Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[audiosway]

And yet, 2 WCF trips in those 4 years. 1 finals berth. Played in  75% of regular season games and ALL playoff games, while averaging 31/9/9 on 48% shooting and 36% from 3.

I say this having already mentioned several times that I would NOT have traded Luka.

But, the first WCF trip Luka missed an entire series that Brunson won. In the finals Luka looked straight up gassed. He was worn out by then. I love the kid and checked out the Lakers highlights from tonight just to see Luka. He looked bad. I know he is coming back from injury and with a new team but he looked slow and prodding. I was very disappointed in what I saw. I'm sure he will play his way back into shape. But, he didn't look like he had been working out at all while injured.

The Mavs last season were pretty far down in the standings when the trade for PJ and Gaff turned the season around. Let's not pretend there haven't been some signs.

Again, I would NOT have traded Luka. But, you can't ignore this stuff either. You can't just pretend it hasn't been there because of how we feel.

[Jym]

I say this having already mentioned several times that I would NOT have traded Luka.

But, the first WCF trip Luka missed an entire series that Brunson won. In the finals Luka looked straight up gassed. He was worn out by then. I love the kid and checked out the Lakers highlights from tonight just to see Luka. He looked bad. I know he is coming back from injury and with a new team but he looked slow and prodding. I was very disappointed in what I saw. I'm sure he will play his way back into shape. But, he didn't look like he had been working out at all while injured.

The Mavs last season were pretty far down in the standings when the trade for PJ and Gaff turned the season around. Let's not pretend there haven't been some signs.

Again, I would NOT have traded Luka. But, you can't ignore this stuff either. You can't just pretend it hasn't been there because of how we feel.

He hasn't moved right in about a year 
I wonder if we'll get more insight on what's going on after he spends a little time with the Lakers' medical crew

[Jason Terry]

I say this having already mentioned several times that I would NOT have traded Luka.

But, the first WCF trip Luka missed an entire series that Brunson won. In the finals Luka looked straight up gassed. He was worn out by then. I love the kid and checked out the Lakers highlights from tonight just to see Luka. He looked bad. I know he is coming back from injury and with a new team but he looked slow and prodding. I was very disappointed in what I saw. I'm sure he will play his way back into shape. But, he didn't look like he had been working out at all while injured.

The Mavs last season were pretty far down in the standings when the trade for PJ and Gaff turned the season around. Let's not pretend there haven't been some signs.

Again, I would NOT have traded Luka. But, you can't ignore this stuff either. You can't just pretend it hasn't been there because of how we feel.

Agreed on all points. Many times on this board i would criticize Luka for his problems. We were good even without him. 

But even when he wasn’t there or he was hurt or not playing his best……like that Brunson series….the mojo of having superman on the roster was a big deal and carried us. That mojo is gone 

Not to mention the real crime which was the garbage return. “Street Clothes” Davis who lived up to his nickname with his performance tonight

[omahen]

But, the first WCF trip Luka missed an entire series that Brunson won. 

Again you are not being correct. Luka missed first three games in that series and played next three for a total 4-2 win over Jazz...

[audiosway]

Again you are not being correct. Luka missed first three games in that series and played next three for a total 4-2 win over Jazz...

ok. I forgot he came back in the middle of the series. What do you mean again?

The Mavs were also up 2-1 when Luka came back.

Look I love the guy. Even though he is in LA now I wish he would get motivated to live up to his true potential. I just don’t know if he will ever do more for his body. I’m not even suggesting anything other than working on cardio and eating healthier. He doesn’t need to be like LeBron with it. I posted on here right after the finals that I would love to see him look at what Steph does to stay in shape. That type of routine would be perfect for him. Steph had injury problems early on. He started eating better and got on a cardio based training program and look at what it’s done for his career.

[JamesConway912]

Five time All NBA First. He did it for years while on a rookie scale contract when guys like. Barnes, Matthews, DeAndre or Porzingis made $15-30M while playing horrendous basketball. 

You can criticize him all you want for his conditioning but that’s nitpicking at best.

Luka raised the bar from day 1y. Just like Dirk he was the safety net that kept everything from collapsing every time the front office had one of their great plans blow up right in front of their faces. 

