Is Luka overrated?

[IG2]

Good lord, yes.

He's still a great player, but he has some very glaring holes in his game. He's horrible on defense, ball dominant to a fault and I don't think I've ever seen a player whose on-court demeanor is worse. Those are 3 things that will need to change if he's ever going to be a champion.

[NBA4Lyfe]

Well, a prime Harden and a former MVP dragged Houston to the 8th seed in the 15-16 season. So, Harden fans should understand what happens when any star is with a bad roster. And, I would rather have Luka than Harden in PO.

Harden won games in the regular season with a worse roster than this current mavs team. See the 2015 rockets that reached the western conference finals with the corpse of Jason terry and Pablo prigioni starting for the rockets

[HotRocks34]

No, he's not overrated at all.

He was absolutely horrendous today at Charlotte in the first quarter. Was like 0-6 from the field and seemed to not give a damn.

He finished with 40/12/8, as well as 2 blocks and 2 steals.

Kyrie is playing hurt and that's not helping the team. But the real issue is that the roster has massive deficiencies. They won't be fixed until summer, at the earliest.

Luka is on track for his fourth 27/8/8 season (Oscar has the NBA record with 5), and he's also on track for a 32/8/8 season. That has only been done before, once, by Jordan.

He'll be fine. But after totally dominating earlier in the year, he's gotten out of shape and seems to be distracted with whatever private matters are going on that he mentioned postagame the other day.

[Jellybeans]

Better question is how do you gain weight like Luka has while season is going on. He clearly was slimer at the start of the year

[Mauro Pedrosa]

Good lord, yes.

He's still a great player, but he has some very glaring holes in his game. He's horrible on defense, ball dominant to a fault and I don't think I've ever seen a player whose on-court demeanor is worse. Those are 3 things that will need to change if he's ever going to be a champion.

So funny how that exact paragraph could be written about Trae Young

[Hornet Mania]

After watching the last two Mavs losses the problem is team construction, not Luka. Kyrie has not been great either, but he's hurt so I get it.

The cupboard is just bare, way too top heavy. It didn't matter that Charlotte had to give JT Thor, Bryce McGowens, Theo Maledon, etc. big minutes because the Mavs bench was really no better. Mark Williams and Nick Richards dominated the paint, they're a solid young duo, but it's usually not that easy.

Add even 3-4 decent role players to that team and it's a whole different story.

[HotRocks34]

After watching the last two Mavs losses the problem is team construction, not Luka. Kyrie has not been great either, but he's hurt so I get it.

The cupboard is just bare, way too top heavy. It didn't matter that Charlotte had to give JT Thor, Bryce McGowens, Theo Maledon, etc. big minutes because the Mavs bench was really no better. Mark Williams and Nick Richards dominated the paint, they're a solid young duo, but it's usually not that easy.

Add even 3-4 decent role players to that team and it's a whole different story.

Yep.

Getting Kyrie, if they keep him (apparently he could consider Phoenix this summer), is a good long-term move. But it's hurt the team in the short-run as they've lost depth, size and defense.

Their defense and rebounding is awful. Some of the young guys have talent (like Hardy), but need more seasoning.

I'm good with them missing the playoffs if that means they keep their pick. They're going nowhere this season, anyways.

For Luka, get your head right with the off-court stuff. The Luka of earlier in the season was completely dominant. If that guy comes back, you keep Kyrie, and you get some other solid role players then things will change fast.

[GeorgeSears]

The frustrating thing about Luka is that he can address all of his short comings if he wants to. He chooses not.

[Blame Rasho]

You know let’s say Magic or Kobe played without an all nba center to start their career. How about the times people were critical of Lebron for not winning for several years. I mean every star played at one point or another has been considered overrated.

I would love Luka as my franchise player, just like if you had Magic, Kobe, Lebron and countless other transcendent players.

If you have an argument that Luka isn’t a transcendent player, ok fair enough but he has played like a transcendent player in the playoff way too many times for a player of his age to say otherwise in my opinion.

