(01-27-2021, 05:30 PM)bodhisattva Wrote: What I will write is just my personal opinion. Crying will never stop. What you guys on the other side of the pond must realize is that you did not get some ordinary rookie from some poor communist country, who ate grass and then moved country at 13 and lived hard knock life. Dude grew up in a capital city. His mom owns a hairdressing business and his father was professional basketball player. He had all doors open for him from the start. And when he moved to Real, well there is nothing better that can happen for a young sports player in Europe. I mean, club takes care for everything in cases like this. They provide you with accommodation, put you through school etc...
The point I am trying to make is that dude is/was a spoiled rich kid from the start, who at 17 achieved everything that you possibly could in Europe and by that stage was already probably a multi millionaire. We are not talking Adebayo here, think more Kobe.
As his fellow countryman i absolutely hate it. So do all of my friends who watch basketball, and jokingly we blame it on his education he received in Spain. There are stereotypes in Europe about Italians and Spanish being soft and cowardly. The truth is probably somewhere in between. His game is ahead of his years. But so is everything else. He played with some of the best and most experienced at Real. He didn't learn just fundamentals and game of basketball but all dirty tricks too. He realized, that if he wants to get fouls he needs to make his presence known, and since he is a top dog on a court from the age of 13 on he probably takes it for granted. That's why he had "balls" to complain to NBA the refs from his first game on.
We are talking a player here, who has been a superstar and the best player on the court since he first touched a ball. He acts accordingly. Don't buy this media image about smiling kid, who loves to play basketball. Shit will hit the fan if things go wrong.
But its just my theory, as I do not know him!
P.S. Just for a fun fact, i have another one. I am old enough that I watched his dad play. Same height, played SF. Couldn't hit his FTs at a decent rate either. I would be pleasantly surprised if Luka ever turns out to be an above average shooter. In his best seasons I expect him to be 50/35/80 at best.
Great post. Thanks for sharing.
The making yourself known is a knife that cuts two ways. If you are too meager you might not get noticed but if you complain at every non-call, you might get ignored. Luka is definitely trending towards the latter. Add in a pinch of bias generated from years of Cuban feuding with the league and Referees Association and a pinch of being treated like the Shaq of PGs and you've got the perfect storm of not getting the calls you should. He can definitely work on the first problem and the other two problems should solve themselves once (maybe if is better here) he's become the face of the league.
I do think it is important to remember that he's just a kid. He'll mature and figure things out. I'm not sure he has the Jordan/Kobe/LeBron work ethic but I do know that he wants to win and has all the tools to do so.
The defensive criticisms are probably never going to stop. He got that perception early on and it's hard to change the minds of people who do not watch him game in and game out. I think we all understand how much he's improved (though I do hate that he's starting to shuffle into a drawn charge position of late rather than keeping his hands extended) but he's never going to be an all defensive team member due to his lack of explosiveness and that's the only thing that will change that narrative, deserved or not.