' bench, a large grin connected his face, arsenic helium discusses 1 of his favourite subjects: dribbling.

Specifically, successful this lawsuit a mates of hours earlier an Oct. 7 location preseason game, Luka Doncic's dribbling.

Shammgod, a Mavericks subordinate improvement manager who is truthful renowned for his ballhandling brilliance that a fashionable determination is named aft him, begins to show the elemental basal of Doncic's improvement into the league's starring isolation scorer.

Shammgod jabs with his close foot, rocks backmost to his near arsenic if helium mightiness motorboat a jumper and past darts backmost to his right, putting the shot connected the level and mimicking a Doncic thrust to the basket. In these moments, the tribunal feels similar a canvas for Doncic, who Mavs manager Jason Kidd compared to a young Picasso astatine the commencement of past season.

Shammgod, a New York City legend, considers Doncic's attack akin to a graffiti creator who encounters a blank wall.

"Luka's imagination," Shammgod says, "is conscionable connected a full different level."

It seems silly present that skeptics questioned the ceiling for a draught imaginable with specified constricted explosiveness. Sure, Doncic had unprecedented occurrence for a teen successful Europe, becoming the youngest MVP ever successful the world's second-best league earlier entering the 2018 draft. Yet galore scouts and executives wondered whether helium could blossom into an NBA superstar.

Four seasons later, Doncic has already established himself arsenic a perennial NBA MVP favorite, successful portion due to the fact that he's not lone a one-on-one wunderkind but besides arguably the league's premier isolation limb with 1 of the league's deepest bags of tricks.

Doncic isolated connected a league-leading 1,027 plays past season, according to Second Spectrum tracking. The Mavericks generated an mean of 1.098 points connected those possessions, which ranked 2nd among 43 players with astatine slightest 300 isolations past season, down lone Miami Heat prima Jimmy Butler (1.108).

"Sometimes arsenic a manager you privation to tally each these plays," says Kidd, who has often surrounded Doncic with 3-point threats, employing five-out offenses to unfastened the level for him to operate. "But astatine the extremity of the day, it's astir getting him the shot with capable clip to beryllium creative."

Blending that creativity with a bundle of skill, strength, finesse and footwork -- arsenic good arsenic the imaginativeness to dissect assistance defenses by passing retired of postulation -- has turned Doncic into the uncommon scorer susceptible of creating businesslike shots astatine each 3 levels: beyond the 3-point arc, successful the midrange and astir -- albeit seldom supra -- the rim.

As Doncic and the Mavs hole to unfastened their 2022-23 play connected the roadworthy Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns (10 p.m. ET connected ESPN), let's dive into the iso arsenal that makes the 23-year-old superstar 1 of the toughest covers successful the league.

The stepback: 'The cloth of who helium is'

Former Mavs manager Rick Carlisle tried -- unsuccessfully -- to person a then-rookie Doncic to halt relying truthful heavy connected stepback 3-pointers.

"He whitethorn sprout a 30-foot stepback and it whitethorn not spell in; Coach: 'I don't privation to spot it anymore!'" ex-Dallas defender Devin Harris said aboriginal successful the 2018-19 season. "And helium whitethorn sprout six more. ... And he'll marque 'em."

Some of the biggest buckets of Doncic's vocation person travel via the step-back 3. As a rookie, helium capped a idiosyncratic 11-0 clutch tally successful a comeback triumph implicit the Houston Rockets with a go-ahead step-back 3 implicit halfway Clint Capela, slamming the brakes and changing absorption truthful rapidly that the 6-foot-10 large antheral inactive had a ft successful the overgarment arsenic Doncic started his shooting motion.

The Game 4 buzzer-beater successful Doncic's archetypal playoff bid -- a uncommon Mike Breen "BANG! BANG!" moment that enactment the finishing touches connected a 43-point triple-double -- was a step-back 3 from his saccharine spot connected the near wing, mounting it up by going betwixt his legs to his close earlier crossing implicit and rising supra LA Clippers defender Reggie Jackson. Doncic has doubly beaten the Boston Celtics with last-second step-back 3s from the aforesaid spot.

According to NBA Advanced Stats data, Doncic has attempted 1,139 step-back 3s successful his career, including the playoffs. He has made 37.2% of those shots (39.6% past season), which is importantly amended than his catch-and-shoot efficiency.

"You privation to person it wherever each dribbling determination helium does is simply a portion of that [step-back] package, due to the fact that that's his favourite shot," Shammgod says. "Out of immoderate of those moves, helium tin get to the stepback."

Doncic's crippled shows a batch of similarities to Philadelphia 76ers defender James Harden, who evolved into 1 of the elite isolation scorers of each clip during his Rockets tenure, erstwhile his step-back 3 ranked arsenic possibly the astir potent violative limb successful the league. They're some big-framed guards with dazzling ballhandling skills and the quality to halt and abruptly dart backwards portion maintaining balance.

Like Harden, Doncic hunts for his stepback, particularly erstwhile helium gets a power against a halfway who is disquieted astir getting bushed disconnected the dribble. If a defender prioritizes taking distant his stepback, it's fundamentally an invitation for Doncic to drive.

"It's ne'er the aforesaid decision," Doncic, who studied clips of Harden sent to him by Shammgod aboriginal successful his career, said during the preseason. "It's a batch of factors. You've got to look astatine who's guarding you, if the shot's going successful oregon not. There's a batch to deliberation astir and past decide."

Doncic surely doesn't person to interest astir whether his caput manager approves of his changeable selection, not that it ever acrophobic him much.

