Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Scoring Machine

Dodgers SportsNet is 500 times better production. Lakers one is just terrible. Danny Green can barely speak. The hell is he on there for?

 

Just throwing it out there: Would ya'll do a Luka for Giannis, Rollins, and AJ Green?

Bucks 100% probably takes it since Giannis's value as an outgoing player is lower than an incoming younger more skilled player who they can try to build around.

Lakers improve in the short-term but a more questionable long-term considering Giannis's age.

LeBron
Reaves
Ayton
Giannis
Rollins

 

Go look them up...

Rollins is a very good guard who can play alongside Reaves.

AJ Green is shooting 48% from three on 7 attempts per game.

Giannis plays elite defense, can dominate the paint, doesn't need the ball to have an impact (allows Reaves, LeBron, and Rollins to dominate the ball), and would be a better matchup against OKC and Nuggets.

As it is right now, Lakers have too much crossover talent in Luka, Reaves, and LeBron.

All three of them can rebound, pass, and score but there's only one ball.

 

not sure why we talk about things as if lebron will be here much longer. i have serious questions about whether he'll be here next year, and i have concerns about whether he'll last the season health-wise as it is. i make zero decisions with lebron in mind.

luka's younger than giannis and easier to build around. easy no for me. you can find rollins and green-level players by other means. giannis and those two (and myles turner and kuzma) are 5 games under .500 in the east.

i'm a no on reaves for giannis, too, but i can at least see why some people would be a yes.

 

He's a top 5 player. There's probably some here that get frustrated with his style, but it is what it is; you have to live with nights like last night offensively.

On another note, and what won't get talked about is the Lakers only allowed 15 points in the third quarter and were shutting Phoenix down in the early part of the 4th; Luka was holding his own defensively. His size & wingspan do and can help, IMO.

We need to keep figuring that end out because that where it will count in the PO's...

 

the perceptions of his defense are mostly stereotypical, imo. he's rated as a plus defender this year (and in 23-24). he's never rated as a big negative in his entire career. hoop iq matters.

nobody says anything about anthony edwards defensively, but he consistently grades out similarly (this year substantially worse). it's optics.

 

What are you smoking bro.


Giannis with an aging Lebron on the floor? Welcome to Bricklandia. That perimeter play is gonna be horrendous. Giannis unless becomes 2nd coming of reggie or at least shoots like kidd later in his career isn't going to age well unless he gets some heft and legitmately plays like a big. Once Giannis loses his step its going to be huge, similar to D-Wade and westbrook. These guys thrive off their athletecism.


Short term, long term, sounds terrible.

 

The one I've thought about is the same one that Nico also apparently thought about - Luka for Ant. Goes a long way to solve the athleticism problem and Minny already thinks they don't have enough ballhandling/creation, hence why they're apparently looking at PGs. But ultimately Luka is a better player than Ant so I wouldn't do it.

 

i think minny and milwaukee both wish they had those choices back, and i'm not giving them a do-over.

 

Nico, leave the site please

 

Exactly, we would be ridiculed for the same reasons the Mavs were for trading away Luka.
The Bucks would hoist a Rob Pelinka statue in front of their stadium.

You don't trade away a Top 3 player entering his prime. You just don't.

 

did nico actually offer luka up to either team though? i thought he just called them to see if they'd be willing to trade edwards or giannis, without specifically mentioning luka. which i'm sure led to both GMs promptly responding no and hanging up on him

 

I thought he offered Luka to both was the after the fact story. AD and Lakers were 3rd choice.

 

Lol. Who could the Mavs offer besides Luka?

 

there were reports that he only called to see if they'd be willing to make giannis or edwards available in a trade and i think one report that luka was actually offered

there were also reports that nico only brought up luka to pelinka

who knows what actually happened, but more than happy with the result

 

I think the more logical assumption would be Nico offering Luka to the Wolves first, by asking if AE was available and then the same way for the Bucks for Giannis. The 3rd choice was us and Rob make out like a bandit.

I really don’t believe the media and hater narrative that Luka was exclusively offered to the Lakers alone

 

Luka is playing Santa this season.
JJ Redick revealed that Luka bought not just players, but everyone on the basketball side in the Lakers organization e-bikes.

“He got everybody in basketball ops, I think it was 103 total gifts,” Redick said. “It’ a very, very high-end e-bike.
So I’ll be excited to drive that down to the beach, looking forward to it. Very nice gesture from him. The guys all really, really enjoyed it.”

103 high-end e-bikes in LA is hilarious and perfect: parking? easy
weather? ideal


That’s how legends win a locker room without a speech.

 

yeah, it's hard to know what happened right now, as nobody is going to want to tell the full story for many years. it seemed credible to me that nico reached out to minny and milwaukee, and i even get why they said no--both their guys were also homegrown superstars whom the fans loved. just a really tough business proposition in terms of the fan reaction. then you have someone with the best of the three call you and offer the swap...seems too good to be true? what do they know? that guy is having a down year and has been hurt...i'll pass.

whoops.

even given what was said above, my feeling at the time (only strengthened now) is that luka was/is substantially more valuable than edwards and is younger than giannis by a good bit. plus, you knew the giannis divorce was coming one way or another. that one's been as telegraphed as lillard's move out of portland.

all this is really to say that trading luka for anyone is totally insane. i'm not even sure i do it for wemby because his health still scares me. not even sure i do it for jokic because he's also several years older. it's just a non-starter.