Bill Simmons on Luka Dončić calling for fouls: “It’s so bad that even LeBron is like, wow.”
It’s so frustrating to watch because it bleeds into the entire team.
Yeah, when a player is obviously getting frustrated it makes the rest of the team uncomfortable too. Can see it when Jokic is in a bad mood and starts foul baiting too, bleeds into our team and ruins the energy as well.
I’m not sure what these stars are expecting. The refs cannot blow a whistle every single time. Either because they don’t see it every time or because it would bog the game down into a free throw contest. Not saying it’s right but the this is a common refrain in any sport.
NFL referees once infamously said they can call holding on almost every play if they wanted to do so. But then the entire game would just be penalties. So there’s an art to it. People want officiating to be black and white but it sadly ain’t and if it was the game would become unwatchable.
They are also not all fouls. Players have gotten it in their head that if they so much as get breathed on there needs to be a foul.
I’m a HS official and I see it even at that level. The amount of whining from players, coaches and fans makes my ears bleed. They want every piece of contact a foul on their end and to ‘play through tough fouls’ on the other.
I haven’t done a men’s league in about 10 years over the constant whining of ‘he looked at me, call a foul’ when on offense and ‘hey, let us play’ when on defense.
Fellow official. How goes it. HS bb official for over 20 years now. I finally stopped recently. People are out of control and the players all think they are in the NBA.
I moved over to volleyball. So much more peaceful.
Edit. My favorite saying will always be when the crowd says. “ blow your whistle!” Then the very next moment. “Hey let them play ref!”
I feel like if I was officiating high school and was dealing with that level of whining I would just go on a tech spree and give them out like candy. It probably wouldn’t be sustainable and would likely just lead to getting fired, though.
When I was a lot younger I used to officiate basketball games, anywhere from children’s rec league to JV, both boys and girls. JV was as high as I could go I couldn’t do varsity until you had so many games logged. I’m old now but at the time I was 18 or 19.
This was in west Texas. We were officiating a boys game I think it was a junior high tournament. The game was really good, a close game. The crowd was into it, one of the coaches was kind of giving me an earful each time we came down the floor. The last time we came down the floor he told me to open my eyes and there was just something about the way he said it and the sneer on his face and I was tired of him yapping at me. So I turned around and T’d him up.
The funny thing was the look on his stupid face.
The funnier thing was I had been watching basketball for quite awhile and was even doing some assistant coaching. You see people get T’d up all the time. But I had no idea what to do after I gave the tech lol. The other veteran ref had to sort things out. It was so embarrassing lol. I really got it from the crowd after that.
After the game the other official had a chuckle but said don’t be dishing out T’s too much because if the coaches get a certain amount of techs they have to go in front of a board and explain their actions and what he did really didn’t warrant a tech and he could lose his job and blah blah. Looking at it as an adult nah I had a coach basically yelling at me every time I came down the floor over nothing and I wasn’t much older than the kids playing so he can explain his actions to a board if he feels he needs to do that during a game but that was a long time ago.
I learned a lot from officiating though and it was a fun time ultimately, I learned the game from a different perspective and made some good side money, I could’ve almost done it as my full time job at the time as I was still 18 or 19 and living at home.
Refereed HS soccer when in college. The great thing about by FA is they just let you kick out coaches. Technically you can’t card a coach, but you CAN just tell them they have to leave. And if they don’t just tell them the game is cancelled. They leave.
I feel like a men’s league is informal enough that you could get together with both teams before the game and ask what kind of whistle they want, or even just telling them straight up that you’re only going to call egregious fouls or vice versa. We had a ref that would tell us he doesn’t like stopping play or ticky-tack fouls and it set the expectations. Way less problems when he was reffing than with other officials.
That’s how I did it. It made for a good rapport between players and myself. Control the controllables that’s a key referee saying.
I’ve done that. Works for about 2 game minutes or until someone talks the tiniest bit of noise then it’s extremely street ball. But I get what you’re saying. Just not my cup of tea.
