Quote:
Originally Posted by DevinHarriswillstart
What was really overblown was Luka's lack of athleticism, and that was something that was pushed very hard by the "experts" and scouts. Many of us on here, including myself, went along with that as a huge crutch that couldn't work in today's NBA.
Then we saw his first preseason game against China, and that was it. I was completely sold, and the athletic stuff was totally out of whack.
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I've said from the word go that the athleticism or lack thereof was really overblown. At most, it will probably prevent him from ever being a great defensive player, but other than that, he'll have no problem being a superstar for years to come.
There's been no shortage of phenomenal, all-time great players who didn't have top flight athleticism. The closest comparison physically to Luka is Harden. Harden has never been particularly fast or jumped very high, but he's big and strong. Luka is even bigger and stronger. Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving, Carmelo Anthony, Paul Pierce, Steve Nash, John Stockton, even the legendary Larry Bird... None of these guys were ever extraordinary physical specimens. That's just guards and small forwards. If you expand the list to include big men, then the list balloons to dozens, probably.