It might be laziness, but I keep wondering if he's just not an instinctual player- he often looks slow to react/mechanical. You also get the feeling he's playing basketball because he's 6'10" and athletic not that he has a burning desire.
Acted like a star. Maybe. But is there anything particularly grandiose or vain about him that would suggest he was a prima donna. No. He appeared sullen and detached, possibly morose, and probably had mental issues which were never addressed. In addition, Pop’s approach, despite the “woke sloganeering”, didn’t really connect with Luka and whatever issues he is likely dealing with.
It was a shared failure, but dropping it all on Luka is a dodge for the FO and coaching staff.
It might be laziness, but I keep wondering if he's just not an instinctual player- he often looks slow to react/mechanical. You also get the feeling he's playing basketball because he's 6'10" and athletic not that he has a burning desire.
Luka was a bum but I still think he should have been given more playtime. he had a nice stretch midseason last year when we had some guys out. particularly the game against the knicks where he defended really well.
was really baffling to not see him get meaningful burn down the stretch. but i had no issues with them waiving him
Zach Collins will be better if healthy
Collins lurks. By that I mean, his ability to get healthy and actually crack the rotation will impact a lot of things. Thad is clearly better as the first backup 5 off the bench compared to Eubanks but is being played in bubble wrap either because Pop is in love with Eubanks or more likely, Thad is being held on to in hopes Zollins returns and is then shipped to a contender for picks.
If Zollins ankle snaps again, it will be disappointing but will minimally impact cap space as he and Thad (and Aminu) come off the books at the end of year (unless Collins ankle hangs in there until the rest of this option is picked up).
Why this even gets to be a thread is the 4 is our most glaring weak spot at this time. I was hoping Sandwich would get his head together and make the rotation this year and develop further with the rest of the youngens but it was not meant to be.
For his sake, I hope he gets his head on straight and becomes an NBA player. At this point, I am already in "I hope we get a great power forward in this years draft" stage.
he did have some nice moments in games-such as against the knicks-but then he'd turn right around and crap the floor, as he did against the sixers. that was what was so frustrating about him. of course, lonnie does the same thing but the spurs haven't given up on him. not yet, at least.
Thad will likely be moved regardless of the above. Zollins 22-23 season is partially guaranteed. I’m a tad worried a healthy Zollins
barley gets a shot to play till next year as he is given the “get over yourself” treatment and is forced to watch Eubanks play major backup minutes.
Collins at 85% will still be better than Ewwwbanks. So, I'm hopeful this doesn't happen.
Zollins is still young, has an intriguing skill set and could probably even play some minutes along side Jak if his 3ball is stroking. He also might never see the court as a Spur. Complete
wild card at this point but I remain optimistic!
I’m surprised more folks aren’t crying again in here after Samanic had another good game for the G-League Knicks.
Even though it’s a small sample size I am impressed with his 3 point percentage and amount per game so far for him. He isn’t jacking up a ton of 3’s but he has taken and made a good amount per game so far
And he is gobbling up rebounds. 16 last game.
Better thread le would have been: Should We Have Kept Him a Little Longer and Actually Played Him So We Can Actually Know if He Sucks or Not?
These points have been brought up before, and were effectively countered with “It’s the gleague “. Kyle Anderson looked like an All Star, and shot like high 30s from 3. That’s why no one brought it up again.
luka is also a seasoned g-league vet now; he better be putting up those numbers.
this franchise thought it was more important to have forbes instead
this is his 1st season (still a lot of games left) shooting well in the G league so I don’t understand how anybody could Have made that argument before. Lol.
if he can hit the 3 pointer at this percentage with a few more attempts per game and keep up his decent defense he showed with the Spurs (NBA club) when he got run, then I think he might become a true NBA player.
That’s if he doesn’t pout and quit for not getting touches like he has been in the G League though.
I’m not 100% sure but I’m gonna go out on a limb and say Forbes coming back had nothing to do with Samanic getting cut from the team.
SMH
Samanic was cut to bring KBD in. And KBD ain’t better that Samanic at anything basketball related except that he has a longer wing span
He was cut because he's a churlish asshole with an extremely bad at ude who won't even run the court on defensive assignments.
He had a real nice game I got to admit he scored 36pts to go with his 12 rebounds - But it's the way he scored that really impressed me he hit the 3 ball, he beat his man off the dribble to take it to the rim, he had a couple of dunks, and put backs, and scored on the fast break.
Why is this a thread still? Is dude starting for Knicks or something?
All I'm saying is if Luka turns into a serviceable contributor for the Knicks, it effectively set this team back 2 to 3 yrs. Having a potential starter or even quality bench guy at damn near 7'0"capable of playing solid D, running the floor, and maybe shooting efficiently from 3, those guys don't grow on trees. Especially at 22 and at a relatively cheap option year to see if signing him to a longer term deal was worth it.
It's the way things have been done though with PATFO the last 5 yrs or so. Bad choice after bad signing after bad signing after bad choice.
Were it a regular coach and front office, ppl would have lost their jobs over these serious flubs.
Jury is still out in Luka, long term. Short term, you pick up his option everyday, and twice on Sunday.
That one is gonna hurt for years tho, potentially.
Was never a fan of the pick but he has been dominating the G League right now and is arguably one of the best players if not the best so far and he is younger than the majority of the players in the G League. Doesn't mean it will translate to the NBA but the talent is there and the Spurs could definitely have used him this season and gave him a CONSISTENT role not some oh you can play 15 min and then not play the next 12 games straight. The kid is 21 and we drafted him 19th a couple years ago knowing he's going to be a project, yet they inexplicably released him this early in his development.
Maybe he's motivated at last. Will be interesting if Knicks call him up.
Interesting if he was called up for tonight's game against the Spurs.
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