MAVS 103, NUGGETS 89

[michaeltex]

Luka has had a GREAT NBA career from a statistical standpoint (minus shooting). But from a team success standpoint it has not been nearly to the level of his international success (which is what I am comparing it to). 

I do 100% agree with you that the last steps of climbing the NBA ladder are the hardest and usually take time.

Luka is a joy to watch, regardless of the teams record. Using international results to compare to NBA results is sort of apples vs. oranges. A lot of high performing foreign players don't transition well to the NBA game, but I don't think anyone feels Luka isn't good enough to be successful here. 

I think the issue (and a source for frustration) is that DAL acquired Luka as the first building block rather than the final piece of a functional team. DAL had been a revolving door for the previous several seasons. But Luka's rookie season showed that the improvement curve was steeper than most anticipated (take that SAC and PHX) and the MBT has been unable to with team building activities to complement his talent. (Too good, too fast) They took a big swing with KP, but that has taken 2+ years to get to where we are today with significant discussion STILL around his fit with Luka and a lot of speculation that KP is tradeable, so grades range from C+ to Incomplete.  

This is going to be more like the Jordan Bulls where they had to find talent to support and grow with MJ and took several years to get there. This is not the David Robinson Spurs acquiring Duncan because of an injury-related tanking but having a high performing team already in place. A lot of the Mavs are at their top potential. Now the challenge is to find players that can help raise the team to Luka's level and get everybody on the same path to success.