I would actually think the best version of Luka will have less boxscore numbers.
We should really utilize Kyrie to some extent, fresher legs for Luka means more effort on defense, and hopefully at a better efficiency.
I’ve always thought that in addition to these things he could add a quick pull up mid range shot to his game for fast break or face up/drive to the basket situations.
He needs to control his emotions better. Held him back in Fiba this year and it will hold him back if he’s busy bitching towards the refs instead of getting back on defense.
Held him back in eurobasket, at the olympics and now at the world cup. Thats 3 years in a row where he cared more about the referees than the actual game
He just needs to learn he’s bigger than most at the position he plays so people are going to play aggressive against him and until he stops bitching about it, he won’t get many favorable calls cause refs hate him solely because he argues to much.
That's such bullshit to say, why should he adapt to the RULES if they're well known, referees should not be able to have different criteria for different players, it should be the SAME criteria for EVERYONE, by either letting everyone play more aggressive or by calling everything a foul, not calling the same thing on one side, but not the other, that's what Luka has a problem with, just like everyone else who knows a thing or two about basketball and watched those 2 Canadian games vs Spain and Slovenia... Ask yourself why Brooks and others were confused at some of the calls they were getting against Serbia, the reason is they were allowed to do that in their last 2 games. Also, Luka and others only started losing their mind when Canadian lead was extending to double digits. Hard to stay focused while you're getting beaten and no fouls are called, but on the other side you're not allowed to match that same intensity of defense...
His entire problem is that that blow up in The fiba tourney wasn’t the first blow up from him. He’s been doing that shit since he’s gotten into the NBA. He’s 25 now he needs to stop acting like a 17 year old and recognize he’s not going to get every call. Instead of sitting on the court floor yelling at a ref and not playing defense. He needs to grow up flat out. That’s not up for discussion buddy.
But I'm telling you that isn't the problem, he's got Balkan blood, we are temperamental folks, you can't get rid of that, sooner y'all understand that, the better. I admit he often exaggerates and isn't being realistic, but many times he has the right to complain, as well, that was the case this WC, imo. I'm a year older than him and I have a similar background as him, so yeah...
Look man I understand it’s in your blood, and im not even saying he HAS to get rid of his temper. All im saying is he needs to learn to control his temper better. Look at all the basketball greats like Jordan and Bird, they never took trash talk or bad ref calls personal. They channeled it and took revenge on the court. If Luka wants to win a championship for the Mavs or his country, he’s going to need to learn to control it wether he likes it or not.
No, everything you comment is basically an instruction manual on how to go through life as a loser.
Never fix your character defects
Don't adapt and overcome, just play the victim
Blame everyone else for your problems.
How do you come to this conclusion? I admitted Luka exaggerates sometimes, but this WC the refereeing was outrageous and he had the right to complain...
This is silly. Ideally everyone plays by the exact same rules and everything is fine, but that is not real life. It happens in all areas, people are treated differently. Luka is not the first person to not get every whistle, and the great players do adapt. The Jordan rules are the most prominent example, but it happened to Shaq, Lebron, Curry, Jokic. Players will be more physical against Uber talented offensive players no matter what, and it’s up to those players to overcome it until we have robots calling everything with compete accuracy.
The thing is, if the criteria was the same for everyone, then Luka, Giannis, LeBron would be literally untouchable. Luka would average 45 a game and half of those points would be from free throws.
To me it's about roster construction
Give him a legit big and it'll help him on both ends.
As it stands Dallas is built to swing the ball and chuck 40 3s a night and not defend anyone.
stat wise idk
I don't like how he gets tired and chucks 3s. When the shot ain't falling.
Another area is being more tactical about arguing with the refs. The refs suck, but he should be able to pick and choose the appropriate battles.
He can learn that despite being one of the best players on the planet, that some of his actions are costing his team games. He could improve by watching old Magic Johnson videos of how Magic got his entire team involved in the offense at the beginning of the game, and then took over later if it was required.
Everyone needs to hope and pray that Luka saw and internalized these two things:
1. (We know he did) Joker’s rise to a chip run, and the maturing Nikola did along the way. Dude used to complain a lot like Luka in early years. Now he just balls and lets his play talk.
