Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[SleepingHero]

Is it bad of me that I would have rather lost with Luka than won with whatever Nico is trying to build…?

I don’t know. The callousness of this trade, coupled with the sheer insanity of it, has broken me as a fan.

[vfromlmf]

Another thought. People have speculated that Luka to LA was driven by the league to goose declining ratings. No doubt, the NBA has a ratings problem, and Luka on the Lakers will help a lot. His debut will be must watch TV for NBA fans. But I also wonder if this could be a jump the shark moment for the NBA because as much as this deal helps the League, I think it will hurt Dallas.

This move alienated the entire fanbase of the NBA's 4th largest market. Nico thinks "when we win, I believe the frustration will go away."

Nico has no idea what it means to be a true fan. We have a voice. I just hope we use it.

[Chicagojk]

Is it bad of me that I would have rather lost with Luka than won with whatever Nico is trying to build…?

I don’t know. The callousness of this trade, coupled with the sheer insanity of it, has broken me as a fan.

Yes, I would have preferred any of the following:

-Never win a championship with Luka
-deal with him being injured and never reaching the next step in his career
-him leaving for nothing at the end of a contract

Luka gave me some frustration.  When you are the best player you get the most praise, but you also set really high expectations.    Davis is good.  He may be really good here.   It just won't be the same.   The upside isn't as high either.    

I think rooting and gettting a championship in 2011 is much better than winning two with hired guns.   And I don't think they win a championship regardless but that championship was ours and will always be cherished.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

Is it bad of me that I would have rather lost with Luka than won with whatever Nico is trying to build…?

I don’t know. The callousness of this trade, coupled with the sheer insanity of it, has broken me as a fan.

I just feel lost now.  I don't know how to turn this stuff off in my brain, for 30+ years I've constantly thought about how the Mavs can get better, get closer to a championship, build a more fun team.  

That interest is still there but now the investment and the joy is gone, it all feels soulless.  I no longer care about outcomes of games, I no longer get excited to check the upcoming schedule or understand where we are in the standings.  This is just a business, it's not a basketball team.

We're the Dallas Nicos now.

[david75090]

Nico. The new N-word.

[hakeemfaan]

Listened to Ben & Skin show and Skin seems to think Nico Looked at what San Antonio and OKC are building and determined the Mavs need to win a title in the next 2-3 years because those teams will soon be unbeatable. It won't matter if the Mavs have Luka or not, so push all your chips in on this year or next. If that reasoning is true it couldn't be more flawed.

Should the rest of the Western Conference throw in the towel too? Should Denver mortgage their future because OKC will be too good? Golden State? And most interesting, what about the Lakers themselves?

Someone please tell me. Who is the Mavs' third best player who makes them so much better with Kyrie + AD than the Lakers were with Lebron and AD?

Does Nico think Kyrie is that much better than Lebron?

Does Nico think PJW is that much better than Reeves?

Does Nico think the Mavs collection of roll playing wings is that much better than the Lakers collection of role playing wings?

The only real difference I see is the Mavs have two rim rolling centers. But you saw last night it only took about 48 hours for the Lakers to go get a player that's similar in Mark Williams. And as good as Williams has looked at times in Charlotte, something tells me he's going to look better in LA.

The Mavs went to the Finals and Skin wants me to believe they traded their best player, a homegrown icon, because Nico is scared of the Thunder and Spurs? Just insane.

You have been cooking on this thread. Many of us asked the same thing. How does the AD trade make us better right now if the price is losing Lika?  Luka is an overall more impactful player and the things AD brings on defense we kinda had it with out bigs and PJ. Now PJ has to be a SF. Lively or Gafford has to be gone. Crazy.  If adding KD is possible without a Luka in the trade, what was stopping Nico from that trade. 

The media especially a lot of the national media who want to see the Lakers do well for selfish reasons are not asking any of the specific questions you bring up. They are just dealing in cliches saying how AD is a great player though many of them were critical of AD’s motor and not one would have traded Luka essentially straight up for AD 

No anger or hurt for me anymore. The Mavs now are just an odd business run by folks I can’t get behind. As mentioned, fool me once…

[Hooper21]

Did anyone catch it in the LAL presser when Luka said he was finally healing fully? All the conditioning narratives aside, look at the NBA minutes, international minutes, and usage. He's been dinged up and not healing, so does it become a chicken or the egg thing? I'm with most everyone else, he was our guy and we shipped him for a bag of chips. Donovan Mitchell, Mikal Bridges, Gobert all returned multiple picks/players and they're not the level of Luka.

Funny that nobody mentions how much better Gafford and PJ look since they came here. DJJ was JAG until he got here and rose to starter level. Luka and Dirk both made a lot of teammates look way better than before they got here and after they left. If Kyrie doesn't have the Leprechaun curse in Boston, we look a lot better in the Finals, but nobody talks about his disappearance.

[fifteenth]

Funny that nobody mentions how much better Gafford and PJ look since they came here.  DJJ was JAG until he got here and rose to starter level.  Luka and Dirk both made a lot of teammates look way better than before they got here and after they left.  If Kyrie doesn't have the Leprechaun curse in Boston, we look a lot better in the Finals, but nobody talks about his disappearance.

This is true, many of our players just got worse because Luka was removed

[SleepingHero]

This is true, many of our players just got worse because Luka was removed

[audiosway]

This is true, many of our players just got worse because Luka was removed

Exactly. They also haven't figured in that Luka played more minutes than anyone in the NBA last year.

