(02-02-2021, 10:31 PM)Kammrath Wrote: It's like parenting....you can't set a boundary up or make a threat and then not follow through, otherwise you lose credibility with your kids. Once the Mavs chose this course they had to commit to it. They can't back down now and say Luka is not the leader.
Maybe. I'm not sure it's that simple. There is a lot more to being the leader of an NBA team than not pouting and other such maturity issue. If you compare Luka to team leaders like Chris Paul, LeBron, etc., those are guys who have been in the league for a long time, have many successful seasons under their belts, are middle-aged men, know how to win on the court and conduct themselves off the court, have been in leadership positions numerous times, etc. There is just no way that Luka has the age or experience to play that kind of role, although he certainly can start walking along that path.
I get the parenting thing as far as saying like, make your bed or you're grounded. If the kid doesn't make his bed, you have to ground him. But you can drop the kid in the deep end and tell him to swim to shore or be grounded, and if he doesn't have the ability/knowledge to do it, you just end up with a drowned kid. It may be they thought they were going to ease him into this, but this season just turned out to be a way bigger challenge than they expected.
Even if they believe they are acting in loco parentis, they still need to know when they need to give him a helping hand. Of course, they can't say he's not the leader. They would have to handle it on a subtler basis. But it may be that, besides the James Johnson thing, they don't see any other options, at least for the short term.
For the record, I think this was the right choice from my very limited perspective. I believe very strongly in growth through tribulation and am very grateful they aren't going to let Luka be a "child" for the next 4-5 years. As some Slovenian posters have observed, he is basically a spoiled rich kid who comes from a TON of privilege (which is unlike MANY NBA players) and I think the Mavs are approaching Luka with that in mind.
Yes, I've seen some of those comments, and I always enjoy hearing from the European contingent. I do have to say, though, that Luka has had a whole 24-hours-a-day life for 21 years, and we really don't know much about what he's been through or have any particular evidence that he approaches life with a sense of entitlement. Maybe he does, and I relish an armchair psychological evaluation as much as the next person, but when we're labelling people based on relatively little information, we do run a risk of being wildly wrong. He's not grown yet, for sure, but I actually think he's generally pretty mature, by the standards of a 21-year-old guy. I could be wrong, of course.
(02-02-2021, 10:38 PM)RDB Wrote: I would like to think that they wouldn’t ask anything from Luka that they didn’t think he could handle...Rick is a smart guy and has experience as both a player and coach. I think in a perfect world, they would like to see him take the reins sooner rather than later and while Luka is young from a maturity standpoint, he is much more seasoned from a basketball perspective. Not saying it’s the right call but I know in my personal experiences, I have always learned from my challenges more than my successes. I also think that while it could potentially destroy some young players, I don’t think that danger exists with Luka.
I think McMahon's point was that, based on what the Mavs expected the season to be like, he should have been able to handle it. But, if they had known then what they know now, they may well have made a different decision. That's all.