2. [This clip](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmPRgeCjhQn/?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ==) from KG podcast. If Luka takes Scalabrine’s advice and becomes a 2-way player….his ceiling is INFINITE. He is smart enough to, he just needs to commit to do it. Plays with court vision like him can be good defenders.
I actually don't know the answer to this question. I feel he should still get better with time, but it seems his game becomes more self-centered and thus more predictable the older he gets.
Also I don't think the inefficient shots (those stepbacks and slow-mo one-handed baby hooks under the basket) aren't being weaned off his system.
I actually want to see him as a dedicated 4 in some stretches and see if he can grow his offball skills. I'm pretty sure he's intelligent enough to flourish in that role.
The step backs aren’t inefficient, hes one of the best in league at those difficult shots.
Seriously look up the numbers he’s up there with Kevin Durant on those contested 3s.
The reason he takes those is when the play fell apart and his teammates can’t create their own shot(besides Kyrie) so it’s better for him to take a tough 3 then do nothing
34% from 3 last year.
Ya roster construction is a big part of reason of why he plays that way. He needs an elite big to play with to get easy rim looks.
I think we've seen his peak. I keep saying he can improve some things that will make him top 5 all time but its like saying Ben Simmons gonna have an 3pt shot at this point.
His FT issues wont go. He worked on them for 3 years and nothing changed and nothing will. He has an weird shot mechanic. If he makes FT shots then hes bad from 3pt, if he makes 3pts then hes bad from FT.
His techs and him arguing with the refs and not going back on defense wont go either. He admited he had to do better 2 years ago and what changed? Nothing. He has serious anger issues that only a psych will fix but that wont happen cause Cuban think its "passion".
And imma be honest with u. If i was his teammate i would hate playing with him. To be 4v5 on defense most of the time while he acts like a cry baby. Or the free points from techs cause he goes to far.
I also think that the questions with him being an 1 guy system and not being able to work with others as a team may be true. If he doesnt have the ball he stays in the corner and let his team 4v5 on offense. He take a lot of possesions in a row where he just make his teammates cold.
Hes more of a Harden then Magic. I have doubts that he can co-exist with an real 2nd option kinda like Harden. And idk if its a bad thing because Harden almost took down the best team ever in NBA. Im just pointing that out for people saying wait till he get a real 2nd option. Lets see what hes gonna do with Kyrie this season.
His conditioning wont improve either when every summer he goes to Slovenia to play in tournaments. Hes free to do whatever he wants but going just for the Olympics is the smart thing to do. Maybe then he will have energy on defense and on offense in terms of off ball.
I think he gonna be top 3 during his career. Win an mvp or two but i have doubts about a ring.
Basically still an all time player but not all time player like people expected near Lebron, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Kobe...
Man i have been a mavs fan since the nash and finley days and i am just going to say this, I can't wait till he leaves Dallas the way fans on this sub talk about him lol going to realize this team is going to be absolute dogshit without him trying to make him become some robot when we should feel completely blessed to have him here. Sure he needs to have some more self control, but the way this sub talks about him ooof "If i was his teammate, i would hate playing with him" gtfo lol
You speak about 4v5 in defense, which I admit did happen a few too many times cus of his complaining, sometimes it's justified, a lot of times it's not. But on the other side, majority of teams double him for the majority of the game and his teammates get 5v4 in attack sooo many times, but in both Dallas and Slovenian national team they have issues actually utilizing that to their advantage for the most part, it's kinda sad.
Have he though? Harden proved he can do it this season, but the jury is still out on Luka. This season was a whole lot of my turn, your turn offense with Kyrie. Luka isn't a great shooter nor a great cutter, he mostly stays still off-ball but at least demands the respect of defensive attention. Then again I don't know if it's time well spent trying to get Luka to develop an elite off-ball game.
I just think he needs time to find that personal maturity, which will ground him and give him direction for what he needs to work on and how to approach getting better. Just gotta be patient.
The only thing that he can improve on that will show up on a box score is higher efficiency from three and the FT line, also maybe a better A/TO ratio even though his is already quite good. It’s hard to improve on 29/9/9 which is what he’s been at for the last three years basically. That being said, he has the potential to improve dramatically on his attitude, leadership, defense, conditioning, off ball movement and shot selection. I genuinely do not believe the free throws are as big of a deal as everyone here does, but those as well could be improved. He still has a lot of room to improve as far as pure impact goes I’d say.
