Luka Samanic is gone (Update: Yeah, he gone)

[rjv]

While I think Pop definitely didn't do him any favors the fact is this guy didn't do with the opportunities he was given and consistently looked lost and timid when he got chances. Yeah he showed flashes here and there but hes supposed to be one of the best 500 ball players in the world.

His at ude sucks, his work ethic sucks, and he looks like a pouty consistently. this guy. If he does move on and blossoms great. But honestly not gonna lose sleep over it, this dude did jack with the chances he did get

he did seem to have an overrated sense of himself. i remember that he told reporters, at his post-draft conference, that the NBA player he thought he compared the most to was KD.

[FkLA]

If Pop yelled at Tim, sure this Eurotash can handle it. En lement without anything at all on his resume. He sucked in Europe, and he sucked here. The breakdown lane of the NBA highway is littered with broken, ended careers of talented fools like this. If he doesn’t “get it” after two years, he never will.

This narrative that Pop treats everyone the same is stupid and not true. How many times did he treat Danny like a whipping boy and dramatically pull him for a defensive mistake? Same with Lonnie. Same with Luka. Yet Brent is consistently one of the worst defenders in the league and all he can do is gush about how "yeah he's overmatched physically, but noone tries harder than my Brent".

It was only a matter of time before it rubbed someone the wrong way. And yeah, obviously Luka isn't the strongest mentally so not surprised it was him. Will probably happen more often now that the team isn't a le contender every year like the glory days. I've said for years, that the favoritism/lack of equal treatment would bother the out of me if I was in someone like Luka's or Lonnie's shoes.

[siraulo23]

well that pick didnt work out

he finally showed something last season, wished the spurs gave him another season before calling it tbh but it is what it is

[exstatic]

I don't understand giving up on Luka over a guy like KBD. We're going to regret this down the line.

I think that he had already played his way out of this years roster, and at the tail end part of the roster, you go for effort. To look at him again next year would have cost them another $4.5M. Not worth it.

[exstatic]

This narrative that Pop treats everyone the same is stupid and not true. How many times did he treat Danny like a whipping boy and dramatically pull him for a defensive mistake? Same with Lonnie. Same with Luka. Yet Brent is consistently one of the worst defenders in the league and all he can do is gush about how "yeah he's overmatched physically, but noone tries harder than my Brent".

It was only a matter of time before it rubbed someone the wrong way. And yeah, obviously Luka isn't the strongest mentally so not surprised it was him. Will probably happen more often now that the team isn't a le contender every year like the glory days. I've said for years, that the favoritism/lack of equal treatment would bother the out of me if I was in someone like Luka's or Lonnie's shoes.

I never said he treats everyone the same. If you’ve watched even a couple of years of the Spurs, you know that’s not true. I said that if Pop can yell at the GOAT PF, this little nothing mother er can take it, or he can ride the waiver wire.

[FkLA]

you cant depend on soft ass stiffs with zero motor

good riddance

Yeah, let's just depend on make-a-wish players like Brent that are limited physically instead. At least they try hard and have the right at ude even if they're outmatched physically!!

[rjv]

I never said he treats everyone the same. If you’ve watched even a couple of years of the Spurs, you know that’s not true. I said that if Pop can yell at the GOAT PF, this little nothing mother er can take it, or he can ride the waiver wire.

and parker still refers to his rookie season as if pop gave him PTSD for life.

[Chinook]

Luka is two-way eligible. Could see them wanting him back, but he should probably move on, and the team should use that spot on a back-up PG

[Ocotillo]

Sekou Doumbouya offered a two way now?

[exstatic]

Luka is two-way eligible. Could see them wanting him back, but he should probably move on, and the team should use that spot on a back-up PG

He doesn’t have a spot. We needed to cut two, and now that problem is half solved.

[FkLA]

I never said he treats everyone the same. If you’ve watched even a couple of years of the Spurs, you know that’s not true. I said that if Pop can yell at the GOAT PF, this little nothing mother er can take it, or he can ride the waiver wire.

Really doubt it was yelling that broke Luka. It was probably the lack of opportunity, while seeing guys that drag the team down get guaranteed minutes over the years.

And I don't blame him, anyone that says that wouldn't bother them is lying.

[rankingtear]

This narrative that Pop treats everyone the same is stupid and not true. How many times did he treat Danny like a whipping boy and dramatically pull him for a defensive mistake? Same with Lonnie. Same with Luka. Yet Brent is consistently one of the worst defenders in the league and all he can do is gush about how "yeah he's overmatched physically, but noone tries harder than my Brent".