They could go out and get Durant and win the title the next two years. It won't make what happened with Luka better. Not for me. Like the others here, I would have rather lost with Luka and know that we had a chance at winning.

He was OUR guy.

[audiosway]

This is coping at its finest, my man. How do I know? Because I keep telling myself the exact same thing in order not to lose my mind. This is the only angle that makes it somewhat bearable, so I hope it’s true—at least to some extent. It will be interesting to see if I can level myself into this line of thinking enough.

If yes, I will stay a Mavs fan forever (because honestly, what could change it if this doesn’t?). If no, I will constantly feel like an old dude who went out of his way to make a decent living for his family, only to wake up one day and find out—out of nowhere—that his wife is leaving him, she’s been cheating on him for years, and his kids obviously hate him. Also, his dog just died, and they changed the formula of that one beer he liked for the last 30 years, goddammit.

What I’m saying is: Either this works, and my love for the Mavs will prevail, or I’m going to be one sad, bitter motherf*****—at least when it comes to basketball.

I know brother. I know. I've thought about that too. I'm right there with you. I'm going to age myself by saying this. But, the Mavs feel like "new" Coke right now.

[fifteenth]

The exile of Luka. The betrayal that keeps on taking.

[audiosway]

Listened to Ben & Skin show and Skin seems to think Nico Looked at what San Antonio and OKC are building and determined the Mavs need to win a title in the next 2-3 years because those teams will soon be unbeatable. It won't matter if the Mavs have Luka or not, so push all your chips in on this year or next. If that reasoning is true it couldn't be more flawed.

Should the rest of the Western Conference throw in the towel too? Should Denver mortgage their future because OKC will be too good? Golden State? And most interesting, what about the Lakers themselves?

Someone please tell me. Who is the Mavs' third best player who makes them so much better with Kyrie + AD than the Lakers were with Lebron and AD?

Does Nico think Kyrie is that much better than Lebron?

Does Nico think PJW is that much better than Reeves?

Does Nico think the Mavs collection of roll playing wings is that much better than the Lakers collection of role playing wings?

The only real difference I see is the Mavs have two rim rolling centers. But you saw last night it only took about 48 hours for the Lakers to go get a player that's similar in Mark Williams. And as good as Williams has looked at times in Charlotte, something tells me he's going to look better in LA.

The Mavs went to the Finals and Skin wants me to believe they traded their best player, a homegrown icon, because Nico is scared of the Thunder and Spurs? Just insane.

It wouldn't surprise me. That's just extremely faulty thinking. That's not good team building. I'm disgusted at the cowardice it takes to even consider that.

[BigDirk41]

He's not wrong about OKC and San Antonio, but Luka can always win a series on his own so you take your chances and let him be great. That's what generational talents do.

[SleepingHero]

Makes even less sense given that Luka has owned the Thunder

[fifteenth]

Can you imagine if the young Mavs of the 80's just traded away Ro, Harp, Aguirre, Perkins, Donaldson, a young Tarpley, because, I mean, the Lakers and Celtics exist!

Someone with that mindset should not work in sports.

[fifteenth]

Dirk should have been traded for assets because of the Heat.

I mean, really, what business did we have trying to win, even in the Western Conference? How could we possibly get past Kobe, the defending champ, or the Thunder with KD, Westbrook and an up-and-coming young Harden?

[Ghost of Podkolzin]

Listened to Ben & Skin show and Skin seems to think Nico Looked at what San Antonio and OKC are building and determined the Mavs need to win a title in the next 2-3 years because those teams will soon be unbeatable. It won't matter if the Mavs have Luka or not, so push all your chips in on this year or next. If that reasoning is true it couldn't be more flawed.

Should the rest of the Western Conference throw in the towel too? Should Denver mortgage their future because OKC will be too good? Golden State? And most interesting, what about the Lakers themselves?

Someone please tell me. Who is the Mavs' third best player who makes them so much better with Kyrie + AD than the Lakers were with Lebron and AD?

Does Nico think Kyrie is that much better than Lebron?

Does Nico think PJW is that much better than Reeves?

Does Nico think the Mavs collection of roll playing wings is that much better than the Lakers collection of role playing wings?

The only real difference I see is the Mavs have two rim rolling centers. But you saw last night it only took about 48 hours for the Lakers to go get a player that's similar in Mark Williams. And as good as Williams has looked at times in Charlotte, something tells me he's going to look better in LA.

The Mavs went to the Finals and Skin wants me to believe they traded their best player, a homegrown icon, because Nico is scared of the Thunder and Spurs? Just insane.

ASTUTE!!!

To add to this, I think Nico looked at the defensive studs on the 3 up and coming Western teams (OKC--SGA,Dort,JW,Chet,Hartenstein,  HOU--Amen,Tari,Brooks,JSJ  SAS--Wemby,Champagnie,Sochan), there's no way to build a roster to match these.  OKC has 7 of the top 10 defensive rating players.  HOU or NOP would have been much better trade partners.

I still say that our best model is championship DEN:
Joker : Luka (advantage DEN)
Murray : Kyrie (advantage DAL)
Gordon: PJ (advantage DAL)
Braun: Grimes (push)
MPJ: Klay (advantage DEN)
Additive: Lively, Gafford (advantage DAL)
Really it's only the wings that we had to upgrade to be a better roster than the championship DEN roster.

[Jym]

are we making Laker game threads here or are we scattering?

[SleepingHero]

are we making Laker game threads here or are we scattering?

If you want to make a laker game thread be my guest. 

I think the general audience might not like it very much. But we can take a poll