(02-22-2022, 11:17 AM)nielyn Wrote: [ -> ]I don't love these type of comments by Cuban, whether they're true or not. What is the point of telling the media that Luka "finally" realizes that there is discipline involved in his job?
I agree with this. There was already evidence enough to tell the story, why open your mouth about it? What purpose does it serve?
(02-22-2022, 04:08 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]There was already evidence enough to tell the story, why open your mouth about it? What purpose does it serve?
MANY fans were in denial (many on this very board) about the seriousness of Luka's conditioning, diet, and weight situation.
Why talk about it? Because it is GOOD news that Luka has made maybe the most important step/change of his career and has done it at age 22! This is CELEBRATION worthy stuff!
There seems no issue here at all. Lukas play is just really bad news for the Luka haters out there. I even heard serious suggestions of trading Luka. Glad that is all sorted out, I don't hear these suggestions any longer, seems as no coincidence.
Bottom line is if you play at Olympics without offseason carrying such load for the team as Luka did, you will have a slower start to the season guaranteed, especially when you are 22 and you need rest and take it easy afterwards. And especially if the rest of the team doesn't convert the shots at all. On top of that injuries and COVID. It is fully normal that Lukas numbers are going up now. I will say it again as I said early in season, this is by far best Luka to date. It is fully expected if he has no offseason that his numbers will go up later during the season as he recovers from no offseason. Bad news for Mavs is that Luka cares a lot about the national team, unlike let's say Jokic. Hence, meaning it will be account to numerous offseason that Luka will carry that load and have essentially no offseason. The good news is that beginning of season is not quiet as important as late regular seasons where momentum carries over to the playoffs. He will be in great shape after the national team games, but have very tired legs early in seasons, which will carry over in fresh legs later in the season. This is exactly what we see.
(02-22-2022, 04:13 PM)Kammrath Wrote: [ -> ]MANY fans were in denial (many on this very board) about the seriousness of Luka's conditioning, diet, and weight situation.
Why talk about it? Because it is GOOD news that Luka has made maybe the most important step/change of his career and has done it at age 22! This is CELEBRATION worthy stuff!
Not after the reports of Luka hiring a personal chef and his own words about needing to get in shape. The denial posts pretty much came to a halt then. If this was Luka saying these things, it’s fine. It is absolutely not Cuban’s place to say them!
(02-22-2022, 04:23 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]It is absolutely not Cuban’s place to say them!
You don't think the owner of a company can talk about the performance issues of his most important employee?
Luka's weight/diet aren't "private" matters...he is a professional athlete whose body/health IS central to why he is even employed (and about to be paid $40M per year).
And the fans in a sense are the "stockholders" and so Cuban is responsible on some level to keep us in the loop on really important matters or we might "sell our stocks" and take our fandom and $$$ elsewhere.
I personally don't an issue with it all....especially now that it is resolved. If Cuban would have been using the media BEFORE resolution to shame Luka and get him to change, that would have been an issue IMO.
(02-22-2022, 04:23 PM)burekemde Wrote: [ -> ]He will be in great shape after the national team games, but have very tired legs early in seasons, which will carry over in fresh legs later in the season. This is exactly what we see.
You may be correct.
All I know is, I'd rather Luka start a little slow then build toward a peak in May/June than the other way around. My hope is he starts from a little higher place next fall.
He now looks like he's back to the jaw-dropping phenom we all are here to see. I hope he takes it to heart that this is HIS team now. Luka doesn't need to score 40+ every game, but the threat of that is going to make his teammates jobs easier.
(02-22-2022, 04:37 PM)Kammrath Wrote: [ -> ]You don't think the owner of a company can talk about the performance issues of his most important employee?
Luka's weight/diet aren't "private" matters...he is a professional athlete whose body/health IS central to why he is even employed (and about to be paid $40M per year).
And the fans in a sense are the "stockholders" and so Cuban is responsible on some level to keep us in the loop on really important matters or we might "sell our stocks" and take our fandom and $$$ elsewhere.
I personally don't an issue with it all....especially now that it is resolved. If Cuban would have been using the media BEFORE resolution to shame Luka and get him to change, that would have been an issue IMO.
Alright, I'm just gonna say this because I have been almost fully on your side of this argument from the beginning. This fully feels like you saying "I told you so" to those who disagreed with you. That said:
I'm not disappointed at MC not dodging the question, I'm disappointed at the words MC used. Those words put it all in a negative light, as the one replying poster alluded to when he said "And this ladies and gentlemen, is how you lose a superstar in free agency". Words like "humbled" (the dude is about as humble as Dirk!), and "finally clicked" (Finally? Maybe Luka should apologize to MC for not being "humble" enough to realize what he needed to do with nutrition on Cuban's timeline, not his own) then there is Brad using MC's words to say not being an Allstar starter. All negative connotations.
If it's a CELEBRATION, use words to celebrate it, not words to demonize it!
In addition to the above and after thinking about it more. What MC should have done is dodged the "why" of it all and let Luka speak to that on his own because the rest of what MC said was basically celebrating what he's done. It's just putting Luka's thoughts/emotions in his mouth is where MC oversteps.
(02-22-2022, 04:57 PM)michaeltex Wrote: [ -> ]You may be correct.
All I know is, I'd rather Luka start a little slow then build toward a peak in May/June than the other way around. My hope is he starts from a little higher place next fall.
