MavsBoard

(01-26-2021, 01:17 AM)Kammrath Wrote: [ -> ]https://twitter.com/nbastats/status/1353949681198505984

The only triple double of Brandon Knight's career.

Well it has happened. Yesterday afternoon I heard Rick Kamla on NBA radio let loose on Luka. The nationwide love fest now has a ding. He criticized the ref call complaints and something else. He said he loved him etc. for several reasons but....and off he went. His partner, an ex Coach followed with the benefits of staying away from negativity but did mention he felt the media gave Luka a pass on his defense when it didn't for other stars.

Of course, in other threads, we started it. Sounds like once again, the media sometimes listens to us. Apparently they don't listen well enough to actually know much, but they use our stuff. I predict next they use the Mavs Luvr thread to spread the "fact" of dissension in the Mavs locker room. They will probably choose not to notice that Luka is really doing somewhat better on the defensive end this year. When he is not playing 5 of 7 days, he does moderately well on defense when compared to other offensive stars.

(01-27-2021, 11:24 AM)Reunion Mav Wrote: [ -> ]Well it has happened. Yesterday afternoon I heard Rick Kamla on NBA radio let loose on Luka. The nationwide love fest now has a ding. He criticized the ref call complaints and something else. He said he loved him etc. for several reasons but....and off he went. His partner, an ex Coach followed with the benefits of staying away from negativity but did mention he felt the media gave Luka a pass on his defense when it didn't for other stars.

Of course, in other threads, we started it. Sounds like once again, the media sometimes listens to us. Apparently they don't listen well enough to actually know much, but they use our stuff. I predict next they use the Mavs Luvr thread to spread the "fact" of dissension in the Mavs locker room. They will probably choose not to notice that Luka is really doing somewhat better on the defensive end this year. When he is not playing 5 of 7 days, he does moderately well on defense when compared to other offensive stars.

So, the thing about NBA and sports media is that there are some who consume the product at a rate much crazier than we do, watching LITERALLY every game and having really informed opinions, while there are others who only see the nationally televised matchups and then make big claims that aren't backed by enough knowledge. I have no idea which of those Rick Kamla is (not sure I know his work) but determining which type you're dealing with is a key to enjoying the off-court part of the sport, imo.

TBH, Luka DOES deserve some criticism for the situation with the refs, imo. If he played for another team we'd HATE him, based on the fact that he begs for calls CONSTANTLY. It's one of the reasons I hate Harden, for sure. We hated Tim Duncan around here for years because of "palms up Timmy" every time he committed a foul. 

I do think he's improved defensively, but unfortunately, he's slow and white, so the sad truth is that it's going to take the simple minded AWHILE to figure that out. And, in all fairness, I'm not sure this season's nationally televised games have been the best examples of his improved defense. He'll need to be consistent about it. It's not like anyone is comparing him to Trae Young on that end, and I doubt they ever will. For me, it's enough that WE see that Luka is dedicated to improving on defense. I don't need the national guys to be early adopters of that truth. They'll figure it out in 4-5 years when the Mavs are one of the 2-3 best teams in the league.

Luka is a incredible player, but his non stop complaining to the refs is really off-putting. It's not like he does it only when there's contact. He does it a lot when there's clearly no foul. I personally can't stand anyone doing that. If he would just play and keep his mouth shut, he would get more calls imo. I hope he matures and stops this.

(01-27-2021, 12:33 PM)BigDirk41 Wrote: [ -> ]Luka is a incredible player, but his non stop complaining to the refs is really off-putting. It's not like he does it only when there's contact. He does it a lot when there's clearly no foul. I personally can't stand anyone doing that. If he would just play and keep his mouth shut, he would get more calls imo. I hope he matures and stops this.

What I will write is just my personal opinion. Crying will never stop. What you guys on the other side of the pond must realize is that you did not get some ordinary rookie from some poor communist country, who ate grass and then moved country at 13 and lived hard knock life. Dude grew up in a capital city. His mom owns a hairdressing business and his father was professional basketball player. He had all doors open for him from the start. And when he moved to Real, well there is nothing better that can happen for a young sports player in Europe. I mean, club takes care for everything in cases like this. They provide you with accommodation, put you through school etc...

