MIKE SHEDD GIVES COACHING PERSPECTIVE ON MAVS

[mavsluvr]

@"mavsluvr", I don't think I represent all Mavs fans, or even all Mavs fans who want Luka to be in shape. And I may be in danger of repeating stuff, but I think this answer addresses your speculation about what Mavs fans are after, so... 

I don't want Luka to be in shape because of "principle", or "outrage", or the look of his body. I want him to learn to eat right and take care of himself because I want Luka to be an all time great, not a John Wall or a James Harden. 

I feel for the guy and know that playing the amount of basketball he's played, and load he's had to carry over the last two years is insane. I would not have been suprised if an in shape Luka had a bit of an off year with some injuries to overcome just because of that. So I'm taking all of that in to account.

To carry a good bit of extra weight with his level of calorie usage, in my mind, points to bad diet and/or alchohol. For Luka to be an all time great I think he'll have to learn how to control his eating and minimize alcohol usage. It seems like the progress in health science and the direction of professional sports regarding the importance of diet makes these things almost not debatable. 

I learned this stuff from Dirk!

Hey, fif, welcome to the discussion. Do you feel like I have wandered off the reservation? If so, let me understand it. 

I don't know why anyone would think that I believe that Luka should drink a lot of alcohol and eat poorly. Or that I want him to have a short career. Really? I agree that your being right about the importance of diet is almost non-debatable. 

Certainly, Luka should be held to the highest of professional standards, including maintaining good nutrition, both for the good of the team and of himself. That is actually a standard a lot of people try to hold themselves and their teams to in their own realms of endeavor, even if they aren't professional athletes. 

But I can tell you that even the best of people, who have the highest standards for themselves, are human beings and don't in fact meet that level of perfection on any kind of sustained basis, no matter how hard they try. Ever. Even the great Dirk has plenty of pictures looking sloshed. 

Life also exists outside of the job world, and if you want to deal in reality, sometimes things happen, and the most productive response is to think about that and give the person a little break. 
Things aren't always black and white. If a player's father dies, is the right thing to go to the funeral, or to stay home and get his reps in, assuming he can't do both? Or, in less extreme terms, maybe a guy's little girl has made him a cupcake on his birthday and brings it to him with pride in what she has done and love for him in her eyes, and it's the better decision as a human to eat it and even ask for another than to toss it in the trash and give her a lecture on nutrition. Being a good person (which I assume Luka wants) is more complicated than following a workout regimen with no exceptions, although a reasonably high level of discipline is part of it. I think you have to take the whole person into account if you want to be successful at managing people, but I guess that could be the subject of debate. 

I don't know for sure why Luka is in less than perfect condition. All of our guesses are only speculations, at the end of the day.  If it is because he just doesn't care and is too much of a jerk to change his ways, then that is reprehensible and I am speechless. But I don't know why we should assume that to be the case. My estimation would be that with everything else that is going on, his physical conditioning has gotten away from him a little. He wouldn't be the first person, or the first athlete, in the world that has happened to. 

It seems like the best approach is to work with Luka to get back on track, emphasizing positive reinforcement. He should eat properly and refrain from alcohol when he has basketball responsibilities. I agree that if he is insisting on spending his nights and days drunk and eating junk food, then that's a way different level of problem than I am suggesting. Do we have reason to believe that is happening, beyond our own imaginations? 

My propositions:  Luka should try his best to get back in shape and stay that way. The Mavs should do what they reasonably can to help him in that regard. If other problems exist with the Mavericks, they should address them, and not point the finger at Luka and act like his losing some weight is going to solve those other issues. 

Do you disagree with any or all of those three conclusions? Tbh, I'm not sure what we are all arguing about, at this point.