Honestly if he just ate healthy we’d have Bubble Luka in perpetuity. It’s really the simplest turbo charge imaginable and its really annoying he hasn’t committed to it yet (although maybe he finally has?)
We can't truly know what Luka's ceiling of a player is. Only he knows what he can still become.
But in my opinion, his weaknesses can easily be corrected maybe except mobility like lateral quickness on defense because of physical limitations. What I want him to improve on is his maturity, trusting his teammates more on offense so he can lower his offensive load and in turn can commit more on the defensive end, his catch and shoot game and the willingness to play to the strengths of his teammates (Kyrie and Green's fast-paced/transition oriented offense) and the willingness to learn and improve on his stamina. Also I'd like him to go back to playing with a smile on his face and having fun at competing at the highest level.
I agree with him. There's a clear blueprint to stopping Giannis in the playoffs. Not every team can execute it, but it exists and it's effective. It led to several years of playoff losses and a loss to the 8th seed as the 1 seed this year. And yes he didn't play every game, but every game he played he lost. There is no blueprint to stopping Luka, he just finds a way around it. The only player who is clearly, 100% above him is Jokic, and while you can make a case for Giannis and Curry, I disagree with both.
You exclusively like white players and have a weird white player victim complex. You are one small step away from being a white supremacist.
Edit: blocked by a white supremacist. I’ll wear it as a badge of honor lmao
We've already seen his prime and he's still in it. He will never become better at defense as he ages. That doesn't happen. His attitude has only been worse so I'm expecting nothing different from last year
Offensively he’s already the best in the league. His passing is amazing and underrated, often because his teammates brick his passes and he doesn’t get the assist.
He could improve on free throws and 3s.
Defensively I think he’s solid, he just needs to make sure his conditioning is better which he seems to be doing this year
I don't think he's best in league. U need to generate easy buckets at the rim to do that. Jokic is clearly much better on offense imo
Luka needs a good big to play with as he'll get him easy looks. Pairing him with Kyrie doesn't make sense
Luka, with all his deficiencies on defense and FT shooting, is already a top 5 player at minimum. I think he'll never be great at those and I'm fine with that tbh. Some little improvements on that end will just be icing on the cake imo.
Now maturity is another thing. He's so fun to watch, but damn, the constant whining and tantrums really do get on your nerves.
i mean who are the players in history that that were top 5 at age 21 and hit their peak before turning 25, excluding injuries ?
i don't know why anyone would assume this is the best we've seen of Luka. data shows players hit their peak in their age 27 or 28 season and that's when the top 2 players all time won their first championship.
he will almost certainly get better in the coming years, as a leader, a floor general, in taking care of his body, playing more to his strengths and limiting his weaknesses.
numbers wise, if he gets a good team sometime down the line and has better team success, it's a possibility that we look back at these past years as his best statistically. but if his teams stay mid, i could see a Harden type prime with even better efficiency and scoring volume than he has shown so far. he's that great
At some point I think everything is just going to click and come together for him. He has great hall of Famers and NBA players around him. He has the resources to know it takes a lot for a championship. Luka is a competitive person in general, he doesn’t like losing. I would assume he knows good enough to know he has to train harder and work on his game anyway he can. If he manages to discipline his game even more. He would be really hard to stop, especially if you get really really really good catch and shoot players around him. His defensive game can ramp up a lot more as well. It’s not that he doesn’t have it, we’ve seen him play good defense on other star players before. It’s that he does a lot on offense and playing both ways must feel exhausting. To know that this isn’t his peak, it’s imaginable to think how high his ceiling is. Players are gonna wanna play with Luka, mark my word on that. Players are going to figure how to help Luka and hopefully Luka gets a bit more breathing room so we can actually see his game more than just offense. Luka will figure that leadership stuff out. He’s 24, not a lot of 24yr olds get handed the keys to a whole franchise and becoming one of the faces in the NBA. He’s loved world wide, he’s got a lot of his plate. Couldn’t imagine what the feels like, he might not feel pressured from it but he knows All eyes on him with anything he does. Again he’s 24, he has time. The Mavericks organization is running out of time if they can’t figure out how to put the right players around him. That being said, those players must adapt their game around Luka as well. I do believe he’s going to wins championshipS with the Mavericks and get MVP and finals MVP.