"That stepback is conscionable natural," Kidd says. "That's portion of the cloth of who helium is, due to the fact that it tin acceptable up truthful galore different things."

The Baby Dirk: 'There's nary flight ... nary antagonistic move'

Deandre Ayton couldn't person defended overmuch amended connected the opening possession of Game 7 of the 2022 Western Conference semifinals against the Mavs.

The Suns halfway helped unit the shot retired of Doncic's hands by blitzing a precocious pick-and-roll. Seconds later, Ayton ended up unsocial against Doncic erstwhile helium got the shot backmost connected the near wing.

Ayton stayed diligent arsenic Doncic dribbled near to close betwixt his legs once, twice, 3 times, staying adjacent capable to contention the stepback. With the changeable timepiece down to 5 seconds, Doncic attacked the middle, driving to his right, but Ayton stayed successful front, preventing Doncic from reaching the restricted area.

It didn't matter.

Doncic lowered his near enarthrosis to initiate contact, creating inches of space, each helium needed to pivot backwards into a one-legged fadeaway from the escaped propulsion line.

Swish.

"Dirk ever did it," Doncic said during preseason, referring to his rookie play teammate Dirk Nowitzki, who made that changeable iconic en way to the No. 6 spot connected the all-time scoring list. "It's a fadeaway, truthful it's pugnacious to block, pugnacious to defend. It conscionable adds different changeable to my isolation."

It's a determination that Doncic mastered betwixt his rookie and sophomore seasons, fundamentally adding a midrange flight clause to his isolation game. It's peculiarly poetic erstwhile Doncic makes the changeable from the close broadside of the level astatine location games, considering determination are silhouettes determination of Nowitzki rising for the changeable connected some ends of the American Airlines Center court.

Kidd refers to Doncic's one-legged fadeaway arsenic the "Baby Dirk," and Doncic is connected a database of stars who person borrowed the changeable from the Mavericks legend. That includes LeBron James, different big, almighty creator whose clips Shammgod sent Doncic to study.

The one-legged fadeaway has go specified a respected portion of Doncic's repertoire that helium occasionally embarrasses defenders determined to contention it. Doncic volition drawback them leaning and proceed to pivot through, sometimes starring to a layup.

If Doncic needs to beryllium much originative to get a changeable up, he's surely capable.

"He's conscionable having amusive with it, and that makes it hard to support due to the fact that you deliberation you instrumentality 1 determination distant and there's nary flight and nary different move, nary antagonistic move, nary nothing," says Mavs powerfulness forward/center Maxi Kleber, a predominant one-on-one foe during practice. "And each of a abrupt helium finds a mode to rotation retired and someway shoots left-handed implicit his caput -- and helium makes those shots."

Luka, the driver: 'His dilatory is fast'

During timeouts, Doncic volition sometimes juggle the hoops with his foot, a flashback to his puerility playing shot successful Slovenia. He often displays grounds of his inheritance successful that athletics portion dribbling the shot with his hands, too, with the mode Doncic changes absorption truthful smoothly.

"A batch of [basketball players] who play shot are existent crafty -- Steve Nash is simply a cleanable example," says Shammgod, who has worked with Doncic to screen much abstraction successful less dribbles. "Luka is similar that. He's shifty. He's got bully brakes.

"A batch of radical don't deliberation astir that stuff, due to the fact that they get caught up successful the hands. It's nary sound connected And 1, but you spot each these radical connected And 1 [mix tapes] who tin dribble and each that, and past you enactment them successful the crippled and they can't spell nowhere. Now, you're stuck successful 1 spot.

"Dribbling is much astir footwork. Hands are conscionable an illusion."

Shammgod refers to Doncic arsenic "quicker than you think," and the menace of his stepback often helps Doncic summation a half-step vantage connected his defender. Once that happens, it's highly hard for a defender to recover.

"He knows however to usage his body, the angles," Kidd says.

"Harden was the aforesaid way," Shammgod adds. "Once you're connected the broadside of him, there's thing you tin perchance do. [Doncic] tin people truthful easy. He's mode excessively strong."

Doncic tin slither done postulation with his shiftiness oregon rumble down the lane similar a bulldozer, particularly erstwhile he's backing down his defender. He often initiates contact, disconnected the dribble oregon arsenic he's going up to finish, utilizing his spot to make pockets of space.

"You've got to usage the contact," Doncic said during preseason. "If you usage the interaction correctly, it's a large advantage, for sure."

With his premix of power, a brushed interaction and deceptiveness, the 6-foot-7, 240-plus-pound Doncic is an elite finisher contempt seldom playing supra the rim. He had lone 7 dunks past season, a full that has dropped successful each twelvemonth of his career. But Doncic converted 69.7% of his attempts wrong 5 feet of the rim, ranking 2nd among 43 guards with astatine slightest 150 buckets successful that range. (Gary Payton II, an explosive leaper with lone 36 unassisted baskets each season, ranked archetypal among that group.)

"It's conscionable astonishing however helium knows however to fto idiosyncratic alert by erstwhile he's going for a layup," Kidd says, marveling astatine however often Doncic shifts gears to let postulation to wide successful the paint.

"When helium plays, the lone happening helium hears is similar the euphony that's playing successful his head," Shammgod says. "He sees the crippled successful dilatory motion, nary substance however accelerated it's going. And his dilatory is fast, due to the fact that you're moving truthful fast. You're trying to bushed him to the spot, but he's not astatine the spot yet, truthful it's casual for him to spot you get determination and alteration directions.

"He's ever successful his comfortableness zone."