[GeorgeMarcus]

After watching the last two Mavs losses the problem is team construction, not Luka. Kyrie has not been great either, but he's hurt so I get it.

The cupboard is just bare, way too top heavy. It didn't matter that Charlotte had to give JT Thor, Bryce McGowens, Theo Maledon, etc. big minutes because the Mavs bench was really no better. Mark Williams and Nick Richards dominated the paint, they're a solid young duo, but it's usually not that easy.

Add even 3-4 decent role players to that team and it's a whole different story.

That argument only takes you so far IMO because we heard the same thing when Porzingis and Brunson were on the team. But at some level you're right- it's a poorly designed roster. They took a step in the wrong direction when parting with depth and defense for the sake of Kyrie. Luka is probably the most capable one-man offense in the league, so surround him with shooters/defenders/savvy role players and the returns will be greater than what they are now. If they're dead set on pairing him with a "second star" then they should invest in one who excels off ball and/or as a defender. Sadly their resources have been depleted even further so I don't know how realistic that goal is without an uncharacteristically successful FA.

[Ballerhogger]

Putting 2 ball dominat players who don’t really play good defense and no rim protection …… = losses

[Synciere]

Luka is probably properly rated. The beginning of his career marks him as on track to be one of the greatest ever. Current trajectory has him as a top 10 player all time. But……..

At some point yeah, he has to win something so questions like this will persist until he does. Happened to Jordan, Lebron, Dirk, and many others. His defensive woes make it easier to ask these questions, just like Jokic.

Too often in these threads people talk about what a player can’t do instead of what they can do well. I call it the Melo Theory.

[Goomba3666]

Putting 2 ball dominat players who don’t really play good defense and no rim protection …… = losses

I actually see Kyrie playing defense and rotating. And I don't think he's as ball dominant as Luka/Harden.

Luka only knows to play one way and I don't think he's in shape enough to play off ball.

[indiegrind]

I think he has been when people crown him as a potential goat.

He does however has potential to be a top 10 all timer.

[Ballerhogger]

Read on Twitter

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[JWillTheFreak]

Putting 2 ball dominat players who don’t really play good defense and no rim protection …… = losses

I actually see Kyrie playing defense and rotating. And I don't think he's as ball dominant as Luka/Harden.

Luka only knows to play one way and I don't think he's in shape enough to play off ball.

Playing of the ball should be his rest like all other superstars do... what does bron do off the ball???

Since Kyrie joined the mavs he got lit up by Fox 2x, Halliburton, CJ, Maxey... Kyrie is only a offensive player like luka and mavs don't have a big to protect the paint.

[Mephariel]

Putting 2 ball dominat players who don’t really play good defense and no rim protection …… = losses

I actually see Kyrie playing defense and rotating. And I don't think he's as ball dominant as Luka/Harden.

Luka only knows to play one way and I don't think he's in shape enough to play off ball.

Playing of the ball should be his rest like all other superstars do... what does bron do off the ball???

Since Kyrie joined the mavs he got lit up by Fox 2x, Halliburton, CJ, Maxey... Kyrie is only a offensive player like luka and mavs don't have a big to protect the paint.

What does Bron do off ball? He cuts? He seals his defender for layups? You can see both in this one video back to back:

Watch on YouTube

Watch this game to see how many times he cuts to the basket:

Watch on YouTube

[Impuniti]

No. He’s an amazing, clutch talent with ball hogging and conditioning problems. If he fixes those two the sky is the limit

Yes good luck to Luka turning away from being the biggest ball in NBA history (not a hyperbole). Don't hold your breath.

[greekbuck34]

He has to pick up the pace of his game by a lot. He takes too much time while his teammates get cold watching him dribble the ball.
He has to improve his leadership and mentality a lot. The constant complaining must be annoying to his teammates too by now.
He has to move off the ball. He is almost worthless without the ball.
He has to improve on defense.
He has to stop shooting long step back 3s when he has a cold night or his team needs an important bucket.

[Pointgod]

Read on Twitter

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The Kyrie effect.