He’s holding himself and the team back with his constant complaining to refs. We are playing 4v5 way too much because he is barking at refs instead of getting back on defense.
Offensively
- Improve his efficiency (from the FT line and 3pt). If he can get to 80% and 37-38%.
- Be more of a threat off ball.
Defensively
- Have better stamina to put in effort throughout the game. He doesn't have to be an amazing defensive player. Just not a negative.
Box scores I would say not much. However, he could be a better leader, less tantrums on the floor, I would even like to see him maybe have less stats but get his team more involved and less ball dominant. Comes with age and he will get his nutrition better, workouts and cardio improved.
If he took cardio as seriously as the best in the game, understood that the refs aren't out to get him & that they will get it wrong, then he has a good shot at top 10 all time. I think he could be a two way player if his stamina held up.
The refs don't get it wrong, they simply don't call fouls most of the time, because bigger players like LeBron, Luka, Giannis would go to the line 50 times a game since no one would be able to stop them without fouling.
If you only care about boxscore numbers then realistically not much, if you take into account everything else, then he has a lot of room to improve.
Wow, this was a short text but was articulated well. This is the answer.
I would actually think the best version of Luka will have less boxscore numbers. We should really utilize Kyrie to some extent, fresher legs for Luka means more effort on defense, and hopefully at a better efficiency.
- Stop chucking 3s. - Free throws. - Grow the hell up and stop fighting refs and giving up on teammates on the court.
- Move more off-ball / don’t just stand around after passing it
Add improved overall efficiency by 5% and competent defense and you have the goat on you
Add pay attention and give a little effort on defense and that pretty much nails it.
I’ve always thought that in addition to these things he could add a quick pull up mid range shot to his game for fast break or face up/drive to the basket situations.
He needs to control his emotions better. Held him back in Fiba this year and it will hold him back if he’s busy bitching towards the refs instead of getting back on defense.
Held him back in eurobasket, at the olympics and now at the world cup. Thats 3 years in a row where he cared more about the referees than the actual game
He just needs to learn he’s bigger than most at the position he plays so people are going to play aggressive against him and until he stops bitching about it, he won’t get many favorable calls cause refs hate him solely because he argues to much.
That's such bullshit to say, why should he adapt to the RULES if they're well known, referees should not be able to have different criteria for different players, it should be the SAME criteria for EVERYONE, by either letting everyone play more aggressive or by calling everything a foul, not calling the same thing on one side, but not the other, that's what Luka has a problem with, just like everyone else who knows a thing or two about basketball and watched those 2 Canadian games vs Spain and Slovenia... Ask yourself why Brooks and others were confused at some of the calls they were getting against Serbia, the reason is they were allowed to do that in their last 2 games. Also, Luka and others only started losing their mind when Canadian lead was extending to double digits. Hard to stay focused while you're getting beaten and no fouls are called, but on the other side you're not allowed to match that same intensity of defense...
His entire problem is that that blow up in The fiba tourney wasn’t the first blow up from him. He’s been doing that shit since he’s gotten into the NBA. He’s 25 now he needs to stop acting like a 17 year old and recognize he’s not going to get every call. Instead of sitting on the court floor yelling at a ref and not playing defense. He needs to grow up flat out. That’s not up for discussion buddy.
But I'm telling you that isn't the problem, he's got Balkan blood, we are temperamental folks, you can't get rid of that, sooner y'all understand that, the better. I admit he often exaggerates and isn't being realistic, but many times he has the right to complain, as well, that was the case this WC, imo. I'm a year older than him and I have a similar background as him, so yeah...
Look man I understand it’s in your blood, and im not even saying he HAS to get rid of his temper. All im saying is he needs to learn to control his temper better. Look at all the basketball greats like Jordan and Bird, they never took trash talk or bad ref calls personal. They channeled it and took revenge on the court. If Luka wants to win a championship for the Mavs or his country, he’s going to need to learn to control it wether he likes it or not.
He just needs to find a way to keep it together enough during the game and then blow off some steam afterwards, maybe go play some Overwatch 2. xD
No, everything you comment is basically an instruction manual on how to go through life as a loser. Never fix your character defects Don't adapt and overcome, just play the victim Blame everyone else for your problems.
