Here is more from Sam Amick (via The Athletic):
"Make no mistake, the people who witnessed Dončić?s last days in Dallas do not paint a flattering portrait of the 25-year-old?s professionalism. They call him lazy. They talk about the weight issues that were such a frequent frustration within their walls. They mention the social habits that The Athletic has reported on ? such as a taste for beer and hookah ? which have been a point of concern for NBA types since he was a 19-year-old star for Real Madrid who was entering the draft. They predict his basketball demise, highlighting a health history that, as some see it, will likely lead to catastrophe in the next five years or so."
Can you imagine if a "taste for beer and hookah" was a reason to trade somebody in the 80s? Danny Ainge might have been the only guy remaining in our starting lineup.
It looks like Dallas hyper-focused on a few flaws and lost sight of everything else. Then made a huge mistake by acting on it.
Terrible management.
Yeah, I don?t buy it at all. If his ?habits? were detrimental to the team, why were they in the Finals? It?s just nonsense. Seems like there was a personal rub between Luka and Nico/the owners and they didn?t want to pay him. If you?re going to trade him, why not field other offers and get a better return than a soon to be 32 year old AD who can?t stay on the court. The whole thing is very odd.
I may be a little biased because I've never enjoyed watching Luka play. He plays hero-ball a bit too much for my liking. He doesn't try on defense. He constantly acts like he hurt something when he messes up. He whines more than Chris Paul to the refs.
I think people forget that Dallas was really bad for the last 1 1/2 seasons with Luka at the Helm. They didn't even make the playoffs two years ago. Then they got hot the second half of the season last year, lucked into some good playoff matchups, and got roasted in the finals.
The best the Mavs ever did with Luka at the helm was a 52 win pace one year. Every other year with him has been at a sub-50 win pace. That's not bad, but people are acting like he's led the Mavs to be dominate.
Even if you weren't concerned about his future health and conditioning, I think his shine, counting stats, and highlights outweigh the fact that he has not been able to lead his team to be consistently a top 5 team (or top 10?) in the league.
I'm really, really interested if the Mavs and Nico end up being vindicated here, but not if Luka gets injured or flames out of the league. If they are able to get Davis and Likely healthy, that is a team that I think the Celtics would struggle with in a finals matchup more than they did last year. They will have Davis-Likely-Washington-Thompson-Irving and Christie-Gafford-Marshall-Dinwiddie-Exum off the bench. I think Kidd's offense is flowing much better without Luka, and their defense will be really, really difficult to score on.
The double-big lineup is a new little twist some NBA teams are doing over this last year or two. The Mavs would have the best defensive double-big lineup in the NBA.
Dallas just made it to the Finals with him! Luka is 25 years old and a top 5 player in the NBA. He?s not a great defender, but he does everything else at an extremely high level, similar to Jokic. Also, the Celtics would have roasted whoever came out of the West. Dallas was the best team to come out of that conference, which is why they were in the Finals.
This is it, but this isn't just it.
Not only have you just traded your 25-year-old centerpiece a few months after he dragged your team to the Finals because you were worried about his health and conditioning, but, because you were worried about his health and conditioning, you traded him for a guy who is seven years older and has only managed to play in 200 more NBA games, despite being in the league for nearly twice as long.
Beyond that, the guy you're trading for has a worse resume as his team's best player. Compare AD at 25 to Luka at 25 and they're not even close.
So which is more likely - this is some kind of wild 5D Chess where Dallas is going to zag where everyone else zigs, or they're cheap and the GM doesn't like their superstar?
I stand by my comments on his win-loss record. He's not Jokic, because Jokic consistently helps his team win 50+ games every year.
The Mavs were having a real problem building a winning culture around him. Doesn't mean that the potential wasn't there for him. I think some of his counting stats and his highlights are empty stats that may mislead us to think he's more special than he actually is.
The Mavs came off a season where they didn't make the playoffs, a season where they weren't in the playoffs half-way through the year and then went on a run, and then a season where they were quite honestly a disappointment so far.
I don't disagree with your last paragraph, but I think it's important to keep some perspective on things, even if the Jokic comparison wasn't mine.
Specifically: Jokic led Denver to exactly
one 50-win season in his first seven seasons with the Nuggets (2015-6 through 21-22) and that's with the infamous Denver altitude HCA. Dallas, with Luka, had two 50-win seasons
and a Finals appearance, plus a WCF win: Jokic's Nuggets had only made it to the WCF once in that same period, and lost. I think the comp at this point is pretty favourable to Doncic, actually - but the difference is that Jokic leads his team to a title in season eight, and Doncic probably won't do that with Los Angeles (we hope).
He might be an overrated player - time will tell. I just think trading him at this point for Anthony Davis
in particular, based on what Dallas have said since the trade in an effort to justify it, is really beyond belief.
