[Zeus]

Originally Posted by Thespiralgoeson

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.

Luka has a very quick first step, excellent hand/eye coordination and emerging strength. He also has great balance while moving laterally. People need to stop thinking of athleticism as purely absolute vertical leaping ability. Luka has started lifting weights for the first time and will likely grow into a physically dominating beast within a few more years of progressive resistance training. Isn't strength and size while mainaining quickness with the ball an athletic attribute? He is a good athlete. The scouts and media were stupid in this regard