2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

From what I've seen so far...Luka isn't on par with Jokic, or Giannis, and he's slightly below Ant. He's right there with Tatum, and SGA. Slightly above AD, Lebron, and Steph.

 

you mean with us or overall? because you're very wrong about his time with dallas vs ant and tatum. and he's done more with less compared to sga. hell, he never had as strong a supporting cast as giannis or jokic has had, else he might have already gotten a ring. but he's four years younger than those guys, so...

sorry, i just can't believe the recency bias when it comes to luka. he had a down year due to a lingering injury. that doesn't erase that he had the best start to a career since lebron.

 

i'd flip it and say that luka can play point, which means you can't swarm and ball deny him like we did to jokic effectively in our last win against them this year. you have to do that to luka at midcourt instead of the foul line, and that creates incredible advantages.

whatever, though, the point is that the debate is between luka and jokic (who's an all-time great in his prime right now), not luka and tatum or something.

 

I agree with you, when Luka's right he's #2. He just had a slightly down season, which is okay. Even if a player is in his prime not every season is the same. Kobe had better seasons than others from 03 to 2012.

I'd also say that another counterpoint in the Luka/Jokic debate is that Jokic is actually harder to build around. I'd say he's an overall better defensive player than Luka, but his defensive limitations specifically at the center position really limit how you can play defensively. He has to play at the level of the screen in every P&R. You have to have an Aaron Gordon type PF next to him that can cover ground and protect the rim on the back end.

I think Luka is as talented as Jokic, but Jokic is the #1 guy because he's been more consistent and stayed healthier. I really think Luka is going to come into next season super motivated and try to win MVP, and there's a realistic version of next season where at the end he's now the #1 guy.

 

I argued for trades literally every season and wanted to go all in one more time with AD so you get no argument from me here. Lol.

But at the end of the day they did make a move and it was for Luka. So while I can gripe about the road here this is our reality you know. And there are much worse situations we could be in than building around Luka so I’m not going to harp on what might’ve been able to accomplish.

again, I think we’ve got a star the front office believes in and am pretty positive about our future.

 

I think this was the worst version of Luka we will see until he’s much older and he still got us to the 3 seed. When he comes back he will be in a better place not just physically but emotionally and mentally which are just as if not more important.

this was a roller coaster of a season for him. Next one will mainly be about hoops and I am very confident he will be ready.

 

not having that, there's not a single player I'd trade Luka for, except maybe Wemby due to age.

Luka has been destroying teams almost on his own since he's been in the league, including playoffs.

Conditioning aside, on the court, Luka is the closest player to Kobe we could have hoped for.

 

I'm talking right now today, as a Laker. I don't know if he's hurt, out of shape, or this is just who he is. We'll find out more next season. Today? He's in the 4-5-6 range for me. I could understand why Milwaukee and Minnesota said no thanks, and Denver would have too. That being said, 4-6 in the League is still the very cream of the crop.

We can argue but Lebron is still top 10 IMO.

 

I disagree..I'd trade him for Jokic, Giannis and Edwards....today. I might feel differently two seasons from now. We shall see.

 

I hope so but top 5 'ish, is still good enough to win a chip. He's our player now, so I look at him, in the same way I did, whenever we got a great player. The resume is impressive, but what are you going to do for us?(Championship's are what we are about, personal accolades are cool, but less important here)

 

We've lost our last three playoffs series, the last two in the 1st rd. The magnifying glass is out for everybody, moving forward.

 

I'd do that in .2 seconds.

I think Mavs would be down based on package.

Think the Bulls can get better for Dosunmu though than DK and meh swaps

 

I don't think Dallas, will be doing anymore trades with us for awhile.

 

all this. it took denver a while to get the right combination around jokic. it took dallas a while to get it around luka, and then they just tossed it in the trash at the first sign of adversity. now we have to kind of start over. but it's a VERY good place to have to start over from.

we didn't have it this year, nor was luka at his peak. i just think it's clouding some judgment right now. a year ago, people would have been begging to be where we are now.

straight up...not sure i move him for anyone. again--he's four years younger than the other two, and he's better than edwards (and i think will continue to be). i think the wolves are more of a title threat even this year if they made that swap--because they have the defenders to cover for luka that we don't.

milwaukee already made the wrong decision*, imo, as now they're going to have to move giannis for what is 99.99% certain to be worse than luka in total value.

btw, keep in mind that just like us with luka, you trade him for any of those guys, you once again have to retool the roster. and he's easier to retool around than any of them, save maybe edwards, who plays a very archetypal role. but edwards isn't luka, imo. he's not a threat as a passer, and that's just so much easier to deal with, imo. jokic is so soul-destroying because when he's not killing you in the post, he's picking you apart. ant, like kawhi, has to be the one putting it in the basket. his assists come from his sheer ability to roast moreso than reading the game, etc.

btw, the reverse logic applies for these other teams. i understand why their teams didn't want to trade giannis and ant. i probably wouldn't have either. you don't just swap at that level. point is, it's the same level.


*in fairness, they couldn't have known that at the time, but the lillard achilles tear certainly has someone up late tonight wishing they'd pulled that move, imo.

 

He's in the top 5 range, so it's understood that he's a great talent. But swap Luka with Jokic, Giannis or Edwards, and we'd still be playing.

Luka might be an old 26, he might explode for an epic MVP season next campaign, it might be somewhere in between.

I don't know yet, I'm glad he's here, but we'll see what it is next season.

 

Let's go Knicks
Bring us to Reggie-Charles Oakley , Van Gundy back
C Bags 14-57 from 3
Knicks -hold my beer 16-30 FT
Brunson missed buzzer beater .OT

 

ooh...disagree. maybe jokic, though again--we're not built for it. we're slow defensively on the perimeter, so you can't hide jokic as easily as denver does. also, we don't have the shooters around him (same problem luka had).

this latter problem would have been an issue for giannis or edwards, too.

you really think you swap the supporting lakers for the supporting wolves and the result turns? their secondary guys won the series for them, just vastly outplaying the lakers' guys at almost every turn.

with the way we shot the ball and the lack of a center, prime mj wasn't winning that series.

most top #1 guys didn't win a ring until they were 28. i think the talk of luka being past his prime is...premature.

 

thought boston got away with two big fouls down the stretch in a tight game. plus the refs called a carry on brunson (it was blatant, but tatum has never not carried the ball on a crossover, ever).

i also hate the knicks's offense. i get it, jalen brunson can score in isolation, but you pay a lot of guys to do more than stand around.

game's still going, but the knicks probably missed a golden opportunity to steal one here on the brunson miss.