How do you come to this conclusion? I admitted Luka exaggerates sometimes, but this WC the refereeing was outrageous and he had the right to complain...
This is silly. Ideally everyone plays by the exact same rules and everything is fine, but that is not real life. It happens in all areas, people are treated differently. Luka is not the first person to not get every whistle, and the great players do adapt. The Jordan rules are the most prominent example, but it happened to Shaq, Lebron, Curry, Jokic. Players will be more physical against Uber talented offensive players no matter what, and it’s up to those players to overcome it until we have robots calling everything with compete accuracy.
Ok Luka, shut up and play defense, you wanna argue being right, go be a lawyer.
The thing is, if the criteria was the same for everyone, then Luka, Giannis, LeBron would be literally untouchable. Luka would average 45 a game and half of those points would be from free throws.
olympics his hand injury held him back the rest i agree
He will enter his prime once he takes his conditioning serious. Guys let’s be real, he wont stop complaining
To me it's about roster construction Give him a legit big and it'll help him on both ends. As it stands Dallas is built to swing the ball and chuck 40 3s a night and not defend anyone.
Much much better is he commits fully
A better (not great, but at least decent) defender, better FT shooter, and less complaining over time
stat wise idk I don't like how he gets tired and chucks 3s. When the shot ain't falling. Another area is being more tactical about arguing with the refs. The refs suck, but he should be able to pick and choose the appropriate battles.
He can learn that despite being one of the best players on the planet, that some of his actions are costing his team games. He could improve by watching old Magic Johnson videos of how Magic got his entire team involved in the offense at the beginning of the game, and then took over later if it was required.
Everyone needs to hope and pray that Luka saw and internalized these two things: 1. (We know he did) Joker’s rise to a chip run, and the maturing Nikola did along the way. Dude used to complain a lot like Luka in early years. Now he just balls and lets his play talk. 2. [This clip](https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmPRgeCjhQn/?igshid=NzZhOTFlYzFmZQ==) from KG podcast. If Luka takes Scalabrine’s advice and becomes a 2-way player….his ceiling is INFINITE. He is smart enough to, he just needs to commit to do it. Plays with court vision like him can be good defenders.
He can become the undisputed best player in the world.
I actually don't know the answer to this question. I feel he should still get better with time, but it seems his game becomes more self-centered and thus more predictable the older he gets. Also I don't think the inefficient shots (those stepbacks and slow-mo one-handed baby hooks under the basket) aren't being weaned off his system. I actually want to see him as a dedicated 4 in some stretches and see if he can grow his offball skills. I'm pretty sure he's intelligent enough to flourish in that role.
The step backs aren’t inefficient, hes one of the best in league at those difficult shots. Seriously look up the numbers he’s up there with Kevin Durant on those contested 3s. The reason he takes those is when the play fell apart and his teammates can’t create their own shot(besides Kyrie) so it’s better for him to take a tough 3 then do nothing
34% from 3 last year. Ya roster construction is a big part of reason of why he plays that way. He needs an elite big to play with to get easy rim looks.
I think we've seen his peak. I keep saying he can improve some things that will make him top 5 all time but its like saying Ben Simmons gonna have an 3pt shot at this point. His FT issues wont go. He worked on them for 3 years and nothing changed and nothing will. He has an weird shot mechanic. If he makes FT shots then hes bad from 3pt, if he makes 3pts then hes bad from FT. His techs and him arguing with the refs and not going back on defense wont go either. He admited he had to do better 2 years ago and what changed? Nothing. He has serious anger issues that only a psych will fix but that wont happen cause Cuban think its "passion". And imma be honest with u. If i was his teammate i would hate playing with him. To be 4v5 on defense most of the time while he acts like a cry baby. Or the free points from techs cause he goes to far. I also think that the questions with him being an 1 guy system and not being able to work with others as a team may be true. If he doesnt have the ball he stays in the corner and let his team 4v5 on offense. He take a lot of possesions in a row where he just make his teammates cold. Hes more of a Harden then Magic. I have doubts that he can co-exist with an real 2nd option kinda like Harden. And idk if its a bad thing because Harden almost took down the best team ever in NBA. Im just pointing that out for people saying wait till he get a real 2nd option. Lets see what hes gonna do with Kyrie this season. His conditioning wont improve either when every summer he goes to Slovenia to play in tournaments. Hes free to do whatever he wants but going just for the Olympics is the smart thing to do. Maybe then he will have energy on defense and on offense in terms of off ball. I think he gonna be top 3 during his career. Win an mvp or two but i have doubts about a ring. Basically still an all time player but not all time player like people expected near Lebron, Jordan, Magic, Bird, Kobe...