Oh gosh, what a surprise answer. Communication and maturity. Imagine that! lol
Oh, so the whiney pros like KAT and Luka set a bad example for kids and amateurs you say? Imagine that. The complaining is tainting the game. But refs are also notoriously inconsistent way too often within a game or between teams.
It also really doesn’t help that the officials are super inconsistent. They regularly miss real fouls and then call ticky tacky bullshit and phantom fouls. Plus individual players get wildly different whistles. Can you imagine the chaos of everyone was given the same leeway by the refs that Draymond gets?
Plus, they reward the exact behavior we don’t want. If you try to finish through contact? No call. You flop or try to initiate contact with the sole purpose of drawing a foul? Ref’s got you bro.
It also doesn’t help when every player is taught to whip their head back to exaggerate the contact
You could call an offensive foul on Jokic every time down the floor too. It was the same with Shaq. They used to say he got fouled every time down the floor. That may have been true, but he offensive fouled almost every time down the floor as well. Jaylen Brown can’t get his own shot without shoving off. I’m not singling these guys out or have anything against them, they’re just who came to mind off the top of my head. Pretty much every guy who complains about being fouled, is an offensive foul machine as well
Best comment I’ve read in a while. I’m not a ref or umpire, but I had a friend who umpired baseball, and he told me he would ump based on effort. If the play at first was a tie, it would go to the runner if they were booking it. Otherwise, he would give it to the first baseman. It’s nuanced.
Jokic is literally 1⁄100 of what Luka is.
Everybody gets frustrated at times. Especially with Jokic’s ABHORRENT whistle.
Luka however is on a level that i have never seen before in any sport ever. It’s like he’s not there to play competitive basketball. Man is on a mission to make Cryball the biggest sport in the world.
can you share your numbers on Jokis being “literally 1⁄100” of Luka, that must have been an interesting analysis
People called Jokic out on that and his weight which he fixed during their Championship run. Luka has similar issues except he isn’t anywhere close to a defensive leader/mastermind. Jokic uses his BBIQ on defense to cover for his limitations while Luka is a liability that doesn’t use his IQ outside of some steals in the passing lanes.
Jokic uses his BBIQ to stand in the same spot and get smoked in the paint constantly.
Tf kinda comment is that, don’t act like Jokic is a better defender than Luka. Luka was also making clutch defensive plays to close out the Clips just a game ago, he’s not nearly as bad as everyone acts.
Jokic made Mitch Robinson look AI before the allstar break. One of the silliest crossovers I’ve seen.
Yeah, Jokic when he genuinely tries on defense and doesn’t let anything frustrate him isn’t nearly as bad as Luka. Just by virtue of bein big and predicting the other teams plays better. Still can’t make up for his lack of rim protection entirely but he’s not that bad, only is that bad when he lets things get in his head and stops trying. For all that he gives off the nonchalant vibe he’s a pretty emotional player on the court.
When Luka tries on defense, he’s actually not bad.
He can slide his feet well enough for someone his size and he’s big, strong, smart, and has good hands.
He just almost never tries for a full game.
KAT would really fuck up our vibe doing this too and Gobert can occasionally too
Its rubbed off on Reeves, he’s literally running side by side with the refs in transition bitching instead of getting back on D.
What’s lost in the Nico debacle is that Luka was an obvious “sell high” candidate. The problem was the guy he “sold high” for needed to be salary dumped immediately.
But the Luka assessment wasn’t that far off, he’s obviously a transcendental talent but there is clearly sonething missing in the mentality and it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s never the best player on a championship team and even bounces around the league a bit throughout his career.
The defense thing is funny because if he just ran back and covered somebody instead of bitching at the refs after every offwnsive possession he’d be an average defender. He’s a massive liability mostly because his team is playing 5v4 on the other end every time he thinks the ref missed a call.
The problem was that Nico only told 1 team he was selling, so he didn’t end up selling high.
Yea, like, if you wanna move him, fine. That’s a valid opinion to have. Could be wrong, but you’re allowed to think he isn’t a champion. Not every great is.
We dunk on Nico not because he sold a talent, but because he did a shite job of handling that transaction.
