Luka Doncic Discussion: "Championship Shape"?

Luka is lazy on defense, buts thats a effort issue not a skill issue. Lets just hope it just doesn't last his entire career like it did with Melo. Ironically Melo put his best defensive effort in his twilight years because his job/PT depended on it.

I have confidence in Luka, we will get better. He knows its the Lakers, if he gains more weight or slacks off on defensive effort again he's going to get called out.

 

That’s not the player we got. We got the 33 year old version of that guy. Except he’s not 33.

 

no one wants to hear it on this board but it's like watching the difference between the Shawn Kemp on the Sonics vs Shawn Kemp on the Cavs. Kemp was still effective but ....

 

2023-24 was luka's best year of his career. he looked fairly similar to now, physically. he then got hurt more than once and fell further out of shape. let's see what things look like next year.

i also strongly disagree that this is like the kemp situation.

 

The Randle ones are the most worrisome - yeah Ant you're going to get cooked at some point but the combination of the blow by and allowing to let Randle to go left, his strong hand, reeks both physical and mental lapses there.

 

the randle ones bugged me for the same reason. just at least make him go to his weak hand or have to use a spin. that's more mental than physical, imo. then again, fatigue affects your mind, too.

 

Luka will show you championship shape

 

I hope he moves on. We don't deserve a guy like him, we're to spoiled. 10 years with no stars and Rob's "real team building skills" will make us open our eyes and come back down to earth.

 

Luka playing for Slovenia this summer

Contract stuff

 

Getting that extension and FA targets figured out.

 

The reality is that Luka has been dealing with a calf injury off and on since Casey Smith was fired from the Mavs staff. The medical staff became a mess after that. Nico fired him as a display of dominance because Nico is an idiot. Dirk didn't even help the team anymore after that happened. He was immediately hired by the Knicks and Thibs had the most healthy team he's ever had this year.

Nico destroyed that organization and fan base and trashed the franchise player in the media after trading him for a horrible return. Not to knock AD. But, 32 year old AD and Max aren't enough in return for a 25 year old Luka.

Now that Luka isn't dealing with a power struggle in the front office and a divided medical staff he can get healthy and stay that way. It's hard to jump when you are favoring a calf injury. And yet he still took them to the finals.

I think we will see a much better Luka next year. Get the right pieces around him and it's going to be a dangerous team. We need bench pieces that can shoot and defend and a starting caliber 5 that can roll and protect the rim.

That is THE recipe for success with Luka.