Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[KillerLeft]

When you talk about that noose, I would argue that going all in for the short term and then going into a 4+ year window where you have no control of your first round picks is at least as big of a noose.  

I think this is a valid point, too, which makes me wonder how they soured on Luka so thoroughly. 

I'm not saying Harrison is infallible - far from it - but I also don't think he's a moron. He mortgaged that 4+ year window you're referring to in an effort to build around Luka, specifically, so I don't buy for a second that he's been wanting to pull this rug for very long. I think he had an internal clock (or a literal clock, considering the impending extension eligibility) on a maturation process and finally just decided it was never going to happen. 

I think Smitty said it the best last week. We were discussing what type of event it would take for Luka to see how important proactive focus on his health and fitness was to his career, and Smitty said something like "reaching the Finals and losing badly certainly didn't do it." That, right there, is what happened, imo. I think Luka showed up for the season out of shape AGAIN, and this time worse than ever before, and any/all momentum that the team should have carried with it from last year dissipated. It might have been the wrong choice on the team's part not to fight through it again, but I bet a ton of people were super frustrated by that.