The Dallas Mavericks run the most efficient pick-and-roll offense in the NBA. Here are the numbers and the mechanics behind it.
The data (source: NBA.com tracking stats, Cleaning the Glass):
- Mavs pick-and-roll frequency: 28.4% of all possessions (3rd-highest in NBA)
- Points per possession on PnR: 1.08 (1st in NBA)
- League average PnR PPP: 0.93
The Mavs generate 0.15 more points per pick-and-roll possession than the average team. Over 82 games, that translates to roughly 180 additional points per season from one action alone.
Why the Luka PnR is different:
- Ball pressure: Luka draws the most defensive attention of any ballhandler in the league. When the screen arrives, the defender is already off-balance because they are overplaying to contain Luka's driving lanes.
- Passing angles: Luka sees passing lanes that most players cannot. His pocket pass to the rolling big man is thrown at angles that freeze help defenders. Source: Second Spectrum tracking shows Luka's passes to rolling bigs arrive 0.3 seconds faster than the league average pass in the same situation.
- Scoring threat: Unlike pure point guards who pick-and-roll to find teammates, Luka is an elite scorer who can finish at the rim, pull up for a mid-range jumper, or step back for three. Defenders cannot commit to stopping one option because all three are viable.
The counters: When teams switch the pick-and-roll (putting a smaller guard on the big man and a bigger defender on Luka), Dallas punishes it by posting up the mismatch. Luka feeding a center isolated against a 6-2 guard results in a 68% field goal probability per Cleaning the Glass.
When teams blitz (sending two defenders at Luka), the short roll pass to Kyrie or an open shooter generates 1.14 PPP — even higher than the standard PnR.
The conclusion: The Mavs pick-and-roll is nearly unguardable because every defensive strategy has a counter. Stop the roll? Luka scores. Stop Luka? The roller scores. Blitz? Open shooters. Switch? Post-up mismatch.
Sources:
- NBA.com — pick-and-roll tracking data
- Cleaning the Glass — efficiency metrics
- Second Spectrum — passing speed data