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This is an observation I had also and didn't post here. I applaud people like you who pay attention to these sorts of things. Him sitting up front is absolutely telling.
I agree. People absolutely blasted White, DJ during their rookie years. Lonnie, not so much, because he had "flash" so everyone was on his balls no matter what. Where Luka is in two years will be the truth. Not whats being shown now. No matter what flaws we see.
This is an observation I had also and didn't post here. I applaud people like you who pay attention to these sorts of things. Him sitting up front is absolutely telling.
funny you type that because I kinda thought the same exact thing. It’s not a coincidence they have him sitting beside Mills at all.
I’m not gonna go as far as you and say it doesn’t give me confidence though. A lot of young players need vets to show them how to be a pro. It is scary that his motor isn’t the greatest and that was a knock on him coming into the draft and hasn’t gotten all that much better though.
he is still very young and has time to get better so I’m not giving up hope on the guy just yet. His biggest thing is getting bigger, stronger, and his conditioning being better. The guy has some skills and I’ve seen them live and in person at some development league game.
As european scouts said when he was in Europe, he is lazy, he gives little effort, his motor is really questionnable.
The motor is what im worried about from the beggining, that's not something you Can teach.
People were high on him because he made a lot to impress at the combine but he stills waaays from being in the rotation.
Still he has all the tools to suceed and I agree with what David Robinson 50 fan said above.
Last edited by duncan2150; 08-02-2020 at 08:34 AM.
another kid named Luka was the best player in Europe at 18.
Also, Spurs gets some new scouts cause every single person that watched Samanic play at Olimpija could tell you he's not worth a first round pick.
I do hope he can average 3 points when he's 21.
Yeah, he's definitely going to need another season before even being a rotation player. Its not like that's shocking though, he's a project-- more so than many previous 1sts. The closest comp is probably Cojo. He was widely considered to be a reach at 30, he might've not been take at 40 otherwise.
I'm assuming that the plan is that Lyles and Gay hold down the fort at the 4, next season, then after next season he'd be in line to replace Gay as the backup 4.
There are several takes on this thread that I think, in time, will look quite foolish. This is one of those.
Dude is 20, man. Still growing into his body. He'll average 15 within 4 years, by the age of 24. Likely 25ppg by the time he's entering his prime **8 years** from now.
I'm giving Luka the benefit of the doubt. Not everyone can be luka doncic. Hes an 18 year old euro kid still adapting to the style of americanized basketball . I'm not going to be like some idiots here and already calling for his head because he isn't playing up to some people's standards.
He's actually not super young. He's already 20.5
Time will tell-patience is called for
But he seems like he should be better and warning signs have reared up
I hope so, Spurs desperately need production from their drafted players because their trades and signings have been a disaster for close to 3+ seasons now.
But it's a long way to go for him to get the numbers you're talking about. Like a huge outlier for him to get there, the deck is stacked against him.
Basically they only PF who's done what you're talking about in the pace-space era that I can think of is Siakam, and there's dozens more who haven't/won't, like a 99% probability Samanic doesn't get there.
Even averaging 15 is very hard for a PF. There's about 13 designated PFs or PF/SF hybrids as listed on bkref as doing 15 a game. I think the list is a little flawed as it doesn't include guys like Bojan or Sabonis but does include Bam, but basically 15 PFs getting 15 a game. And half of them never averaged close to 25 a game in a single season. Good scorers like Tobias Harris, Gallo, and Marcus Morris never averaged more than 20 a game.
Trey Lyles is a very skilled player who has never even cracked 10 points a game in his seasons, though he never played starter minutes. He also hasn't hit 20 per 36 ever.
Rudy Gay has been a big time scorer his entire career, who has never scored under 14.5 per 36 in his entire career, but has never done more than 21.5 per 36 either.
It would be a miracle if he works out like you think he will. Spurs need miracles so I hope he does it.
He was always going to be boom or bust. The size/athleticism/ball skills are impressive and rare enough to where I understand why they took the gamble. It's mainly going to come down to his give a meter and shot though. If those things develop adequately, it'll allow his aforementioned tools to shine.