Brunson
Porzingis-trade
Kemba picking Boston over us
DeAndre being trash here

There is no room for error now anymore.

[audiosway]

He hasn't moved right in about a year 
I wonder if we'll get more insight on what's going on after he spends a little time with the Lakers' medical crew

I know. At first I didn't think much of it since he played through the injury in the playoffs. Then, he tried to play in the summer and quickly got knocked out and shut down. I figured, great, he'll get rest and heal up. Get to the season and they bench him for an "injury" that we are now told it's his 2nd time he's been benched to lose weight. He gets injured again and gone for about a month and a half before the trade.

Honestly, I just think it's a combination of him playing too much basketball for an extended period of time since he came into the league and not taking care of his body. The question is will he correct that?

I do wonder if we'll get more insight. One thing I think that has really hindered the Mavs was firing Casey Smith and his team. Mavs constantly have dumb injuries across the board now. Mainly soft tissue stuff. That's a training staff issue.

[audiosway]

Five time All NBA First. He did it for years while on a rookie scale contract when guys like. Barnes, Matthews, DeAndre or Porzingis made $15-30M while playing horrendous basketball. 

You can criticize him all you want for his conditioning but that’s nitpicking at best.

Luka raised the bar from day 1y. Just like Dirk he was the safety net that kept everything from collapsing every time the front office had one of their great plans blow up right in front of their faces. 

Brunson
Porzingis-trade
Kemba picking Boston over us
DeAndre being trash here

There is no room for error now anymore.

I get that. However, those were all mistakes that happened under the previous regime. Nico has made some good moves for the most part. Obviously the jury is still out on Luka. I personally wouldn't have traded him. But, unfortunately, we won't know if it was the right move or not for a few years.

I think Brunson had already made up his mind that he was leaving before Nico was hired. Mark and Donnie had burned that bridge.

[omahen]

Yeah. Two seasons in a row where he got benched to lose weight in the first month of the season. 3 times in 4 years dealing with the same soft tissue injury. Neither of those are good things.

You asked me what do I mean by saying "you are being wrong again". Not the first time you posted stuff that is simply not true and I pointed it out. Here is another example. He didn't get benched to lose weight last season. Last season he had a monster start to the season and carried the team while Kyrie was injured in December. First game he missed was game #18 and later game #28. Only once in the season he missed two games in a row (and not more than two games).

Edit: not counting last two games of the season where Mavs rested all key players before the playoffs.

[burekemde]

I still wake up every day, shocked at this trade. This just must have originally been agreed verbally that Kyrie was the one being traded, not Luka. When the documents had to be signed, Pelinka just changed Kyrie to Luka and Nico didnt notice.

[audiosway]

You asked me what do I mean by saying "you are being wrong again". Not the first time you posted stuff that is simply not true and I pointed it out. Here is another example. He didn't get benched to lose weight last season. Last season he had a monster start to the season and carried the team while Kyrie was injured in December. First game he missed was game #18 and later game #28. Only once in the season he missed two games in a row (and not more than two games).

Edit: not counting last two games of the season where Mavs rested all key players before the playoffs.

Most of the time I’m posting stuff on here while taking a quick break from working. It was December 2024 and December 2021 that he was benched to lose weight.

[hakeemfaan]

Not a good performance from Luka tonight. But he is coming off a long layoff.

Some odd comments in this thread. Luka and Lebron at the 4 and 5?  Da fuq. Lakers favorites to win it all? Yall smoking that good shit. Might be time to take off if this is going to become a delusional Lakers forum.

I probably missed someone saying the Lakers were favorites. Who said that?


The Lakers have played well recently even without Bron for a game but AD has been missing all those games. Their spacing definitely is better without AD. BIoth Luka and Bron have bulk and length.  Bron has played the 5 in certain lineups. Now imagine he is doing that with an offensive clone on the court who can also do almost everything he does.  

No one is saying they play the full game at 4 and 5. No one is saying they won’t have trouble guarding a Jokic type if they do. However two of the most versatile big forwards will cause problems for the other team if paired together in a small ball lineup.  Will it be enough to overcome the deficiencies that such lineups bring? Who knows? Isn’t that always the cat and mouse game with small ball vs traditional ball?