If you are going to sell a piece like that, you call every team. You get a bidding war going. You get the sort of haul that sets you up for the next 5-10 years. You get the sort of picks and players that YouTubers a decade from now are talking about how, in hindsight, you won the fuck out of that trade.
What’s lost in the Nico debacle is that Luka was an obvious “sell high” candidate.
No. No he absolutely was not. As evidenced by the fact that no other team in the league ever even thought to ask if he was available. You dont “sell high” on a top 5 player in the league who still isnt even in their prime, and just took you to the Finals.
You dont “sell high” on a top 5 player in the league who still isnt even in their prime, and just took you to the Finals.
Why do we keep saying Luka isn’t in his prime yet? The best version of Luka was 2022 and 2024, and it’s no guarantee that he gets better than what he is right now.
People also need to remember that Luka went pro at 16 and was part of the Real Madrid youth academy at 13. The dude already has a lot of miles on the odometer.
Most of these guys have played nonstop since childhood.
And after you crafted a roster built around him and didn’t even give them any chance to really play (due to injuries)
who still isnt even in their prime
But that’s the debate…
People talk about prime like it’s something that starts at a set time and date in your life.
Derrick Rose’s prime was 20-23. Ja Morant’s prime was 22-23. Lowry didn’t hit his prime until he was about 29.
There’s a good chance we’ve already seen / are already seeing Luka in his prime. There might not be further growth and development to come.
This is a guy who was out of shape for a finals appearance, and then came back the next season in even worse shape.
We might look back and say Luka’s prime started at 22-23 and he sorta hovered around that level until he eventually dropped off.
Luka’s on/offs have consistently been in the good but not great range. Even this year with absurd box score stats the Lakers are only barely better with him out there. If Nico had just actually shopped him around it could’ve been a Herschel Walker kind of move. Luka on a Supermax is probably a negative asset, he does make his teams better but not by enough to justify the kind of money you’d have to pay him.
To be fair. When Lukas off, Lebrons on. So it shouldnt be too crazy as opposed to a normal team.
gonna nerd out for a moment here. its obviously not anywhere near the same level. but i played a pvp video game professionally/competitively.
we would research teams we were scheduled to play. and if we discovered they had a toxic player, or just someone with a short temper, we would target them in-game in order to trigger them and bring the team down. no verbal harassment or anything. just focus killing them and making their life difficult.
it almost always worked. they would rage and the team would be affected.
As a long time watcher of international basketball, Slovenian team has become unbearable to watch, even when Luka is off the floor. When you watch them during FIBA qualification windows without Luka, it is like day and night.
He does complain every single possession. It’s frustrating. Love him but shit is getting old lol. Hes too good to cry that much just hoop and it will fall into place.
I know it’s been said a million times (and more), but it’s annoying how much of a whiner he is. It’s bad enough when players cry and complain, but 99% do it within the flow of the game and it doesn’t affect their team negatively. Luka berates the refs drops everything and refuses to run back on defense, or sometimes he goes on full tilt and just lets it affect him in the succeeding plays.
He just comes across so weak mentally. And yes, this is coming from a Lakers/Luka fan.
The windhorst rant on him post game 3 finals vs Boston was so accurate. Obviously Luka is amazing and you take the flaws he has for sure cause of how good he is. But yeah he’s a spoiled brat. It’s pretty obvious now. If he acts that way on the court, how do you think he is off the court?
The refusal to get in real shape and the refusal to stop complaining at the refs to the detriment of his team is clearly an ego issue. The refusal to stop complaining mid game is obviously ego. Everyone has called him out on it.
I’m like imagining Nico being a prototypical Stickler Private Equity / Corporate America type I run into in my day job a lot and I can see how they clashed hard as fuck
Imagine being an empty suit but externally project “peak professionalism” type and Luka’s your star player
Obviously that trade was dumb as fuck though, not saying that’s not true
Nico’s whole thing when he did play ball was grinding his ass off and playing through discomfort to an unhealthy degree and he brought that same attitude to GM. He wasn’t a good GM, but I can understand why he would have hated Luka.
