I wrote earlier that I believed Luka had great positive effect on Kyrie, its evident his career took a very positive turn after starting playing with Luka. This is no coincidence IMO. Explanations are many, but most of all Luka has allowed Kyrie to face second best perimeter defenders. The best defender was always on Luka. In addition, Kyrie did not had to carry the ball up the court much, which is icredibly stamina intensive. Also, Luka is the most double teamed player in NBA, which allowed Kyrie free looks at the perimeter being wide open which he is not used to and will not get when playing with AD. This really gets you in a rythm to get some easier plays. Also with AD, Kyrie will still will face the best perimeter defenders, as AD takes the best inside defender and not the perimeter one. I knew there would be a Kyrie decline after Luka got traded. I just had no idea it would be that fast as this. Kyries efficiency went considerably down, evindent in the numbers, his minutes went up, and he ended up injured. You did not had to be genius to predict this! The effect of Luka was incredible on Kyrie, and it is clear the effect is now going to Lebron. It's clear that Nico and this organisation do not understand this at all. Not to say that it doest go both ways, absolutely it does, but end of the day, it is Luka that gets the best defender every time and it is Luka that carried the load more than any other player in the league, and being quiet durable at that. It's incredible that Lukas most important skill, his durability and taking load and punches from the best defender, season in and season out, was actually used as an argument to trade him away.
This is a historically bad trade. Everyone that trades or does not draft Luka has regretted it and if not will end up regret it. It is clear that Reaves (similar skill wise to Kyrie) and Lebron are the one that will get the space and energy lift playing along with Luka. And ultimately the Lakers.
I will not even go down to how much the center position was better when Luka was in the game. Both Lively and Gafford will not get the level of play they could with Luka, so trading Luka is trading a big part of these players as well. Its sad to see that this effect goes down to Hayes and the Lakers now. He looks instantly like an all star center.
Finally, the biggest loss is perhaps the void of this magic that Luka provided. There is nothing magical about this Mavs team unfortunately. You can just feel that the Lakers could beat anyone at the moment. This was a home grown player, every season MVP contender, every season all team NBA, and not even in his prime. Meaning he will get a lot better.
The Mavs just did not understand how much he works on his skills in the offseason. Look at his improved FT and distribution and reading of the plays. He has become better and better every season and he will get a lot better. He is the only PG in the league that is a QB and not a PG. Much like Magic was before. He is the system and gives nightmares for the opposing coaches. I think this is also something that Mavs did not understood, the effect of Luka. Its not a coincidence that Mavs were instantly a playoff team with his arrival and so successful in postseason. A huge blunder by the Mavericks. In fact even bigger blunder than the one Suns, Kings, Hawks made! One thing is not being good in predicting how an europen player will do in NBA, you can make the mistake. But how in the world can you make the mistake in knowing who Luka is, after he was on your team for 6 years and made all the records that could be made in that span, and transforming you team from a losing culture every season to contender? How can you even fail like that?
This is a historically bad trade. Everyone that trades or does not draft Luka has regretted it and if not will end up regret it. It is clear that Reaves (similar skill wise to Kyrie) and Lebron are the one that will get the space and energy lift playing along with Luka. And ultimately the Lakers.
I will not even go down to how much the center position was better when Luka was in the game. Both Lively and Gafford will not get the level of play they could with Luka, so trading Luka is trading a big part of these players as well. Its sad to see that this effect goes down to Hayes and the Lakers now. He looks instantly like an all star center.
Finally, the biggest loss is perhaps the void of this magic that Luka provided. There is nothing magical about this Mavs team unfortunately. You can just feel that the Lakers could beat anyone at the moment. This was a home grown player, every season MVP contender, every season all team NBA, and not even in his prime. Meaning he will get a lot better.
The Mavs just did not understand how much he works on his skills in the offseason. Look at his improved FT and distribution and reading of the plays. He has become better and better every season and he will get a lot better. He is the only PG in the league that is a QB and not a PG. Much like Magic was before. He is the system and gives nightmares for the opposing coaches. I think this is also something that Mavs did not understood, the effect of Luka. Its not a coincidence that Mavs were instantly a playoff team with his arrival and so successful in postseason. A huge blunder by the Mavericks. In fact even bigger blunder than the one Suns, Kings, Hawks made! One thing is not being good in predicting how an europen player will do in NBA, you can make the mistake. But how in the world can you make the mistake in knowing who Luka is, after he was on your team for 6 years and made all the records that could be made in that span, and transforming you team from a losing culture every season to contender? How can you even fail like that?
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