Lauri Markkanen - Utahin Marsalkka: All-NBA Snub

Lauri does some good things despite his shooting problems that get constantly overlooked. He shot a few decent threes last night, good arc and everything. He'll get his stroke back and probably go off at some point. What matters most to me is for him to be able to knock down threes somewhat reliably late in games, with something on the line. He needs to get to that point where he's a trusted weapon in the arsenal, give opponents more than one guy to worry about.

buzzdog said:

Lauri does some good things despite his shooting problems that get constantly overlooked. He shot a few decent threes last night, good arc and everything. He'll get his stroke back and probably go off at some point. What matters most to me is for him to be able to knock down threes somewhat reliably late in games, with something on the line. He needs to get to that point where he's a trusted weapon in the arsenal, give opponents more than one guy to worry about.

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So you are saying Lauri is a fluffer?

He unlocks Allen and Mobley.. has a lot of assists for a 7 footer. Few teams have the personnel to cover all three. When we have two guards that can set the table, or drop the open 3, we become very hard to stop..

Defensively, he can disrupt smaller 3's.. even when they drive past him, they have to worry about his length..

Will be very interesting to see how Powell does with him.. Powell scores well at the three, but being 6'3, you would think he would struggle on both ends..

CleveRocks said:

Defensively, he can disrupt smaller 3's.. even when they drive past him, they have to worry about his length..

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yeah, he makes them work extra hard by forcing them to use their legs and dribble to get into the lane.

Markk was big in the second half against Portland. Timely shots, good attacks, had a nice block.

Was really nice to see from him! I'm hoping that carries and gets it going again.

Back2Back games with 5 assists.

MY main issue is he has bad footwork.

Bulls fans on Lauri: ”Get that weak stuff out of here!”

Cavs commentator on Lauri after block: ”Get that weak stuff out of here!”

He is absolutely horrible. He is a complete pussy on defense. No defensive awareness. No strength. Terrible hands inside. He’s so weak and uncoordinated he can’t even post up 6’3 guards

If he isn’t hitting 3s, Dean Wade is clearly better than him. Imagine that.

Alec Zander said:

He is absolutely horrible. He is a complete pussy on defense. No defensive awareness. No strength. Terrible hands inside. He’s so weak and uncoordinated he can’t even post up 6’3 guards

If he isn’t hitting 3s, Dean Wade is clearly better than him. Imagine that.

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He does seem soft but he’s athletic so it’s all mental and his style which makes him play like a complete pussy. It’s a shame cuz he should be punishing smaller guys on switches

Lauri shooting like COBRA infantry right now, what's the deal? (And what's the remedy?) It's not like he's getting some bad looks. His form looks frankly worse than Lamar's sometimes. And at least Lamar knows what he can and can't do well.

Still has the yips and his form is getting worse and worse. Someone said this guy needs a sports psychologist and I tend to agree. He has zero confidence in his scoring right now and looks frustrated as hell. Overthinking everything.

I'm starting to think Markkanen doesn't really know what he should be doing on offense (well, other than make shots). He's "staying out of the way" and spacing the floor as the action revolves around the post area, until he realizes he hasn't gotten a single shot in 15 minutes and decides to put up some ugly shit.

Lauri seemed to fit the offense well earlier in the season, but right now he doesn't.

Heat Check said:

Still has the yips and his form is getting worse and worse. Someone said this guy needs a sports psychologist and I tend to agree. He has zero confidence in his scoring right now and looks frustrated as hell. Overthinking everything.

I'm starting to think Markkanen doesn't really know what he should be doing on offense (well, other than make shots). He's "staying out of the way" and spacing the floor as the action revolves around the post area, until he realizes he hasn't gotten a single shot in 15 minutes and decides to put up some ugly shit.

Lauri seemed to fit the offense well earlier in the season, but right now he doesn't.

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I think it has something to do with the offensive scheme, which is seemingly more one-dimensional than the first ~20 games or so. Rubio was important to Lauri, he even said in a Finnish interview that they click - and everyone here knows what Rubio brings to the table, especially in terms of playmaking. This team misses him sooo bad.

Still. Lauri should make more shots and abuse the smaller player every now and then, even if it's not his strongest suit. He definitely needs to do some soul searching, see a sports psychologist or do whatever gets him out off that hole.

Cavs' offense, as of lately, has been like a stickman drawing compared to what it was not so long time ago; the ball movement was almost like a Picasso painting, as we were not entirely relying on the Allen-DG 2-man game + 20 year-old rookie constantly pulling rabbits out of the hat.

I think Lauri has sucked but he's still giving a pretty decent effort night in night out, he's not quitting on plays, he's not getting blown by every possession and he alters some shots. He just seems lost in the offense. I hope he bounces back soon, because offense is what this team needs from him. This is by far the most brutal slump of Lauri's career. And this time the team actually has something on the line since they can make the play-offs. His scoring is needed. Come on Lauri show em and yourself!

I think the most I've seen Lauri score in the NBA - aside from catch and shoot - is from the pick'n'pop. The Cavs don't run that play for him at all. Imo the coaching staff could and should try to toss some pick'n'pops for Lauri here and there.

SVG last night:

“He’s shooting needlessly long shots. He’s standing 2-3 feet behind the 3P line and missing short. He just needs to take one step forward.”

You envision the way playoff series are gonna go against really good teams with playing most of his minutes as 3.


The other team is gonna put their weakest defensive guard on him and put their best defensive wing on Garland and dare him to win the game for us with his mismatch and, 4 games out of 7, he's not gonna be able to do it.

And then on the other end he's gonna be the target

Rich said:

You envision the way playoff series are gonna go against really good teams with playing most of his minutes as 3.


The other team is gonna put their weakest defensive guard on him and put their best defensive wing on Garland and dare him to win the game for us with his mismatch and, 4 games out of 7, he's not gonna be able to do it.

And then on the other end he's gonna be the target

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Yes, I thought they could figure this out over the course of the year, but they haven't so far.

They need him to cut in those situations.

He was always a streaky shooter, but this is getting very bad.

You can tell the whole team is sort of out of Rhythm, but Lauri is particularly bad.