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Posted

And no championship team has 5 lock down defenders, most have some high volume scorers with subpar defense. Not to mention that Dirk was bad at defense for a large part of his early career as I recall and got much better over time, I always assumed Luka would improve somewhat over time, but even if he didn't, his scoring, and the attention he got opening up all those layups for Gafford and Lively far outweigh any defensive limitations. By a ton. 

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Posted
12 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

He's not entirely wrong...NBA champions are almost always in the top 5 defensively (2023 Denver being one of the few exceptions)...he's just purposely ignoring that other major factor that you point out. 

He's also hoping no one remembers the fact that the Mavs were #1 in defense the last 20 games of last season after getting Washington and Gafford and getting everyone healthy. 

And you only need to be top 10, not #1.

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Posted
19 minutes ago, aggie08 said:

He's not entirely wrong...NBA champions are almost always in the top 5 defensively (2023 Denver being one of the few exceptions)...he's just purposely ignoring that other major factor that you point out. The recipe to winning a title is having a Top 5 defense AND, more importantly, one of the 5 best basketball players on the planet.

The former is a whole hell of a lot easier to find than the latter. Having one of the latter, even one as individually poor defensively as Luka, actually helps you achieve the former because they're so offensively elite that you can surround them with limited--but smart--defensive minded role players (who are cheaper anyway) and still be good offensively.

So, you know, keep those dudes when they're on your team, in their prime, and want to stay there.

 

4 minutes ago, threesheets said:

He's also hoping no one remembers the fact that the Mavs were #1 in defense the last 20 games of last season after getting Washington and Gafford and getting everyone healthy. 

And you only need to be top 10, not #1.

YES!!!  This is what drives me insane about his idiotic viewpoint. He completely ignores the fact that a championship team, save for one fluke Detroit team years ago, must have a superstar scorer. And he traded away the critical one they had, that enabled them to even get to the finals. 

He must be thinking that Luca’s defense, and interior defense, was why they lost in the finals. And he must think Kyrie can be the superstar scorer. 

But those assumptions are wrong. With Lively and Gafford they had interior defense that would improve year over year. 

Defensive limitations like Luca’s are always manageable. You don’t need him to be a lock down defender. No team has five lock down defenders. 

Finally, Kyrie by himself can’t win games all the time in the final minutes, like the combination of Kyrie and Luca could. 

Nico is just flat wrong. And stupid. 

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Posted

By now, are we right to think that the “why” of the trade is extreme Dunning-Kruger on the part of Nico? That he really did look at Luka and think, “that guy is holding us back”, and it was because he really isn’t any good at scouting and assessing basketball talent?

Is this the last GM job Nico will ever have? When he gets fired from the Mavs, it’s on to marketing CBD products?

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Posted (edited)

I bounce between the conspiracy stuff and the fact that Nico is just a dick-rider. He's always been that. He got to where he is by toting Kobe's balls in his mouth. 

I'm not reverse-racism guy I promise you (my posts/likes on another board will attest), but Luke being a white Euro badass that didn't give a fuck about Nico is probably all this is. 

Edited by threesheets
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Posted
7 hours ago, aggie08 said:

He's not entirely wrong...NBA champions are almost always in the top 5 defensively (2023 Denver being one of the few exceptions)...he's just purposely ignoring that other major factor that you point out. The recipe to winning a title is having a Top 5 defense AND, more importantly, one of the 5 best basketball players on the planet.

The former is a whole hell of a lot easier to find than the latter. Having one of the latter, even one as individually poor defensively as Luka, actually helps you achieve the former because they're so offensively elite that you can surround them with limited--but smart--defensive minded role players (who are cheaper anyway) and still be good offensively.

So, you know, keep those dudes when they're on your team, in their prime, and want to stay there.

I'm giving him zero credit for that.  yes, of course you need a good defense but this isn't the 90's or even early 2000's anymore.  you need dudes that can score.  Luka's D was actually OK(even though admittedly he would do the pout about a call and not get back thing occassionally).

Luka opens up the floor like no other.  the problem was the other dudes besides Kyrie. are/were spares from a scoring perspective and when the lights were brightest they faded like bitches.

you know what wins championships, top 5 NBA players and excellent coaching because the coach will figure out how to create a defensive plan to stop other teams.

Posted
On 4/15/2025 at 2:14 PM, shakahorn said:

In Luka’s return game, Austin Reaves got much more applause than Jaxson Hayes when they introduced the lineup.

Because he’s a significantly bigger name and better player, and Lakers fans were rampant there. Jaxson played one year in Austin?  The fuck are you talking about man?

Posted

There's no conspiracy this guy is just an idiot

 

In a surprising admission, Harrison said that he didn't realize Mavericks fans would react as strongly as they did.

"I knew Luka was important to the fan base," he said. "I didn’t quite know it to what level."

