(02-05-2022, 12:51 PM)dirkfansince1998 Wrote: So Luka admits it himself and we are still finding ways to ignore it or act like it wasn´t real. Going by the quote he had to lose weight but losing it quickly wasn´t an option because it would have impacted his performance even more. Makes sense. A bigger caloric deficit would make it even harder to play at a good level.
It took more time and no one is denying that other things like injuries or health and safety protocols played a role as well.
We can argue about his offseason. The olympics. Lack of time to recover. Whatever.
Bottom line: If he want to compete with the best this sport has/had to offer he needs to take care of his body. If he wants to be the very best it is not just about not getting out of shape in the offseason. It is about getting better. Doing the little things. Going the extra mile. Like Dirk. Like Kobe. Or last years MVP Jokic.
He is still young and maybe it will take a few more years but I am positive that he will make the necessary adjustments.
There are two completely separate things.
Nobody ignores the two pounds he mentions that made him run a few more minutes lately. Luka states this himself. Its added after the offseason of no break and during the season this gets lost these two pounds and players get in better shape. In fact Luka gets this most offseason and plays himself from good into great shape.
What is discussed is a separate thing - at the time of his ankle injury he started limping and his level of play diminished. So many people interpreted this limping as due to he is fat and due to being overweight and that he was visibly fat. He was terrible defender etc. This is what was completely overblown and wrong. Obviously the difference of the two pounds cant be seen and he looks the same now as earlier this season. The limping was exclusively due to his injury. If this was due to being fat no way he would play like he does now. I think thats overwhelming evidence it was injury related.
This is the best Luka ever, and that's a really bad news for the Luka haters.