Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[mvossman]

Would you give a supermax deal to a top 3 defender who gives you absolutely nothing offensively?

I think that is what Nico is thinking if it is about money. Maybe his philosophy is to have a roster full of two way players who can bring g it on both ends than to commit a huge part of the cap to someone who would require several defensive e only players who give almost nothing offensively.

It does make me wonder if the thinking might have been different if Herb Jones would have been healthy and we would have been able to acquire him.

I don't think this is a valid comparison.  Elite offensive creation is the rarest and most valuable trait from an on court impact standpoint, and its not close.  There is a reason offense gets paid more than defense.  The advanced stats have Luka as top 5 player during regular season and top 2 (Jokic) in the playoffs.  I also feel like his defensive liabilities tend to get exaggerated.  He is not a good perimeter defender and his lapses on getting back are annoying, but he is a very strong defensive rebounder, and good disrupter (high steal rate) and he can use his size to defend.  If he were the complete nothing that some folks make him out to be, his defensive on/off numbers would be much worse than they are.