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Posted
1 minute ago, Michael Knight said:

There's no conspiracy this guy is just an idiot

 

In a surprising admission, Harrison said that he didn't realize Mavericks fans would react as strongly as they did.

"I knew Luka was important to the fan base," he said. "I didn’t quite know it to what level."

Bingo

Posted
7 minutes ago, Michael Knight said:

There's no conspiracy this guy is just an idiot

 

In a surprising admission, Harrison said that he didn't realize Mavericks fans would react as strongly as they did.

"I knew Luka was important to the fan base," he said. "I didn’t quite know it to what level."

A lot of people didn't, just read the first few pages of the nba thread here after the trade.  That said, he's the GM of the team.  It's his job to know.

Posted

I mean, you could probably conservatively estimate that the 75% of the people in jerseys at any given Mavs game are wearing Luka's. 

He was #6 in jersey sales last season. 

Posted
On 4/16/2025 at 9:50 AM, Derka said:

saying/believing that “defense wins championships” is like saying/believing that three yards and a cloud of dust is the best way to win football games in 2025. it’s so beyond outdated and empirically just wrong, that any executive who’s still working under this assumption should be fired for cause.

you know what wins championships? superstars. jokic, giannis, kawhi- they win championships. you had one of those guys, and you gave him away without even letting anyone know that he was available because “defense wins championships.” fuck that. this doesn’t even add up. i sweatergawd it makes more sense that the whole “tanking the team so they can move to vegas” angle makes more sense than the entire mavs organization believing that “defense wins championships” so fervently that they’d trade luka with no bidding war for a guy who’s been nicknamed “mr.glass.” just unreal. 

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS1V759pZf8OcEPj4Jeo_P

Posted
1 hour ago, Michael Knight said:

There's no conspiracy this guy is just an idiot

 

In a surprising admission, Harrison said that he didn't realize Mavericks fans would react as strongly as they did.

"I knew Luka was important to the fan base," he said. "I didn’t quite know it to what level."

Lol, he’s just doing a bit at this point.  

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Posted
There's no conspiracy this guy is just an idiot
 

In a surprising admission, Harrison said that he didn't realize Mavericks fans would react as strongly as they did.

"I knew Luka was important to the fan base," he said. "I didn’t quite know it to what level."

Luka just happens to be traded for peanuts to the very team the Mavs brass has close ties to? Yeah, nothing to see here, all on the up and up. I don't buy the "he's just an idiot". Not even Jerry Jones is that ignorant. Absolutely zero shopping of Luka and he's traded at the 11th hour of a Saturday night. Collusion? Maybe. I don't expect the real story to come out any time soon but at some point, it will.
Posted
8 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

Nico not shutting up is just strange. Take the all-time L on this trade and just stop talking. 

Nike employee, gladly will fall on the sword to save fat dumb face owner guy

Posted
10 hours ago, UpperWestside said:

Nico not shutting up is just strange. Take the all-time L on this trade and just stop talking. 

He was staying quiet until Dumont made him do that first weird secret press conference. Then I guess Dumont made him do another more normal one? Not sure on that. It probably seems strange because they've handled this whole situation so poorly.  What they should  have done is nutted up and gotten the media obligation over with right away. Like what most every other organization does after they make a big trade.

On 4/21/2025 at 2:09 PM, Vic Mackey said:

Luka just happens to be traded for peanuts to the very team the Mavs brass has close ties to? Yeah, nothing to see here, all on the up and up. I don't buy the "he's just an idiot". Not even Jerry Jones is that ignorant. Absolutely zero shopping of Luka and he's traded at the 11th hour of a Saturday night. Collusion? Maybe. I don't expect the real story to come out any time soon but at some point, it will.

It's super believable to me. Especially after that McMahon article unraveling the saga going back to 2023.

Hubristic goob who failed upward surrounds himself with yes-men and cheerleaders. Sits around all day huffing his own farts, thinking he's a genius. Makes a terrible business decision in a vacuum. Probably happens every day somewhere in the world.

Posted

hilariously, I think they thought the secret squirrel PC would help get the trade questions all out there and responded to by the main writers, in a controlled environment for dumbass, and then the normal PC could be about the future, defense winning championships, and where to build the new trophy case.

Posted
1 hour ago, BurgleBro said:

Is it too early to say he looks a little too slow and chubby for the postseason 

"stomach bug"...sure..we all know it is because he was hung over after a night of pounding Lasko's.

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Posted
1 hour ago, BurgleBro said:

Is it too early to say he looks a little too slow and chubby for the postseason 

What's crazy is that it doesn't even matter how Luka turns out with the Lakers. They should have gotten more back in the trade. They should have shopped him. Nico will never be right for what he did. 

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Posted (edited)
On 4/24/2025 at 9:39 PM, dcar00 said:

The Nuggets need to trade Jokic.  don't they see he's kinda pudgy and understand that defense wins championships?

To the lakers of course.  For DFS and a rolling ball rack. 

Edited by Pato del Muerto

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