HALLELUKA: Luka Clinches All-NBA 1st team. 4th in 5 years

[Arioch]

Absolutely. I made a comment in another post that the coaching staff is probably being really patient with his subpar play because he is being put outside of his comfort zone.

New theory: Luka's doing what the coaching staff is asking.

The single biggest criticism of the Mavs for the last two seasons has been that Luka is amazing, but the supporting cast is failing to support him. If he wasn't performing Luka magic, the team collectively and repeatedly went to trash. This season, the team is actually playing well when Luka goes to the bench. So when our HOF point guard turned coach (who, whatever legitimate criticism there are of his record, also has a track record of being willing to think outside the box) went to see him before the season, maybe he said, "Look, we all know you're the engine that drives this team. But you're so good, that it's stunting the growth of the rest of the team--they're all standing around waiting for you to win the game instead of learning how to help you do that. So, to start the season, dial it back. You play at 75% while I whip the rest of these guys into shape, so when the games really start to count you can be the closer we all know you are meant to be instead of spending all your energy just keeping the team in the game for the first 3 quarters."

(For the record, I don't buy 'out of shape'--Kamm is undoubtedly right that Luka could improve relative to his current base line as per his Nash and Dirk examples, but to my eye-test he looks about the same as he did in the Olympics. I also don't buy that he's unhappy--his body language when his teammates are succeeding is nothing but joy. I might buy that he's just exhausted or nursing some sort of long-term but minor pain)