He now looks like he's back to the jaw-dropping phenom we all are here to see. I hope he takes it to heart that this is HIS team now. Luka doesn't need to score 40+ every game, but the threat of that is going to make his teammates jobs easier.
Exactly. The key is the playoffs. The team should respect that Luka is tired after having no offseason and before then carrying the Mavs through tough playoff stretches against teams like the Clippers. Fans should have some understanding of that, and not go in full panic mode immediately and suggesting even to trade Luka.
Fully normal to have tired legs early and reach the peak again before playoffs. Fans and even "experts" will misinterpret this as diet and being fat. But if it was that it would certainly not change in terms of few weeks time. Majority of that is due to not having an offseason and early injuries and COVID. There may be smaller impact by diet but he is 22. No offseason and injuries are the major impact.
All i know is that Luka is having fresh legs for playoffs, every single season, and that's all that matters. I dont mind the early season games at all, as they dont carry the same impact at all. And Luka was absolutely terrific in those as well. Thus, I see no issue here and why this is discussed as heavely and brought up by the media. If it was the other way around, as you mention, and Luka started on fire and then cooled down before playoffs - this would then be something to worry about.
(02-22-2022, 05:28 PM)burekemde Wrote: [ -> ]Fans and even "experts" will misinterpret this as diet and being fat.
My man, you're missing the point. Luka himself said he let himself go during that (Edit:
offseason, not sure if it was 4 months or 2 or 10, just know he "let himself go" for a period of time in the offseason)
4 months. Does that mean he misinterpreted it himself? Should he go back to letting himself go in the offseason? He said when he started eating chicken (because he doesn't like seafood) rice and vegetables he had more energy and healed faster. That means he had less energy and didn't heal as fast before, right? I'm not sure what you're arguing anymore honestly.
(02-22-2022, 04:23 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]Not after the reports of Luka hiring a personal chef and his own words about needing to get in shape. The denial posts pretty much came to a halt then.
Not really. Some say it's still injuries and COVID, and the weight concern is just too insignificant.
(02-22-2022, 05:37 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]My man, you're missing the point. Luka himself said he let himself go during that (Edit: offseason, not sure if it was 4 months or 2 or 10, just know he "let himself go" for a period of time in the offseason) 4 months. Does that mean he misinterpreted it himself? Should he go back to letting himself go in the offseason? He said when he started eating chicken (because he doesn't like seafood) rice and vegetables he had more energy and healed faster. That means he had less energy and didn't heal as fast before, right? I'm not sure what you're arguing anymore honestly.
We are arguing, this being a Luka thing.
He might be more effected by letting it go, but this is something any pro-baller has to learn.
Look up how Dirk approached his early off-seasons.
You could argue it being this way is a blessing (only my blue-glassed-too-optimistic glasses).
(02-23-2022, 12:48 AM)Mapka Wrote: [ -> ]We are arguing, this being a Luka thing.
He might be more effected by letting it go, but this is something any pro-baller has to learn.
Look up how Dirk approached his early off-seasons.
You could argue it being this way is a blessing (only my blue-glassed-too-optimistic glasses).
Can you give me some context as to what you are talking about? I really can’t tell if you arguing with or against me here or what particular point you are arguing.
(02-22-2022, 11:28 PM)Razzmatazz_Hopskidillydoo Wrote: [ -> ]Not really. Some say it's still injuries and COVID, and the weight concern is just too insignificant.
I’ve seen 1 person here point to what you are saying, and even that person contradicts what Luka himself says so I myself can’t take that reply all that seriously.
(02-22-2022, 05:37 PM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]My man, you're missing the point. Luka himself said he let himself go during that (Edit: offseason, not sure if it was 4 months or 2 or 10, just know he "let himself go" for a period of time in the offseason) 4 months. Does that mean he misinterpreted it himself? Should he go back to letting himself go in the offseason? He said when he started eating chicken (because he doesn't like seafood) rice and vegetables he had more energy and healed faster. That means he had less energy and didn't heal as fast before, right? I'm not sure what you're arguing anymore honestly.
I'm not arguing that what you refer to (regarding diet) - this has most likely has been there to a smaller degree and that is also what Luka acknowledged. I argue rather instead that the significance of the diet has been completely overblown in media and by some fans, even to the extreme point where Luka was called fat. Instead, the main factors for Lukas numbers increasing during year has been the injuries and the tired legs from Olympics and not having an offseason. Much smaller effect is the diet, yes, which was acknowledged. The former however (injuries and COVID and tired legs from Olympics) were misused by certain people in order to incorrectly reinforce the effect of the latter (diet).
Few fans have suggested a link between the two, thus bad diet maybe causing the ankle injury etc., which can't be ruled out, but also far from can be proven, and this is not likely at all. The most likely effect is that the tired legs from Olympics has caused Luka to take it easy in beginning of the season, and work him self up when he got some rest. This is completely normal if you ask me. The key is that Luka keeps himself fresh for playoffs and late season, where momentum carries over to the playoff basketball. Luka is doing all the right things.
(02-23-2022, 01:01 AM)ItsGoTime Wrote: [ -> ]Can you give me some context as to what you are talking about? I really can’t tell if you arguing with or against me here or what particular point you are arguing.
I'm arguing, how much relevance people put on Luka being not in top shape after a short offseason and him taking some time to figure out his diet.
That’s a totally normal process.
He was a teenager entering the league and used to eat whatever with now effect on his shape. This days are over now and he has adepted.
Story over.
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