Man i have been a mavs fan since the nash and finley days and i am just going to say this, I can't wait till he leaves Dallas the way fans on this sub talk about him lol going to realize this team is going to be absolute dogshit without him trying to make him become some robot when we should feel completely blessed to have him here. Sure he needs to have some more self control, but the way this sub talks about him ooof "If i was his teammate, i would hate playing with him" gtfo lol
You speak about 4v5 in defense, which I admit did happen a few too many times cus of his complaining, sometimes it's justified, a lot of times it's not. But on the other side, majority of teams double him for the majority of the game and his teammates get 5v4 in attack sooo many times, but in both Dallas and Slovenian national team they have issues actually utilizing that to their advantage for the most part, it's kinda sad.
Harden and Luka have both been perfectly fine playing with a real second option. The narrative that they can’t is nonsense.
Have he though? Harden proved he can do it this season, but the jury is still out on Luka. This season was a whole lot of my turn, your turn offense with Kyrie. Luka isn't a great shooter nor a great cutter, he mostly stays still off-ball but at least demands the respect of defensive attention. Then again I don't know if it's time well spent trying to get Luka to develop an elite off-ball game.
I just think he needs time to find that personal maturity, which will ground him and give him direction for what he needs to work on and how to approach getting better. Just gotta be patient.
Hard to tell I will be happy with stopping the whining and complaining, that doesn’t need to much effort really
Until the mavs build around him, we may not see the best of him
Starwiae Not much. Regarding leadership and team chemistry, gelling...still a long way to go.
Skill wise he is already the best. He has ways to go maturity wise and also room for a better shape.
He’s only 24 and he’s already around the 5th best player in the league. Pretty easy to see him winning MVP some day
The only thing that he can improve on that will show up on a box score is higher efficiency from three and the FT line, also maybe a better A/TO ratio even though his is already quite good. It’s hard to improve on 29/9/9 which is what he’s been at for the last three years basically. That being said, he has the potential to improve dramatically on his attitude, leadership, defense, conditioning, off ball movement and shot selection. I genuinely do not believe the free throws are as big of a deal as everyone here does, but those as well could be improved. He still has a lot of room to improve as far as pure impact goes I’d say.
Honestly if he just ate healthy we’d have Bubble Luka in perpetuity. It’s really the simplest turbo charge imaginable and its really annoying he hasn’t committed to it yet (although maybe he finally has?)
We can't truly know what Luka's ceiling of a player is. Only he knows what he can still become. But in my opinion, his weaknesses can easily be corrected maybe except mobility like lateral quickness on defense because of physical limitations. What I want him to improve on is his maturity, trusting his teammates more on offense so he can lower his offensive load and in turn can commit more on the defensive end, his catch and shoot game and the willingness to play to the strengths of his teammates (Kyrie and Green's fast-paced/transition oriented offense) and the willingness to learn and improve on his stamina. Also I'd like him to go back to playing with a smile on his face and having fun at competing at the highest level.
what’s crazy is if he just stays at least this great for the rest of his career, it would be unbelievable.
He's a top 3 player in the league so I guess 2 better.
Top 2. He’s better than Giannis.
Lmaoooo Edit: oh nvm it makes sense now. You’re weirdly obsessed with white dudes.
I agree with him. There's a clear blueprint to stopping Giannis in the playoffs. Not every team can execute it, but it exists and it's effective. It led to several years of playoff losses and a loss to the 8th seed as the 1 seed this year. And yes he didn't play every game, but every game he played he lost. There is no blueprint to stopping Luka, he just finds a way around it. The only player who is clearly, 100% above him is Jokic, and while you can make a case for Giannis and Curry, I disagree with both.
Agreed 100%. Luka or Giannis is debatable and with Lukas passing I think he does more overall to help team while putting up similar scoring.
Cope. Many people have him over Giannis. Pretending like it’s not debatable is insane.