It was only a matter of time before it rubbed someone the wrong way. And yeah, obviously Luka isn't the strongest mentally so not surprised it was him. Will probably happen more often now that the team isn't a le contender every year like the glory days. I've said for years, that the favoritism/lack of equal treatment would bother the out of me if I was in someone like Luka's or Lonnie's shoes.

Well you don't pull a guy in game for having short arms.

[FkLA]

Well you don't pull a guy in game for having short arms.

You also probably don't start him 200 games in a row and force feed him 30 mpg. But it happened.

[exstatic]

Really doubt it was yelling that broke Luka. It was probably the lack of opportunity, while seeing guys that drag the team down get guaranteed minutes over the years.

And I don't blame him, anyone that says that wouldn't bother them is lying.

He never played hard, never gave effort above minimum, and sometimes no effort at all. That won’t earn you minutes here, or on most teams. He’s been doing like last night for two years, both here and Austin.

[Chinook]

He doesn’t have a spot. We needed to cut two, and now that problem is half solved.

There's still a two-way spot left that doesn't interfere with the rest of the roster plans.

[Leetonidas]

its official

[exstatic]

There's still a two-way spot left that doesn't interfere with the rest of the roster plans.

That spot was available while Luka was here, and is still available now. Not his spot.

[baseline bum]

Good riddance. If he couldn't earn minutes on this weak ass roster he's not an NBA player and best to cut their losses before having to throw more good money at bad for another year. At least Aminu might be useful to keep for trade matching purposes.

[KingKev]

For the record we aren’t going to hear about him being cut till the absolute deadline. I highly doubt there are any trades in the works but if there are Luka is either involved or gets a roster spot by default so long as the trade is net negative 2 bodies.

[duncan2150]

When a draft specialist say that... offcourse he could be wrong but as i said many times a lot of scouts were low on Samanic, particulary in Europe.

I never understood his hype here, he's a weak defender, no effort, no hustle, no motor.. the quality is just his size and the way he can move.

A bad idea from the beginning.

Maybe he will be better by " moving his ass" after this cut.

[raybies]

This narrative that Pop treats everyone the same is stupid and not true. How many times did he treat Danny like a whipping boy and dramatically pull him for a defensive mistake? Same with Lonnie. Same with Luka. Yet Brent is consistently one of the worst defenders in the league and all he can do is gush about how "yeah he's overmatched physically, but noone tries harder than my Brent".

It was only a matter of time before it rubbed someone the wrong way. And yeah, obviously Luka isn't the strongest mentally so not surprised it was him. Will probably happen more often now that the team isn't a le contender every year like the glory days. I've said for years, that the favoritism/lack of equal treatment would bother the out of me if I was in someone like Luka's or Lonnie's shoes.

It's called effort and focus. He is always locked in, he just has limited tools. And when you have someone who is playing like that with no tools and then have a guy who's wasting it so to speak it can be very frustrating. Danny and Lonnie are in the same category. When Lonnie is locked in like last night he has the ability to reach a ceiling of a star.

Imagine how frustrating it would be everyday to have someone being careless at work and ing up. Try working with ppl like that in construction etc. It's annoying af and pisses everyone off. I have gotten fired for being like that early on a kid in the work place. Danny on the other hand would always respond. He was the type of player that needed someone to light a fire under his ass. Lonnie is just young on the other hand and needs maturity and understand what it means to be a professional ball player.

Just an ignorant hate post on Pop. Try looking at it from his perspective. Bonner, Forbes and players like that he loves cause they are always going to give maximum effort and focus despite their glaring limitations. The leash on the other hand when the team as a whole is getting burned is very debatable. In that regard, he needs to know when to pull the plug.

[Trill Clinton]

This was written about luka 3 years ago. Ricky's take was on the money:

Samanic is hard to pin down however, as Ricky Scricca expressed in his piece about the international class: “If (Samanic) puts all of those theoretical skills together he could be a pretty dynamic playmaking big, but with some red flags on his mental approach, it takes a major leap of faith to believe it will happen at the NBA level when it still hasn’t fleshed out overseas.”

[FkLA]

He never played hard, never gave effort above minimum, and sometimes no effort at all. That won’t earn you minutes here, or on most teams. He’s been doing like last night for two years, both here and Austin.

False. Is he the fiercest compe or out there? Nah. But he had flashes of really solid effort, especially defensively. And they were only flashes bc that's really all they can be when your opportunities are so limited. You also don't transform your body the way he has without putting in major work behind the scenes.

[Dex]

[smaka]

I was saying from the beginning that he is a wasted and overrated pick. And I knew the Spurs have an eye on him since I saw RC live on the games I attended because Luka played for my hometown team before joining Spurs. I never got the hype around him, honestly.