MAVS NEWS:

[F Gump]

To be fair, Luka was BAD in the finals. And honestly, I was relatively disappointed with most of his playoff run. But, we all know it's because he was out of shape and injured. Which was the chicken and which was the egg is no longer a debate that's relevant to our day to day lives as Mavs fans, but even his more ardent critics knew that IF he ever figured out how to solve some of those issues the league wouldn't be able to stop him. 

I was critical of Luka's habits BECAUSE he's great and I wanted the world to SEE his greatness in a Mavs jersey, not because I wanted him gone.

I agree with this. And I felt like you do on going forward - "I was critical of Luka's habits BECAUSE he's great and I wanted the world to SEE his greatness in a Mavs jersey, not because I wanted him gone."

Having said that, I also admit I may have only seen the tip of the iceberg on Luka issues, and perhaps if I knew more I would feel differently. 

Was he ditching practices, refusing to work on anything (including teammate chemistry) except for his latest horse masterpiece, blowing off rehab and therapy and workout sessions? Were his teammates getting fed up behind the scenes, and was he a team leader that didn't take his role seriously? I'm not saying any of those are true, but the adamance with which Nico expressed his decision sure makes me wonder how deep it all went.