₦airaland Forum

Roland17:
Conditioning: Every season since he got drafted, worsestill over the last 2 seasons, Luka has started the season out of shape and declined as the season progressed. Lets be honest, if we are going to give Zion the sticks about his weight, we should apply the same energy on Luka who is fat. His weight is one reason the Mavs can not play fast, especially in transition. Luka is barely on his feet by the end of the 3rd quarter because he is gasping for air. His bad conditioning also means he NEVER runs back to defend if the opponents rebound and are on a fast break which means the Mavs are constantly short 1 player before Luka makes it into their half. This bad conditioning and inability to run means their offense becomes a predictable half court offense.

Defense: Should we even talk about this? Luka is lazy on defense, refuses to move his feet, work hard and bails out opponents with some of the silliest fouls. He is usually targeted by opponents because he would not only commit the foul or get blown by but he will also get a tech. For his size, one would think Luka would put some more effort on defense but he is the weakest link in the team defensively.

Well, Luka himself has come out to admit his conditioning and defense suck. So you are on to something

Roland17:
Is it time to start asking if Luka is the problem? It is easy to hide behind Kyrie, front office, Cuban and coaching but all season I have been consistent about Luka’s issues and how it affects winning.

I don’t see how the Mavs win anything with Luka’s style and leadership. Is he talented? Absolutely! but there is more to talent and he lacks a lot of them. It is an unpopular take that many avoid and refuse to look at but it is time to critically examine Luka.

Same Luka with previous team was looking like a #4#5 seed. So Luka is not the primary problem. That being said, at some point he is going to have to develop a complete game, like playing off the ball and defense. Playing off the ball is a must. His defensive liability can be covered by having a more defensive minded team, just like Curry.

A40:
I also heard Luka is dealing with personal issues. Apparently him and his mom were or are in the middle of a lawsuit.

Oyinbo ehn their way just different

Wasnt this last year? The mom got greedy. Btw no look oyinbos, we do much worse. Only difference is our court system is not very efficient, so many times people just let it go. Plus the optics look bad, the relatives come to beg, so you learn your lesson and move on. But make no mistake we are not better in this regard.

steady986:
This particular season there was no Capela and Dwight played 41 games. And seriously, Ariza was just a decent role player.

No he wasnt. Go check your stats. He was the defensive point man, and made as many 3s as Harden made. He was the third wheel even when CP3 came in.

steady986:
We have to give credit to Harden for leading this sorry team to 56 wins

Nice try. We had Ariza, Capela and Dwight Howard, all who could still ball at the time, this was like 9/10 years ago. And we had a deep bench with Jason Terry and Josh Smith (our 3rd and 4th option scoring).

We also ran a modified princeton offense, similar to what Warriors played. And if Harden and listened to coach McHale, stopped that iso ball and passed more to Ariza who was just as good as Harden at knocking down 3s that year, we would have beaten the Warriors. Harden gassed out trying to do it all all every 4th quarter. So frankly, we won the regular season because of him, and lost the playoffs because of him. In other words, 0 effect.

Gotta be careful with this stats, they can help you say whatever you want to hear at the moment.

A40:
Dirk fan but stuck around. Just have a soft spot for them

gotcha. cuban is easy to root for as well. he puts in more work into building his team than any other owner I know. I think he is blinded by that ring they won with Kidd. Kidd the PG outsmarted the Heat. Kidd the coach, nowhere near as effective.

The stakes btw #1 and #2 seed in the East are high. #2 gets to go through Miami and Philly. Neither of those teams are easy to finish off

A40 is a mavs fan? How did I not know this. My bush I45 cousin, how market!

benji93:
Let me be petty tonight. . I just heard a popular NBA talk head admit AD's peak is not as high as Giannis's. Then I remember that not too long ago some folks here actually thought it was blasphemous to even compare Giannis to AD, very interesting development.

I noticed some days you are very nice. On other days you are very mean. Yet, ALL your posts feature smileys, multiple smileys. You dey fear me bros

Roland17:
Mike Brown of the Kings should win coach of the year. He has done a phenomenal job with the Kings.