PPG and counting stats in general are mostly a product of minutes/usage and therefore largely irrelevant. Spurs fans should know this as well as anyone.
Nor should it. They might all be listed as the nominal starting "PF" for their respective teams, but Bogdanovic is more of an "SF" and Sabonis and Adebayo are C's.
Not impressed with Brandon Clarke. Horrible shooting form and he’s about to be 24 years old in about a month. I’ll take Luka all day.
Just remember big men in this league take a lot longer to figure things out. Hopefully this off season he can gain about 10 to 15 pds of muscle. And just better understand American basketball and work on his 3 pointer and mid range shooting.
I am hoping him and Keldon will be working out this offseason together I think they were pretty tight in G League.
Lol at posters here comparing Luka Samanic to Luka Doncic, as if they're both supposed to have similar trajectories or careers... Everyone acting like we drafted Samanic with the #3 pick. Ridiculous. There's literally hundreds of NBA players who were trash and non-productive their rookie seasons and second years, then figured things out and went on to have great careers. , even Kobe didn't come out of the gates blazing, though I know it's just a stupid a comparison as the Doncic one.
Posters here should simply pretend we took Keldon with the 19th pick and Luka with the 29th, that should help stop getting y'alls panties in a bunch every time his name comes up. Or not - these threads are always fun to go back to after players inevitably get better. , I get a chuckle every time I go back to that re Monty's posts about Lonnie being nothing more than an athlete and would never be a rotation player in the NBA. Why is everyone so -bent on judging players like they're never going to improve? Doesn't make sense to me.
I agree with this post, but raise the question - why should Luka develop into a pure scorer? We have a plethora of guards that are looking like they can take on a scoring load, and as you say, PFs nowadays very rarely contribute lots of points, yet they still do a lot of other things that help their teams succeed. Why are we setting an absolutely arbitrary bar that Luka has to clear to be judged as a non-bust (as if a 19th pick could ever truly be a bust), especially one as shallow as PPG? I want Luka to box out, rebound, playmake, give a on the defensive end, bust out a couple of slick moves with the tools that he has, and be an alley-oop finisher, which is something the Spurs sorely lack right now and Samanic could definitely contribute in given his vertical and athleticism. I don't really care whether he scores 15ppg or 10ppg or 5 as long as he's helping the team win games.
Of course, he's not helping anyone right now, he's figuring things out and learning the ropes. But setting up expectations like "Spurs need miracles" talking about offensive scoring, when Luka hasn't really been projected as a scorer, is just setting yourself up for disappointment, imo. Of course, you're arguing kind of the same thing I am, so I'm betting we'll agree here; I'm more talking about the rest of the posters ITT.
Had nothing to do with our scouts. Buford's been enamored with Luka Sandwich for years. There's videos of him watching Luka play back when he was 17. No way RC was going to not draft him.
Didn't Wright draft him..
Not a fan of Wright, he's been a terrible GM thus far but I gotta believe Buford made the call on Luka. He's been scouting the kid for years.
Spurs have been scouting him for a year or so.
I'm still good with the pic. He's got size, skills, athleticism.
Odds are he will not pan out. That's just based on being drafted where he was
Luka was always a couple of years away tbh, don't mind that they went with the high-ceiling guy. Thybulle and Brandon Clarke are nice if you have a playoff team but the Spurs aren't that with Bryn/Marco getting heavy minutes in Poop's rotation...
Regardless, looks like they hit again on Keldon tbh....
Yeah.. Keldon has been great.. and FINALLY.. a player with some size. His legs are seriously twice as thick as Murray's
Yeah and if Luka was as ready as the other Luka in Dallas, he would have been long gone by 19. The guy is a project. Skills are there, let's see if he has the drive to make it happen.
Yup, those two would be great pickups if we still had Kawhi. As is, we gotta swing for the fences if we're drafting outside the lottery with a a team that isn't good enough to contend but not quite bad enough to land a top 5 pick.
Now see that is where it looks like things went wrong in picking him lol
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