May I ask, why don’t the flaws ever outweigh the strengths? As great as he is, these flaws are what’s holding him back. I’m genuinely curious when do we say “Luka is great but he’s not going to be that guy”
I for one have already said that, he ain’t winning short of another superstar in their prime falling in LAs lap. Now tbf I’m hater, both of Luka and the Lakers, so I can’t claim to be the most objective, but I think all of Lukas weaknesses really get amplified at the very highest level games.
he ain’t winning short of another superstar in their prime falling in LAs lap.
So, next year?
I swear to god if they fall ass backwards into Giannis…
You could drop him on the 2024 Celtics and he would have a good shot of winning the championship, but that team was literally all ++ shooters and defenders. You won’t find that archetype of team anytime soon, and definitely not from an org as badly run as the Lakers.
The highest-level games are when teams play their best defense and the refs swallow their whistles. That’s why guys like Steph don’t get flustered. They’re used to having to score. NOT getting bailed out.
Yes, this and your opponents schemes are buttoned down and on point. For Luka in the finals this meant getting targeted every time on the defensive end and this means giving up good looks while youre offensive engine is getting exhausted. That’s part of why it’s so valuable for your best player to be a plus on the defensive end, not only do they not give up easy looks but they’re not getting picked on every position and tired out either.
I’m a Luka hater since I started watching his style of play. I hated him on Dallas, and couldn’t watch him, now I like LeBron but it’s even more frustrating to watch Luka slow down the game and play garbage with LeBron. There are 10 guys right now in the league that , if given the green lights that Luka gets, could be better than him because of the defensive side.
Because hes already been that guy for the majority of his career?
We’re gonna look back on that finals run the same way we look back at Trae taking the Hawks to the ECF. It was the peak and we just didn’t know it yet
That entirely depends on his future rosters + roster construction + luck tho
Worse players and egos have won chips in this league as a 1st option than Luka
“Getting them to the finals” is such a shallow take - Jimmy Butler got to two finals and nobody is out there calling him one of the top players in the league. It’s one thing to barely lose, it’s another to get to the finals and have everyone know that you just got sent into a meatgrinder.
I disagree. Getting to the finals is a massive accomplishment and everyone who was a real guy has at least done that. Luka is obviously a real guy, but the question is will these things that people are talking about hold him back. Even a guy like Harden who never did it as the main guy still got there. Allen Iverson won the MVP, took the team to the finals and got steamrolled, but nobody remembers that. We remember that he got them there. Jimmy is such an outlier that we have a name for him: Playoff Jimmy
Getting to the finals is a massive accomplishment. I totally agree with that. But getting to the finals doesn’t always mean that you have more finals or a championship in your future. Luka is obviously very good, but I think people lean way too much on that he made the finals as an argument when it’s really not that great an argument on its own. Like Tyrese Haliburton just got to the finals, and took OKC to 7 games and we now have one of the biggest Finals what ifs. But he’s not exactly getting hoisted as a top 10 player in the league assuming uninjured.
“But Luka puts up monster stats too” well I’m personally of the opinion that Luka is more like Harden than people want to believe. Again, he’s obviously very good, but he is heliocentric and his stats end up getting inflated because he has the ball all the time.
Anyhow only time will tell who’s right or wrong. If he wins a championship I’m gonna be eating crow, and if he doesn’t there will be others who will.
Probably when he stops being the highest playoff PPG average in the history of the NBA, edging out Michael fucking jordan. Once he stops being THAT good in the playoffs, maybe we’ll have a convo.
What does that stats even mean when you lost and didn’t even look you had any chance in the finals?
Scoring is different these days tbf.
Tbh when everyone in the league is healthy Luka keeps being the consensus 4th-5th best player in the NBA. If you look at every superstar who’s been consensus 4th-best in a season, they very seldom win the championship.
“That guy” is a less useful idea than the 4th best player in the NBA. It’s unlikely Luka wins unless he becomes better than the other superstars. He needs injury luck to line up or his franchise to build an amazing roster.
Luka and the 2024 Mavs pushed to the finals in a pretty irregular fashion because it was a great team-build. They were outmatched soundly by a 12 net rating team (and they didn’t lose because Tatum ‘was going to be that guy’). That happens!!