[omahen]

I said earlier, Lakers are huge. Luka is third smallest in their top8 playoff rotation as only Reaves and Vincent are smaller. Or fourth if I count Knecht too. They have a bunch of big wings - LeBron, Luka, DFS, Rui, Vando that could all theoretically guard 1-5. Sure they will likely have problems defensively, but they could equally create problems on the other side, as you said. I don't see them as top team, but they can be good. Especially lately, they are playing really well.

I am very impressed with Reaves. Came to the league undrafted and is improving every season. He has that Brunson type winning mentality. He has defensive limitations, but fights very hard and has a great motor. That guy is a steal with his current MLE level contract that Lakers were actually able to execute, unlike some other team we know

Vando seems to be key player for them, as their winning started when he returned from the injury. Huge net rating positive when he is on the floor. Key will be, if he will be able to stay on the court in playoffs. But, Lakers might as well just play him as center in the small ball line-up (he is 6-9 but can guard 1-5)

[LukaMVP]

I still wake up every day, shocked at this trade. This just must have originally been agreed verbally that Kyrie was the one being traded, not Luka. When the documents had to be signed, Pelinka just changed Kyrie to Luka and Nico didnt notice.

it would have been possible if Nico were their GM not ours. the trade would never have reached a verbal agreement in the first place if Lakers had to pay extra assets alongside Davis just to get Kyrie. I understand the astonishment you're expressing though.

[mavsmagic]

I think we could all agree that Luka needs to at some point take his conditioning more seriously, no one is denying that, but even players in shape get worn out during a playoff run. Last year Anthony Edwards admitted that he and the team were exhausted when they were playing against us.

[omahen]

I think we could all agree that Luka needs to at some point take his conditioning more seriously, no one is denying that, but even players in shape get worn out during a playoff run. Last year Anthony Edwards admitted that he and the team were exhausted when they were playing against us.

So are you trying to say that Edwards is out of shape or Luka is actually in shape?   

[hakeemfaan]

So are you trying to say that Edwards is out of shape or Luka is actually in shape?   

Luka takes the old school approach that is not acceptable nowadays. He doesn’t put the work in the off season and uses the season to get into shape. A lot of old school athletes in different sports especially in the 60s and 70s used to do it that way. 

That changed a long time ago as players started getting more professional.  

At the same time those players were tough and did get fit as the season went along.  The problem nowadays is that with your opponents being professionals you are shortchanging yourself and the team. Plus with the modern game speed it can lead to more injuries. Also your team doesn’t get the highest seed it can get and all this takes a toll during the grueling run that is the playoffs. 

At the same time when they do play themselves into shape at some point during the season they are no longer behind in terms of fitness.  Then it becomes your natural strength and stamina vs the other guys. Luka is country strong and also you don’t see him looking visibly winded even during long playoff runs. I have seen even Kyrie look tired.  

So both things can be true. Not devoting total commitment does stop you from being the best you can be throughout the whole season but despite that there might come a time in the season where you have finally caught up where differences in natural strength and stamina also show up and gives certain advantages that training alone can’t.

[BigDirk41]

I watched some of the game last night and Luka moves like a middle aged dad at the Y playing pickup games. I was shocked how he looked last night. That being said, I think he'll play his way back into shape and move better, but I don't think he will ever move like he used to unless he makes a commitment to dropping 25 lbs or so and staying that way.

[SleepingHero]

@KevinOConnorNBA
It’s actually so sad to see the Mavericks organization crumble. Ejecting passionate fans last night. Jason Kidd refusing to speak postgame. No medical update on Anthony Davis, the injured player you just acquired for your 25-year-old face of the franchise. Just disgraceful.

Dirk Nowitzki making it known he was in LA to watch Luka Doncic’s Lakers debut feels a lot like a statement against this new Dallas regime that has ruined everything for that incredible fan base.

[mavsmagic]

So are you trying to say that Edwards is out of shape or Luka is actually in shape?   

Haha neither! Just that even players in the best of shape get fatigued in the playoffs 

As for last night, Luka did look slow and needs to lose some weight. But I think the slowness had more to do with coming off the injury & not having played in awhile. Also, still trying to get used to playing for a new team. He said post-game that for the first time in awhile he was nervous going into the game