Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[hakeemfaan]

It's honestly crazy to me that everyone in the NBA sphere has witnessed his behavior for years now and no one would call him out on it, other than Windhorst.  Everyone treats him like a child whole tantrums are cute, instead of as a professional.  I think of the vitriol James Harden got from 29 other fanbases and the national media as a guy not serious about winning.

That’s not true. Many here in the media and national media have been critical of certain aspects of Luka. 

The reason he didn’t get the same criticism as Harden is because he kept producing deep into the playoffs.  Plus he is 25. Are we sure 25 year old Harden got the same scrutiny as 28 year old Harden?  If Luka had kept this up the critical voices would have got louder.  However coming off a title push and playing a ton of minutes, why should he be blamed loudly right now? 

For those talking about Boston and his knee: a) Lou Dort was going at his knees that whole series. Are we sure it was just fatigue?  b) Boston lost to the Bucks.  Did they panic and make changes. For those just saying that showed Brown and Taytum were superior to Kyrie and Dirk, I say give Derek white on this team and we probably would have won. He is not their top 3 player. We lost easily but the margin in most games was not much. They were a deeper team and one Derek White switch would have made the difference. 

How anyone can look at that series, ignore the difference in team composition, and trade away Luka a year later is beyond me and something  I will never forgive this regime for.  For those feeling I might be biased and overlooking Luka’ s flaws, I have been critical of many aspects of his game. At the same time I have also marveled at how rare a talent this guy is and respected the dog in him to keep going at the other team. Win or lose, good game or bad, you never watched a Luka game and asked where he was hiding.  Plus his game was not dependent on elite athleticism and as long as his weight is reasonably in control, offensively he can play for a long time. Defensively you protect him with big defensive guards who can score a bit. Just like most teams with offensive studs protect them 

He should not have been traded at this point in his career. If the fear was 3 years later he would fall off a cliff, and we would get nothing for him, I would still have taken that chance every single day than what we eventually got back for him.  A 32 year old , less talented player doesn’t move the needle for me. If traded now, it shouldn’t have been for a win now move. Other than Jokic or Giannis or Curry, Luka still gives you the best chance to win right now.  If you wanted to trade him at 25 it shouldn’t have been have been for picks, young talent, and then proceed to trade Kyrie also and reset. The mive they did makes no sense. 

 I am weak and mostly always forgive folks who might have even badly hurt me.  I will never forgive either Nico or Dumant over what happened here.