Luka is a great player but I think he might be worse than Jokic for a little longer; might be worse than SGA for the rest of the players’ primes; and if the Spurs develop the right offensive system for Wemby, Wemby will be better for the rest of his career; those are the actual issues..
Didn’t Tatum win a championship as the 5th best player in the NBA less than two years ago?
Everyone just acts like there isn’t major red flags when a organization ships a player of that caliber out of town literally in the middle of the night. Owner, GM and Coach all at least understanding of the move. Everyone just glances over that part. Spoiled brat is spot on.
The team is basically 4 v 5 on defense with him anyway so he’s really just conserving energy
taps forehead
Refs need to T him up more
They need to just start giving guys more techs for it.
Give some leeway but if it’s too much start penalizing them.
Nah let it ride. I want his team to suffer because he’s whining and he’ll stop if they give him techs.
I second this. Last night there was a possession we scored for free because he chose not to stand up and keep whinning from floor. The game was still competitive and I appreciated him for free points at that point.
and he’ll stop of they give him techs
Will he? This shit seems innate.
I hear you, but whenever a star player has been elected for techs before. Everyone loses their shit about it. It’s tough, because the truth is, nobody is watching as many of the games without the stars
I believe they need to change the call. Too much complaining should be delay of game instead of a tech. This way you can give a hundred of them and no ejections and no suspension. Or just make a new call that awards a free throw.
That’s a good idea actually. When it starts costing teams games because of technical free throws. There would probably start being a shift away from it. It’s one thing to pay a fine when you’re loaded, it’s another to be the reason your team is losing
Just start fining them then. Escalating fines for excessive ref complaining. Add it to the next CBA
Maybe that would help shame them into it some. If every sports show and podcast is talking about the “whining fines” of a particular player, after every game, they’re going to hate it
Don’t worry, he’ll make a statement that’s he’s self aware and will focus on it and the NBA media will applaud him for it.
Lakers fans sick of their superstar not named Kobe in just a year, who would’ve guessed. Bro yall got him for nothing, stop bitching like you wasted a bunch of assets on him please lol
The bigger issue is that it won’t work in the playoffs.
Feels like he tries for a foul every time vs trying to get open, its really weird to watch, like a bad habit.
Been a Mav fan for 30 years and instantly in his rookie yr it amazed me how he never understood refs couldn’t call fouls every play lol
You know what’s bad, he will literally complain after every shot for like 6 straight plays and then the 7th play is a pull-up wide open three and you are like
“Well he can’t complain there, no one was within 5 feet of him”
But then the instant he hits the shot he turns to the ref and starts bitching about a “foul” from 3 plays earlier 🤦♂️
What’s bad is when he whines so much and misses the free throw and continues to whine. At least make the shots you cried for.
Na forreal he whines for foul calls and then bricks the free throws it’s like what’s the fuckin point of getting calls if you’re not even going to make them?
You know what’s also bad? When it’s a live play, HE HAS THE BALL, Not dribbling just holding it reading the defense, gets touched by the defender swiping at the ball, HE TURNS AROUND DURING LIVE PLAY TO COMPLAIN TO THE REF ABOUT IT
It’s kinda nice not having to defend his crybaby antics anymore, tbh.
You never had to defend him
Be inspired by Luka and stop defending
Damnit, you’re right. That’s on me.
Yeah - instead you can enjoy losing 10 straight games and competing for the lottery again. Congrats!!
I’ve been a fan since 1980, this is light work.
Yeah the 90s teams were terrible. 11 wins in 92 sucked so much for a young teenage mavs fan. Tickets were cheap though, I remember we would go sit in the nosebleeds for 6 bucks each.
They were bad, but I have a soft spot in my heart for the era of George McCloud and Popeye Jones jacking up threes.
You’re probably around my age, do you remember the Spud Webb All-Star Classic Charity Game that took place at Reunion Arena in 1987? This was a charity event, the year after the allstar game was there… No one else seems to remember this event, but I was there and I have a program from it so I know it happened lol.
