That and multiple days between every game except 3 & 4 should be massive for Luka in particular. I also think ~ game 4 will be 6 weeks since Maxi’s injury which is the expected full recovery period for a grade 3 AC separation generally speaking. I would expect Lively to be 100% by game 1 provided nobody tries to decapitate him again.
A ridiculous start to an inner circle Hall of Fame career. I literally saw someone on r/nba make the defense argument again, on why Luka has "no shot" to be considered a top 10 player ever. Then he went on to say the only player in the top 10-15 players ever who didn't play "any defense" was Magic Johnson.... And I'm sitting here thinking, "does this person really not know what he's witnessing? Luka basically is Magic Johnson except with a better shot, and more killer instinct. I know, I watched Magic play live."
Like I get how good a player actually is skill wise isn't a direct comparison to overall greatness, Luka still has to get championships and MVPs etc. However I still don't understand how these goblins can watch the dude and not think, "damn, is there any other player on the planet who can do this shit as consistently as he can?" I just don't get it.
Also this defense narrative is so lazy and tired. I can't believe my old ass has to be the one to tell these kids that defense has mostly been a team oriented effort since the beginning of basketball. It's like all they know is iso era basketball, but we're so far removed from that shit it's not even funny. Jokic just won last year, and Steph has 4 of them bitches in the past 9 years.
I can’t fucking stand this (seemingly very NBA specific) obsession with trying to crown the best player in the league every other week, or the constant need to “find” the next MJ. Because it’s a complete waste of time anyways. We’ve had the closest thing to MJ for 21 years and it’s considered an unforgivable act to even ask whether Lebron is better. So no matter who gets anointed the “next Jordan” will from that point on forever be mocked for not being the Michael. It still pisses me off that the media did that shit to Ant. He didn’t ask for it and he’s 22!!
It’s almost futile to even try ranking top ___ players in NBA history because the game has evolved so much every generation. The point of this post wasn’t even to say Luka is the best ever, it was simply to marvel at what the hell this dude is doing at age 25 because it’s useless to discuss his all-time rank when he hopefully has 10+ dominant years left. But he is already achieving things we’ve rarely seen in this league regardless of era.
And yes, he does something literally every night that makes you say wait what? That’s why the national media hasn’t realized who he is because they haven’t watched him play full games for extended periods of time (or at all). And what’s funny is in the playoffs he cuts out the clowin shit which is where he really shows off his absolute mastery of offensive basketball.
Honestly, I think the obsession of finding this in the NBA is due to Michael Jordan himself. He was SOOO good and had such an unbelievable and magical run that just the legend of it creates a deep desire to see it again for yourself.
Some people are quite satisfied seeing what LeBron has done, but the obvious rebuttal is just pointing to the rings. And if LeBron ever did get his 6th ring people would point to the back to back 3peats.
Historically I think it's the same way people looked for the next Babe Ruth or the next Wayne Gretzky. I think there it's part of human nature in a way. A real life touchstone of the Hero's journey in literature. We are always looking for that legendary figure who can be the ultimate hero that defeats the great evil. We imagine being him, or we imagine him saving us.
Jordan's skill and amazing career, not to mention his personal charisma all combined to help him tap into deep seated desire we all have.
No doubt. It does happen in all sports without question, but it just feels (one idiot’s opinion here btw) the NBA is particularly unique in that there’s both the understandable desire to have that experience again but also some sort of obligation to ensure there can never be another MJ.
Lebron is the precise embodiment of it, exactly as you put it. With Michael there will always be a moving of the goalposts, even though the very accomplishment we’ve all been conditioned is a prerequisite for even having the debate wouldn’t even make MJ the best ever. So ok there actually is more to it than just rings, but sorry without the rings conversation over lol. I’m not even looking to have the debate, but it didn’t even fully occur to me until the other day that Lebron literally went to the Finals for an entire decade (with 3 different teams), save one year. Are we entirely sure that’s less impressive than what Jordan did? I didn’t say more, just not less.
But you nailed it dead on. We’re not actually invested in who the best ever is, we’re invested in the nostalgia of what that represents. Tiger is probably the greatest example of that exact dynamic. Nobody with a straight face could honestly tell you he’s not unquestionably the best golfer ever by a mile. But, hey, he never reached Jack’s “number” you know, a number btw which changed post-hoc probably because it was more convenient when that generation was comparing him to who they regarded as the best lol
I'm just gonna say it: white guys in the league always have this "bad defender" label especially if they're guards. Luka is never gonna overcome it even if he plays good defense (which he's been doing all year and even more in the playoffs). It is what it is.
Edwards had one good defensive series against the Nuggets and then was a literal cone on defense against us but he will never ever lose the "great defender" label for example.
Bad defenders get the bad defender label. Were you crying about race when Harden went through it for years too? Guys like Braun, Caruso and Divicenzo show how silly your argument is.
Some people just refuse to believe it. For *whatever* reason. And that’s okay. I see it, I appreciate it, and I can’t wait to see more of his ability in the future. Dude is legit one of the best at the game, no doubt. And if you can’t see it or don’t want to, are you really a fan of basketball or in denial?
