Nico Harrison was right.

[Flight]

We don’t get to say Nico is right until the end of the playoffs next year. Luka has had his entire basketball reputation smeared through the mud, if that ain’t motivation to spend this summer try and change that perception it’s gonna get messy for the Lakers

Windy cut a promo on him last summer…

Celtics targeted him defensively and put out the strategy to just make him a scorer…

League media been calling him fat for the last calendar year..


If he can’t lock in and actually take conditioning seriously…I’d be thoroughly concerned if I was a Lakers fan tbh.

 

[Guess Who]

I think Luka is a great player but not a winning player. All time greats have an ability to impact winning beyond just scoring and I don’t see that with him.

I use 28 years of age as my cutoff and at 26 years old, Luka has missed or is close to missing several key early milestones of an ATG player:

He’s yet to have a 55 win season, let alone 60. Highest is 52. LeBron won 66 games at 24. Curry 67 at 26. Jordan 61 at 27. Giannis 61 at 25. Jokic at 28. Kawhi 67 at 24. Harden 65 at 28. Tatum 60 at 25.

And he’s yet to win an MVP. Some may not say it’s a big deal and some all time greats did win MVP later in their career (like Kobe at 29) but Luka is lauded as being a generational talent. Yet he’s never come close to sniffing one. Guys like Bron, Giannis, KD, Jokic and Curry all won an MVP at 26 or younger. Kawhi probably gets one at some point if not for injuries and load management.

He’s flashy and has good numbers but he does not know how to impact a basketball game in any way other than scoring.

Can’t defend. Can’t play off ball. I mean literally if the ball isn’t in his hands he just stands there. Doesn’t hustle or fight for boards. Doesn’t set screens. Slow and outta shape, gases out in late game scenarios often. And has questionable leadership qualities.

Also plays basketball for himself instead of the team. He might be the biggest ball stopper in the NBA. I’ve rarely seen Luka make a quick swing pass or pass the ball not to get an assist but simply for the sake of moving it. He dribbles the life outta the ball for a cool 6-10 seconds every single time he touches it and grinds the offense to a halt. He’s a gifted scorer so he’s hard to defend but I feel like his overall play style makes his team easier to defend. When you look at other superstars who did the whole heliocentric offense thing, like Bron and Jokic, they know when to hold the ball and control the pace of the game versus when to make quick passes and run an offense. Luka only knows the first part. Those guys can also play off ball and give defenses different looks. Luka can’t.

I don’t blame him for the series loss though. Lakers are just poorly constructed and they have clear goals of playing the long game. But I don’t really see “it” with him.

I been saying this since forever

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Windy cut a promo on him last summer…

Celtics targeted him defensively and put out the strategy to just make him a scorer…

League media been calling him fat for the last calendar year..


If he can’t lock in and actually take conditioning seriously…I’d be thoroughly concerned if I was a Lakers fan tbh.

Brotha, there's nothing to be concerned about.

Whatever anyone thinks about Luka and his conditioning, it still holds a brighter future than whatever they were going to have with AD.

Furthermore, too much has been made about his physical state because it's low-hanging fruit. Ant's legs were shot in Game 5, that's why he kept settling for jumpers and his ass had the luxury of having all those bigs on his team. He wasn't having to create his shot against the likes of McDaniels every other possession.

If the T'Wolves manage to make it to the WCF, you'll see what his conditioning looks like more under a microscope against that demon ass OKC squad.

 

[MikelArteta]

 

[Rasille]

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

What is it with TheColi and crashing out over the stupidest muh'fukkas?

Nico lost the Mavs millions in revenue (and will continue to do so), alienated the fanbase from the organization, forced an unbearable workload on Kyrie who tore his ACL and the team went from the Finals to missing the playoffs, yet he had a vision to y'all cross-eyed ass fools.

 

[KillerPups]

Luka may just be white harden

 

[Flight]

Brotha, there's nothing to be concerned about.

Whatever anyone thinks about Luka and his conditioning, it still holds a brighter future than whatever they were going to have with AD.

Furthermore, too much has been made about his physical state because it's low-hanging fruit. Ant's legs were shot in Game 5, that's why he kept settling for jumpers and his ass had the luxury of having all those bigs on his team. He wasn't having to create his shot against the likes of McDaniels every other possession.

If the T'Wolves manage to make it to the WCF, you'll see what his conditioning looks like more under a microscope against that demon ass OKC squad.

Fam I can’t believe you look at him and aren’t concerned. He can’t keep him anyone in front of him at this point defensively.



Obviously he can’t stay at the weight he was when he was 19 but even from a few years ago look at him…

We are two seasons away from him being Slovenian Peter Griffin

 

[Bubba T]

Everyone keeps blaming Nico but the owner of the Mavs signed off on the trade.

 

[Guess Who]

Fam I can’t believe you look at him and are concerned. He can’t keep him anyone in front of him at this point defensively.



Obviously he can’t stay at the weight he was when he was 19 but even from a few years ago look at him…

We are two seasons away from him being Slovenian Peter Griffin

Mfer got neck fat.

As a 20-something year old high performance athlete.

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

Nico was always right. Luka has dunked the ball 2 times in 3 years. And he’s only 26. His defense has gotten even worse. There’s no way in hell you pay some regressing that quickly $375 million a year.

His ceiling was reached when he had a true alpha scorer to carry him when it matters (Kyrie) because he will never be in shape.

He only played 3 months of basketball this year and he looked like Larry Bird on his way out of the league last night

 

[Gil Scott-Heroin]

Fam I can’t believe you look at him and are concerned. He can’t keep him anyone in front of him at this point defensively.



Obviously he can’t stay at the weight he was when he was 19 but even from a few years ago look at him…

We are two seasons away from him being Slovenian Peter Griffin

Like I been said, his issue has been not having a proper offseason regularly, because he plays hoops all year round (from NBA to FIBA), playing through all types of injuries instead of letting his body recover properly. Look at what happened to Kyrie when the Mavs forced him into playing that Luka role with that exhausting ass workload. It broke him. The Mavs aren’t going anywhere, anytime soon because of it.

Markieff said he is one of a very, very few players he’s seen who’ll push their body past its max, through any type of ailment to get out on the floor, just to hoop. Because of that, his body has taken a whole lot of punishment playing pro ball since 16, that 99% of players his age haven’t had to deal with.

There should be concerns over how he holds up in the long term, but in the immediate next couple of seasons (at least) the Lakers can still build a contender around him. They can’t do that with AD, which is what the alternative would’ve been.

It’s up to the Lakers now to make sure they do their best to get him right for next season. And straighten out their roster, which made him look worse than he actually is.

 

[Squirrel from Meteor Man]

“Luka isn’t in shape and gets fatter every year because he plays too much basketball” @Gil Scott-Heroin

The regression can be seen in real time. Last year he was getting by Rudy and scoring on him much easier. This year he had to rely on fadeaways and long bombs. Nico was right

 

[who_better_than_me]

No he wasn't right. Luka will win on the Lakers when a team is fully built around him.

That’s Lebrons team until he retires

 

[jwinfield]