Getting flagg with a less than 1% chance helped too I’m sure lol
It’s also more excusable at age 19. By 26 you should be whining less lol
I have a hard time believing he was like this when he played for Real Madrid as well. It also looks like Euroleague took steps to curb complaining by handing out techs much, much quicker.
I don’t get it, were refs calling fouls for everytime when he was playing in Europe? I thought players get even less calls there (I may be wrong though excuse my ignorance I don’t watch Euro ball much).
He played for Real Madrid so probably lol
Windhorst said Lukas been this way his entire life. I don’t have any sources beyond that. But windhorst’s rant on him in the finals against Boston was unbelievably accurate.
No one gets through to Luka. He’s just what he is. He brings a lot to the table but he clearly still leaves some untapped potential behind.
Are we sure he’d be a better player if he wasn’t like this? We talk a lot about how MJ/Kobe etc. was uber-competitive. Seems like a lot of this is an unwanted side effect of how competitive he is.
No if he was anywhere near as competitive as those guys he would put more than 5% effort into his defense rather than be a turnstile
I don’t think he expects calls on every play, moreso that if the refs make more calls then defenders will also stop fouling as much. He absolutely needs to handle it differently though.
He did complain a whole lot last night.
We benefitted a number of times from him not getting back faster.
You just described every game he’s played in for the last several years.
The complaining from Luka is the worst
Shai flops too but when he doesnt get the call he still hustles back and doesnt say anything to the refs. When Luka doesnt get a whistle he doesnt hustle back and yells at the ref
Even if he does get the whistle he’s complaining to the refs. It’s his default reaction.
A fun parlor game is seeing how long there will be nine players on the screen the possession after he gets mad at the refs and decides he’s going to just bitch at the ref rather than get back on defense.
Luka and Sengun are both horrible for complaining
Luka is more fun to watch otherwise at least. Sengun just sucks to watch. He’s good and effective, just not a fun watch.
Sengun is debatably not even effective lol
Luka is awful to watch lol. Besides the lack of D and complaining, he has the potential to be an absolute black hole on offense if he is playing an elite defense.
Dude is already leading the league in free throws by a wide margin and complains the entire game for more free throws. It’s just pathetic tbh
And everyone complains about Shai who isn’t a whiner.
Everyone complains about Luka too lol
I’ve been complaining about Luka since Shai was still some random Clipper
Everyone complains because SGA flops, everyone hates Luka’s game because he foul baits and whines
There’s a reason SGA is the runaway MVP favorite and Luka is like 5th.
SGA foulbaits like a MFer too, but at least he isn’t perpetually crying to the refs about it.
Shai’s whistle is crazy, but tbh I don’t really think it’s his fault. A lot of his “flops” look to me like he’s trying to create space to get the ball off. Sometimes that involves falling down or flailing. He does foul bait, but that’s just become part of the game at this point
I just want someone to sit him down and give him the numbers it seems he expects every game.
“So if things went your way and you got every foul you complained about you would average 54 free throws a game, and EVERY player on the other team would foul out, also no one on your team would have any fouls.”
Especially frustrating when it’s very marginal contact or contact that he initiated. It’s like he thinks that basketball should be a completely contact free sport. When they play the spurs I’m rooting against him and it still frustrates me even though it helps my team.
I remember when this sub thought he was the less annoying player out of him and Book, absolutely hilarious shit
Luka is an elite Overwatch player at heart.
Have you ever played an on online shooter? Bitching is what they do
“hey ref your mom would’ve called that foul last night”
“Center Diff”
man I used to think Luka was a bit overrated by the NBA media but now it’s gone so far in the other direction
there are certainly legitimate criticisms you can make about Luka’s defense and poise and whatnot, but this Lakers roster is straight fucking garbage man. he’s far from the biggest issue rn
People act like the Lakers are a 9th seed
2-11 vs. top 8 seeds in the league with an average margin of defeat of 20 points
theyre mediocre
I agree that they’re mediocre.
2 games ahead of the 7 seed Suns and can’t beat a good team to save their life. Still embarrassing
Kind of disingenuous to say when they are also a game back of 3rd seed with Denver and Houston Lol
Tbh the seeding doesn’t matter that much w y’all, every West team is hoping to get the lakers first round.