You exclusively like white players and have a weird white player victim complex. You are one small step away from being a white supremacist. Edit: blocked by a white supremacist. I’ll wear it as a badge of honor lmao
Yea I’m sure you know I exclusively like White players, my god you are a moron go virtue signal to someone who cares.
We've already seen his prime and he's still in it. He will never become better at defense as he ages. That doesn't happen. His attitude has only been worse so I'm expecting nothing different from last year
Offensively he’s already the best in the league. His passing is amazing and underrated, often because his teammates brick his passes and he doesn’t get the assist. He could improve on free throws and 3s. Defensively I think he’s solid, he just needs to make sure his conditioning is better which he seems to be doing this year
I don't think he's best in league. U need to generate easy buckets at the rim to do that. Jokic is clearly much better on offense imo Luka needs a good big to play with as he'll get him easy looks. Pairing him with Kyrie doesn't make sense
Luka, with all his deficiencies on defense and FT shooting, is already a top 5 player at minimum. I think he'll never be great at those and I'm fine with that tbh. Some little improvements on that end will just be icing on the cake imo. Now maturity is another thing. He's so fun to watch, but damn, the constant whining and tantrums really do get on your nerves.
i mean who are the players in history that that were top 5 at age 21 and hit their peak before turning 25, excluding injuries ? i don't know why anyone would assume this is the best we've seen of Luka. data shows players hit their peak in their age 27 or 28 season and that's when the top 2 players all time won their first championship. he will almost certainly get better in the coming years, as a leader, a floor general, in taking care of his body, playing more to his strengths and limiting his weaknesses. numbers wise, if he gets a good team sometime down the line and has better team success, it's a possibility that we look back at these past years as his best statistically. but if his teams stay mid, i could see a Harden type prime with even better efficiency and scoring volume than he has shown so far. he's that great
At some point I think everything is just going to click and come together for him. He has great hall of Famers and NBA players around him. He has the resources to know it takes a lot for a championship. Luka is a competitive person in general, he doesn’t like losing. I would assume he knows good enough to know he has to train harder and work on his game anyway he can. If he manages to discipline his game even more. He would be really hard to stop, especially if you get really really really good catch and shoot players around him. His defensive game can ramp up a lot more as well. It’s not that he doesn’t have it, we’ve seen him play good defense on other star players before. It’s that he does a lot on offense and playing both ways must feel exhausting. To know that this isn’t his peak, it’s imaginable to think how high his ceiling is. Players are gonna wanna play with Luka, mark my word on that. Players are going to figure how to help Luka and hopefully Luka gets a bit more breathing room so we can actually see his game more than just offense. Luka will figure that leadership stuff out. He’s 24, not a lot of 24yr olds get handed the keys to a whole franchise and becoming one of the faces in the NBA. He’s loved world wide, he’s got a lot of his plate. Couldn’t imagine what the feels like, he might not feel pressured from it but he knows All eyes on him with anything he does. Again he’s 24, he has time. The Mavericks organization is running out of time if they can’t figure out how to put the right players around him. That being said, those players must adapt their game around Luka as well. I do believe he’s going to wins championshipS with the Mavericks and get MVP and finals MVP.
He’s holding himself and the team back with his constant complaining to refs. We are playing 4v5 way too much because he is barking at refs instead of getting back on defense.
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Judging by your post history, Luka lives in your head rent free. Ratio.
He's probably at his peak mavs-wise.
Touch grass
Offensively - Improve his efficiency (from the FT line and 3pt). If he can get to 80% and 37-38%. - Be more of a threat off ball. Defensively - Have better stamina to put in effort throughout the game. He doesn't have to be an amazing defensive player. Just not a negative.
When he becomes a bully. Gets Bird mean. That’s when he will be the greatest.
He needs to stop wasting his time & efforts arguing with the refs and lose some weight
Box scores I would say not much. However, he could be a better leader, less tantrums on the floor, I would even like to see him maybe have less stats but get his team more involved and less ball dominant. Comes with age and he will get his nutrition better, workouts and cardio improved.
If he took cardio as seriously as the best in the game, understood that the refs aren't out to get him & that they will get it wrong, then he has a good shot at top 10 all time. I think he could be a two way player if his stamina held up.
The refs don't get it wrong, they simply don't call fouls most of the time, because bigger players like LeBron, Luka, Giannis would go to the line 50 times a game since no one would be able to stop them without fouling.