He almost lost that job when he took over warriors coaching with Kerr sick. I have always liked Mike Brown, from the time he coached Cavs. I really hope they go far, make some noise and he gets some rep in this league. Ditto for Sabonis - I havent watched any Kings games, but I look forward to seeing this guy on the big stage. Some nights he has this beast mode thing going on...

Roland17:
I am just asking you guys to give my guy AD his due, that's all!

It is easy to dawg him when he is out injured or playing poorly but when he comes back and is literally carrying the team to the playoffs, everyone goes mute.

We are going to dog him o, if it is shame that will make him perform, we shall deploy it. They used to call Giannis poor mans AD before. Now, Giannis is spitting parables like he owns the league. Mr unibrow needs to get used to all the smoke.

donlittle25, come out o. I know you a mavs fan. why you so quiet? why are you running? are you ok?

Roland17:
Bless you sir! If we talk now dem go say na hate! Last night, AD went for 38/10/4 and everywhere just quiet. Make no mistake, this is what we expect from AD but man never gets his due. He has been carrying this team since he got back but it has been crickets because some one is just all about himself. This is a better team when AD leads versus when Ajala is trying to win MVP ever year and stinking up the joint.

Watch dem choke on it!

Bro, we have been working on this hate thing na. I thought you had seen the light. Oya, take this prescription, head to the pharmacy now now

Lakers breathing a sigh of relief. Mavs feeling like taking a dump

Roland17:
Ben Simmons my goodness! The Nets have to be the most dysfunctional NBA team of the decade.

The nets front office and owner are incompetent. Just like the knicks were a few years ago. Everybody wants that high profile, cushy job in NYC. I think it means skilled people who cant play politics have no chance, so these orgs are being run by yes men who cant ties their own shoes.

Nets actually had a core, that would have made noise in this years playoffs. They lost that core, lost 3 "superstars" and will now have to rebuild. If the owner is wise, heads need to roll. Keep the coach because that guy knows the game.

Khanben:
No other player that I can remember has coasted on performing during one playoff series like Kyrie has. If we talk they will start to mention his bag, dude has done next to nothing since leaving Cleveland but somehow has still been given allstar and all-nba nods.
This is why I will never respect takes where people judge team basketball as if it's a 1v1 match-up, Kyrie with his flashy handles might make for an exciting 1v1 game, but when it comes to playing winning team basketball the dude is negative and has been for at the very least for 5 years

He leveraged his role on that cleveland team to the max. People forget how complete that team was, not just the starting 5. Kyrie played a role, but so did KLove, Ty Lue and Lebron. And that bench was deep, like the Celtics had when they won the ring with Garnett, Pierce and Ray.

But folks cant get those last dagger 3pters out of their head, and they keep waiting for a repeat performance that will bring them a ring. They forget that before Lebron's return to Cleveland, Kyrie was ok with scoring and never making playoffs. Well, one of these GMs will learn eventually.

steady986:
I saw this loss coming from the 1st quarter. We never looked engaged. And LeBron's integration took away some of our aggressiveness. We go again on Wednesday.

I was hoping they delayed Lebron coming back, but Lakers were due to lose one anyways.

A40:
Do I want Kyrie as a team moving forward? If he's willing to play at mid level or maybe $15m per annum?

I don't believe any team remotely serious about winning a title gives Kyrie significant money

But you cant say that out loud yet, the hype on Kyrie means everyone has to pretend he can be that missing piece for a championship contender. Truth is, if Kyrie wants to play on teams chasing a ring, he will have to take a reduced, disciplined role, but I dont think he is ready to.

Im sure there will be some GM willing to take a risk next season and give Kyrie a huge payday

Roland17:
LMAO! Ajala has carried his many bad traits to the LA locker room. Talks of an obvious beef between AD and Ajala have resurfaced.
AD has come out to debunk the rumors again but it has only fueled the credibility. The Lakers are playing better without Ajala on the court and the locker room is split.
AD wants to win and play in the postseason while Ajala is interested in his own records and Ajala!

He came off the bench. That debunks this rumor.

A40:
Yeah Mark Cuban has to blow up this team.

The team was ok before the trade. They just have to find Kyrie a new home and get complementary pieces for Luka.