The point I am trying to make is that dude is/was a spoiled rich kid from the start, who at 17 achieved everything that you possibly could in Europe and by that stage was already probably a multi millionaire. We are not talking Adebayo here, think more Kobe.

As his fellow countryman i absolutely hate it. So do all of my friends who watch basketball, and jokingly we blame it on his education he received in Spain. There are stereotypes in Europe about Italians and Spanish being soft and cowardly. The truth is probably somewhere in between. His game is ahead of his years. But so is everything else. He played with some of the best and most experienced at Real. He didn't learn just fundamentals and game of basketball but all dirty tricks too. He realized, that if he wants to get fouls he needs to make his presence known, and since he is a top dog on a court from the age of 13 on he probably takes it for granted. That's why he had "balls" to complain to NBA the refs from his first game on. 

We are talking a player here, who has been a superstar and the best player on the court since he first touched a ball. He acts accordingly. Don't buy this media image about smiling  kid, who loves to play basketball. Shit will hit the fan if things go wrong.

But its just my theory, as I do not know him!
P.S. Just for a fun fact, i have another one. I am old enough that I watched his dad play. Same height, played SF. Couldn't hit his FTs at a decent rate either. I would be pleasantly surprised if Luka ever turns out to be an above average shooter. In his best seasons I expect him to be 50/35/80 at best.

(01-27-2021, 05:30 PM)bodhisattva Wrote: [ -> ]What I will write is just my personal opinion. Crying will never stop. What you guys on the other side of the pond must realize is that you did not get some ordinary rookie from some poor communist country, who ate grass and then moved country at 13 and lived hard knock life. Dude grew up in a capital city. His mom owns a hairdressing business and his father was professional basketball player. He had all doors open for him from the start. And when he moved to Real, well there is nothing better that can happen for a young sports player in Europe. I mean, club takes care for everything in cases like this. They provide you with accommodation, put you through school etc...

The point I am trying to make is that dude is/was a spoiled rich kid from the start, who at 17 achieved everything that you possibly could in Europe and by that stage was already probably a multi millionaire. We are not talking Adebayo here, think more Kobe.

As his fellow countryman i absolutely hate it. So do all of my friends who watch basketball, and jokingly we blame it on his education he received in Spain. There are stereotypes in Europe about Italians and Spanish being soft and cowardly. The truth is probably somewhere in between. His game is ahead of his years. But so is everything else. He played with some of the best and most experienced at Real. He didn't learn just fundamentals and game of basketball but all dirty tricks too. He realized, that if he wants to get fouls he needs to make his presence known, and since he is a top dog on a court from the age of 13 on he probably takes it for granted. That's why he had "balls" to complain to NBA the refs from his first game on. 

We are talking a player here, who has been a superstar and the best player on the court since he first touched a ball. He acts accordingly. Don't buy this media image about smiling  kid, who loves to play basketball. Shit will hit the fan if things go wrong.

But its just my theory, as I do not know him!
P.S. Just for a fun fact, i have another one. I am old enough that I watched his dad play. Same height, played SF. Couldn't hit his FTs at a decent rate either. I would be pleasantly surprised if Luka ever turns out to be an above average shooter. In his best seasons I expect him to be 50/35/80 at best.

Great post.  Thanks for sharing.

The making yourself known is a knife that cuts two ways.  If you are too meager you might not get noticed but if you complain at every non-call, you might get ignored.  Luka is definitely trending towards the latter.  Add in a pinch of bias generated from years of Cuban feuding with the league and Referees Association and a pinch of being treated like the Shaq of PGs and you've got the perfect storm of not getting the calls you should.  He can definitely work on the first problem and the other two problems should solve themselves once (maybe if is better here) he's become the face of the league.

I do think it is important to remember that he's just a kid. He'll mature and figure things out. I'm not sure he has the Jordan/Kobe/LeBron work ethic but I do know that he wants to win and has all the tools to do so.