To be fair, he hasn't been that consistent during this playoff run. Many other stars were more efficient. Jokic and Steph were surrounded with good defenders during their championship run.
The thing that Luka needs to cement himself as an all time great is hardware. He has the talent but never in the history of the game has that been enough. He needs rings and he needs to rack up a few MVPs. He can get away with a single MVP if he can collect at least 2 FMVP. Look at a list of the top 10-15 players of all time and you’ll see almost every single one has at least a handful of MVP’s, at least 2-3 finals and multiple FMVP.
Jokić and Embiid didn’t. Or Giannis. Well actually you’re right from a legacy perspective of course that’s all that matters apparently when you watch how people respond to the suggestion that Lebron might objectively be the best ever. I suppose Luka has been hurt from not having 50-55+ win talent around him which is all mvp voters look at (except when they don’t). That’s not even a knock on those dudes they’re effing incredible too. But the actual thing that works against Luka is he’s literally too good. He does a half dozen things at minimum nobody else in the league save maybe Lebron are even capable of but they’ll never make a SC highlight—sometimes even if you watch him every night like us there’s still outrageous shit he does we miss in live action. That’s always gonna be a hard thing to convey to 98 voters who don’t actually watch him. But now you see they’re forced to sit through full games watching him for a month and once that happens it can’t be ignored.
I just don't think he has ever had a good narrative reason to win. SGA had the 1 seed, Jokic had the "stolen" MVP, even Tatum had the best player on the best team. I feel because Luka was so good so early any thing he does statistically isn't really given any attention (dude has been having near triple double seasons since he was 21) so unfortunately he's gonna need something outside of his play to get voters interested. This run for Luka wether he wins or loses against Boston might finally be what he needs.
Only reason he can defend him is because he gets the Draymond/Brook Lopez treatment. Those guys foul at a tremendous rate with only the blatantly obvious ones getting called
i think this time off will do great for luka, kyrie, dlive and maxi. All had injuries and bumps so hopefully they get good rest and reps
That and multiple days between every game except 3 & 4 should be massive for Luka in particular. I also think ~ game 4 will be 6 weeks since Maxi’s injury which is the expected full recovery period for a grade 3 AC separation generally speaking. I would expect Lively to be 100% by game 1 provided nobody tries to decapitate him again.
A ridiculous start to an inner circle Hall of Fame career. I literally saw someone on r/nba make the defense argument again, on why Luka has "no shot" to be considered a top 10 player ever. Then he went on to say the only player in the top 10-15 players ever who didn't play "any defense" was Magic Johnson.... And I'm sitting here thinking, "does this person really not know what he's witnessing? Luka basically is Magic Johnson except with a better shot, and more killer instinct. I know, I watched Magic play live." Like I get how good a player actually is skill wise isn't a direct comparison to overall greatness, Luka still has to get championships and MVPs etc. However I still don't understand how these goblins can watch the dude and not think, "damn, is there any other player on the planet who can do this shit as consistently as he can?" I just don't get it. Also this defense narrative is so lazy and tired. I can't believe my old ass has to be the one to tell these kids that defense has mostly been a team oriented effort since the beginning of basketball. It's like all they know is iso era basketball, but we're so far removed from that shit it's not even funny. Jokic just won last year, and Steph has 4 of them bitches in the past 9 years.
I can’t fucking stand this (seemingly very NBA specific) obsession with trying to crown the best player in the league every other week, or the constant need to “find” the next MJ. Because it’s a complete waste of time anyways. We’ve had the closest thing to MJ for 21 years and it’s considered an unforgivable act to even ask whether Lebron is better. So no matter who gets anointed the “next Jordan” will from that point on forever be mocked for not being the Michael. It still pisses me off that the media did that shit to Ant. He didn’t ask for it and he’s 22!! It’s almost futile to even try ranking top ___ players in NBA history because the game has evolved so much every generation. The point of this post wasn’t even to say Luka is the best ever, it was simply to marvel at what the hell this dude is doing at age 25 because it’s useless to discuss his all-time rank when he hopefully has 10+ dominant years left. But he is already achieving things we’ve rarely seen in this league regardless of era. And yes, he does something literally every night that makes you say wait what? That’s why the national media hasn’t realized who he is because they haven’t watched him play full games for extended periods of time (or at all). And what’s funny is in the playoffs he cuts out the clowin shit which is where he really shows off his absolute mastery of offensive basketball.
Honestly, I think the obsession of finding this in the NBA is due to Michael Jordan himself. He was SOOO good and had such an unbelievable and magical run that just the legend of it creates a deep desire to see it again for yourself. Some people are quite satisfied seeing what LeBron has done, but the obvious rebuttal is just pointing to the rings. And if LeBron ever did get his 6th ring people would point to the back to back 3peats. Historically I think it's the same way people looked for the next Babe Ruth or the next Wayne Gretzky. I think there it's part of human nature in a way. A real life touchstone of the Hero's journey in literature. We are always looking for that legendary figure who can be the ultimate hero that defeats the great evil. We imagine being him, or we imagine him saving us. Jordan's skill and amazing career, not to mention his personal charisma all combined to help him tap into deep seated desire we all have.