Roland17:
Naaa. They have been just as poor before Kyrie’s arrival.

They were #5 in the playoffs. They were way better.

Honlucas:
Lakers are now in the 7th position...
I see Lakers moving up to make playoff not play in

Last 4 of the 8 games left are vs clippers, suns, jazz and timberwolves, and they could lose half of those, maybe 3 out of 4 because they play Jazz twice in the last 8. That disastrous start to the season, losing 15 of the first 18 games is about to bite em. Otherwise they would be sitting comfortable at 4 or 5 seed. And I think that is why Lakers are an x factor - they havent played their best basketball yet and have had long stretches of injuries. This team, with a healthy Lebron feels more like a top 4 seed

Honlucas:
Lakers are going to have 4games winning streak

way to jinx it. I do want to see Lebron in a 7 game series, I feel like the old man has worked hard enough and some post season play time is in order. If possible, Lakers need to avoid playins which is shaping up to be a blood bath

steady986:
I've been there so many times this season, trust me

Bro, put your shoulder down, 2 game win streak now you feeling comfy in lakerland

Roland17:
That has to be the worst officiating I have seen in the NBA. The refs clearly called Mavs ball but somehow the Warriors ended up with the ball.. Looks like a lot of miscommunication but Cuban is absolutely right to contest the result since it was a 2 point loss. Let’s see what the NBA comes up with.

To be honest, when ref calls start to affect you like that, you are already playing terrible bball. Mavs have falen from #5 seed to nearly being out of of even the playins. So this loss hurts even more.

Roland17:
Lonzo Ball’s career is over in my opinion. He should just hang his shoes for his own health and life retirement. I am feel bad for the man.

When his coach said "best chance", I read that as last chance. If this latest surgery goes through, maybe he comes back towards end of next season and shows Bulls something. But its a long long shot. The only positive here is he is younger, maybe his body can be taught to do things a little differently. Playing professional basketball and back to backs, most people dont have the body to deal with it

etidy:
I am with birdman on this one. Lillard is afraid of the pressure that comes with winning.
A good example of a player that is serious was Giannis. With one year left in his contract, he supported his team but made it openly clear that they needed to improve the rooster. What happened next ? Jrue holiday and gbam one title.

You don't have to request for a trade but you have to apply the right amount of pressure. Lillard gives the vibes of a player who just want to stat pad, make millions without the pressure that comes with it while hiding under the loyalty banner.

Sometimes let your contract run down small and put fear into the front office.
Lillard jumps at every opportunity for long extensions upon extensions take the maximum amount with consideration of how it affects the ability of the team to put players around him.

you said it better than I could

Khanben:
Portland is already talking of shutting down Dame even though the dude wants to play, so that they can tank for a better draft pick.
Very soon someone will do another stupid load management article and will include those missed games, when computing whatever statistics they are trying to push the narrative for.

too many excuses mehn, dame himself is not serious. The brother is down low lazy. Even if he wants to stay on portland, I have never seen him put pressure on the front office to win. He just wants to ball and get paid. Like Beal. and thats ok. But stop trying to make the go getters look bad, like you staying in one place cuz you loyal and old school.

Roland17:
Racism has been an issue in bean town, I can’t deny it. However, I don’t think it translates into JB wanting out, at least not right now.

They did pick a curious time to do this interview, but he appears to be more activist than the average nba player. He doesnt even sound angry, just resigned to the facts lol

I think Jalen wants out of the Celtics. Irishtown not treating the brother right. Sad that with all that money, you still have issues getting housing

steady986:

Its always been that way, and its not going to change. Best to deal with it

A40:
Why are you playing ostrich?

Someone that was openly pushing for Kyrie to be traded for? Are you pretending you didn't see the interview with Wilbon or the tweets?

The only reason we have had relatively calm is because the Lakers have been playing better than expected. If they were struggling we would hear the usual passive aggressive grumbling

I didnt see what I didnt see, in any case Im glad that never worked out. Lakers have been getting better for a minute now, and I expected them to be much better by season end. Even westbrook was playing really well. What I didnt expect is for some high fliers to start losing games, giving lakers a chance to make playoffs, not even playins.