The defensive criticisms are probably never going to stop.  He got that perception early on and it's hard to change the minds of people who do not watch him game in and game out.  I think we all understand how much he's improved (though I do hate that he's starting to shuffle into a drawn charge position of late rather than keeping his hands extended) but he's never going to be an all defensive team member due to his lack of explosiveness and that's the only thing that will change that narrative, deserved or not.

(01-27-2021, 07:04 PM)cow Wrote: [ -> ]The making yourself known is a knife that cuts two ways.  If you are too meager you might not get noticed but if you complain at every non-call, you might get ignored.  Luka is definitely trending towards the latter.  Add in a pinch of bias generated from years of Cuban feuding with the league and Referees Association and a pinch of being treated like the Shaq of PGs and you've got the perfect storm of not getting the calls you should.  He can definitely work on the first problem and the other two problems should solve themselves once (maybe if is better here) he's become the face of the league.

I know. The question is if he knows. I wish, someone who he respects and listens to, would just sit him down and explain this to him. He would be way better off if he would just stfu and let himself be beaten hard for 10, 15, 30 games. After that i think, he would learn for what kind of contact he will get a call and for which he will not. Maybe even refs would see it. But i think this is where the problem lies. It goes against his spoiled and entitled nature (not as a human being, but on a basketball court). I think he just cannot accept when things don't go his way. He is young, so maybe after 25, 26 it will go away. Someone should just tell him that all that yelling makes him look like a little girl.

National media about to pour it on Luka; not a fan of Perkins but he has a point about the wins.

https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/stat...8573186048

(02-01-2021, 11:49 PM)Fuerza1 Wrote: [ -> ]National media about to pour it on Luka; not a fan of Perkins but he has a point about the wins.

https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/stat...8573186048

I think he definitely needs to get his shit together behind the arc. If he shoots his percentage from the first two years, we have a few more wins.

Luka better get used to it...he is going to be like Giannis and go a long time in his career before even getting one playoff series win. In this Western Conference + the MBT's inability to upgrade the roster every year = automatic 1st round loss (or even missing the playoffs like they probably will this year)

(02-01-2021, 11:49 PM)Fuerza1 Wrote: [ -> ]he has a point about the wins

It is oversimplistic (so keep that in mind) but some of these issues could be boiled down to this:


Luka is not as great as we think <---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> RC is not as great as we think


I fall here:

Luka is not as great as we think <----------------------------------------------------------------------------------X----------------> RC is not as great as we think


Right now I personally think that Dirk made RC look better than he is as a coach. I don't think RC is bad, but top 5 in the NBA? No way. Probably middle of the pack.


NOTE: I could be wrong and Luka might not be transcendent, but that is a much more depressing reality I am not ready to accept as a fan.

(02-01-2021, 11:49 PM)Fuerza1 Wrote: [ -> ]National media about to pour it on Luka; not a fan of Perkins but he has a point about the wins.

https://twitter.com/KendrickPerkins/stat...8573186048

Perkins isn't exactly nuanced but then again, he's been high on Luka in the past.

Well, you do not need to convince me the Mavs offense is not the right one for Luka despite the Mavs having the "best offense ever" last year. I mean, unless the only thing you care about is Luka producing monster stat lines and triple doubles. 

But I am just an internet poster who knows nothing compared to the great Rick Carlisle. And anyone who doubts him is just a salty Rockets fan. Or something like that, someone fill in the rest?

(02-01-2021, 11:53 PM)Kammrath Wrote: [ -> ]NOTE: I could be wrong and Luka might not be transcendent, but that is a much more depressing reality I am not ready to accept as a fan.

I think I am more on the Luka is not as great as some of us think (still transcendent, generational talent) side. Watching him and CP3 in the last two games he was clearly outplayed by a more experienced player. That´s not on RC. Luka gets to his spot and misses. CP3 gets to his spot and makes the shot.
Maybe the recent losing streak is the humbling experience that Luka needed to unleash his full potential.

(02-02-2021, 12:03 AM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: [ -> ]Maybe the recent losing streak is the humbling experience that Luka needed to unleash his full potential.

This is exactly my hope right now.