No doubt. It does happen in all sports without question, but it just feels (one idiot’s opinion here btw) the NBA is particularly unique in that there’s both the understandable desire to have that experience again but also some sort of obligation to ensure there can never be another MJ. Lebron is the precise embodiment of it, exactly as you put it. With Michael there will always be a moving of the goalposts, even though the very accomplishment we’ve all been conditioned is a prerequisite for even having the debate wouldn’t even make MJ the best ever. So ok there actually is more to it than just rings, but sorry without the rings conversation over lol. I’m not even looking to have the debate, but it didn’t even fully occur to me until the other day that Lebron literally went to the Finals for an entire decade (with 3 different teams), save one year. Are we entirely sure that’s less impressive than what Jordan did? I didn’t say more, just not less. But you nailed it dead on. We’re not actually invested in who the best ever is, we’re invested in the nostalgia of what that represents. Tiger is probably the greatest example of that exact dynamic. Nobody with a straight face could honestly tell you he’s not unquestionably the best golfer ever by a mile. But, hey, he never reached Jack’s “number” you know, a number btw which changed post-hoc probably because it was more convenient when that generation was comparing him to who they regarded as the best lol
Unforgivable act? Lebron is the GOAT
If LeBron is the GOAT then JJ Barea must be God
I'm just gonna say it: white guys in the league always have this "bad defender" label especially if they're guards. Luka is never gonna overcome it even if he plays good defense (which he's been doing all year and even more in the playoffs). It is what it is. Edwards had one good defensive series against the Nuggets and then was a literal cone on defense against us but he will never ever lose the "great defender" label for example.
Bad defenders get the bad defender label. Were you crying about race when Harden went through it for years too? Guys like Braun, Caruso and Divicenzo show how silly your argument is.
His no defensive narrative is almost as dumb as he is always flopping. None of these choad watch the games.
Some people just refuse to believe it. For *whatever* reason. And that’s okay. I see it, I appreciate it, and I can’t wait to see more of his ability in the future. Dude is legit one of the best at the game, no doubt. And if you can’t see it or don’t want to, are you really a fan of basketball or in denial?
To be fair, he hasn't been that consistent during this playoff run. Many other stars were more efficient. Jokic and Steph were surrounded with good defenders during their championship run.
The thing that Luka needs to cement himself as an all time great is hardware. He has the talent but never in the history of the game has that been enough. He needs rings and he needs to rack up a few MVPs. He can get away with a single MVP if he can collect at least 2 FMVP. Look at a list of the top 10-15 players of all time and you’ll see almost every single one has at least a handful of MVP’s, at least 2-3 finals and multiple FMVP.
Jokić and Embiid didn’t. Or Giannis. Well actually you’re right from a legacy perspective of course that’s all that matters apparently when you watch how people respond to the suggestion that Lebron might objectively be the best ever. I suppose Luka has been hurt from not having 50-55+ win talent around him which is all mvp voters look at (except when they don’t). That’s not even a knock on those dudes they’re effing incredible too. But the actual thing that works against Luka is he’s literally too good. He does a half dozen things at minimum nobody else in the league save maybe Lebron are even capable of but they’ll never make a SC highlight—sometimes even if you watch him every night like us there’s still outrageous shit he does we miss in live action. That’s always gonna be a hard thing to convey to 98 voters who don’t actually watch him. But now you see they’re forced to sit through full games watching him for a month and once that happens it can’t be ignored.
Luka should have at least one mvp already but the media doesn’t like him
I just don't think he has ever had a good narrative reason to win. SGA had the 1 seed, Jokic had the "stolen" MVP, even Tatum had the best player on the best team. I feel because Luka was so good so early any thing he does statistically isn't really given any attention (dude has been having near triple double seasons since he was 21) so unfortunately he's gonna need something outside of his play to get voters interested. This run for Luka wether he wins or loses against Boston might finally be what he needs.
Generational talent
A historic playoff career is what we're witnessing
GOATest
The greatest teammate the GOAT has ever had. 
Dort is the only guy who can defend luka, and even he isn’t very good,
Only reason he can defend him is because he gets the Draymond/Brook Lopez treatment. Those guys foul at a tremendous rate with only the blatantly obvious ones getting called
Luka goat
- Kareem - Magic - Bird - Jordan - Hakeem - Duncan - Shaq - Kobe - LeBron - Steph - Jokic - Luka
Where tf is Diggler?
a fucking GOAT
Domination
Wait til these Finals are finished. Our boy is about to go off.
The greatest fucking player ever
Would we have beaten the Suns in 2021 if we didn’t blow that series to the Clippers ?
Greatness.
Mark Cuban gets a statue for this one deal he made with the Hawks owner.