08-16-2020, 07:56 PM
(08-16-2020, 07:07 PM)Scott41theMavs Wrote: The wildcard here has to be if Luka takes the opportunity to level up into further legend status. If he's as good as we hope he is, well, there's got to be a chance. Magic won the championship as a rookie and Bird won his second year (much more impressively, as he had rookie McHale and Parrish, not KAJ). If the Mavs win it all this year on Luka's back, we shouldn't be that surprised after what we saw this year - just damn happy.
Those accomplishments are most impressive, no doubt, but tbh I feel like the league is better now. There are very few teams who suck, especially in the west. Look at Phoenix, Portland, etc. You can make the case that fundamentals are lacking relative to old school basketball, but I won't buy it, and the level of talent in the league has skyrocketed. The NBA has come so far since Magic and Bird (and thanks to them, really). Jordan was better than either of them, and it took him 7 years to win a ring. Their generations were so close that there was significant overlap. Since then? Lots of growth, imo.
I don't mean this to take anything away from Luka, who I think has a shot to be a top 5 player of all time, but I'll be shocked if he wins a championship on his rookie contract. Pleasantly, orgasmically shocked - but shocked.