Between Denver, spurs, okc, twolves, Rockets, Portland, lakers and suns I genuinely would rather get the lakers first.
Other than smart nobody is playing hard or physical, ayton is a cardboard cutout of a good center, and Luka just isn’t scary anymore.
He either turns the ball over, scores 30-40 on inefficient shooting or becomes nothing on defense because he’s complaining to the refs.
I hope y’all have a strong off season and see a deeper playoff run though
It’s also crazy how they lose. Just these massive blow out losses constantly. It’s like they fall behind and give up completely.
To be fair, his whining to the refs is a legitimate issue from a competitive and aesthetic perspective, and it’s been going on his whole career. It’s frustrating for fans, teammates and coaches.
Cost of being Laker. Even your fans will belittle and hate you until you get a ring.
Luka really should’ve stayed on the Mavs man, it’s a generational tragedy what happened. Lakers got the most ridiculous trade ever in their favor yet all the fan base does is trash their superstar when the issue is that the roster is cooked. Luka can’t win with these cats 😭
And you just know that it’s the bitching that keeps him from getting calls. If I were an official and got yelled at every single play from him I wouldn’t be jumping to give him every small call even if it was warranted
Bro Luka already leads the entire NBA in free throw attempts.
“And you just know that it’s the bitching that keeps him from getting calls. ”
What are you talkign about ? Luka gets all the calls…. in LA its even worse i feel like Refs gets intimidated into giving him calls.
Even when he scores an open bucket he will turn around and look at the ref and blame them for a missed call 10min ago or smth.
Its always been like this, i dont know if he learned it at Madrid or what not but hes been a bitch for a long time imo, with us he even promised he would keep it down and still couldnt hold himself back.
Seriously. He’s literally #1 in advanced breakdowns for getting the whistle. Whining meta love it or hate it
There’s an interview of Luka doncic from 2022, perhaps even earlier, where he says he has to stop complaining to the refs for fouls. At this point it’s who he is, and he costs his team possessions on the other end, and eventually games because of it
They need to call Techs on his ass…
For real. I legit think they need to go medieval when it comes to this, because players bitching about fouls 24⁄7 is one of the biggest turn-offs about the modern NBA. It’s one of the top reasons my friends who don’t watch basketball give for why they don’t watch.
Legit, players shouldn’t be allowed to talk to the refs, full stop. Let the communication come solely through the coaches. Any player speaking to the ref, for any reason, while the ball is in play should result in a tech. If they implement that rule, players will stop complaining real quick.
Mavericks fan who’s life was ruined when he was traded… It’s awful. It’s always been awful. Brutal to watch.
But it’s so much worse in a Laker’s uniform because he still gets the Laker whistle and still complains. It’s like he thinks he’s a 100% shooter and that he only misses when fouled.
That’s the thing - he’s got the highest FT rate of his career right now by a comfortable margin. He’s getting exactly what he asked for, but complaining just as much if not more than ever.
LeBron doesn’t get a good whistle
Too big.
You need to be built like a twink like Shai to get a good whistle
Ayo
Why does Steph not get those calls then?
Steph tends to avoid contact and go for more slithery finishes, similar to Kyrie, vs a Shai or Luka who tend to go into people and seek contact. Steph should still 100% get more calls tho
Too good lmao.
He’s also expected to play through it.
Jokic, Giannis, Steph, and Lebron have the worst whistles relative to the amount of contact they get per game.
They’re all expected to be great anyway, and they are, so the refs say “boo hoo”
I could only imagine being a ref having to deal with Luka, LeBron and JJ redick for a whole game
I’m not saying what Nico did was right. I’m just saying, I understand.
A lot of people understood the logic of trading Luka it was just the process and return that were some of the worst of all time.
His biggest mishap was only talking to the Lakers.
Why don’t coaches stop this? Surely a coach understands the negative impact this has, right? Do they see some benefit to it? If it was any other weakness to Luka’s game, coaches would coach it out of them. So I am struggling to understand why coaches don’t seem to intervene for something like this.
Luka is completely aware that it’s a problem and he’s said many times that he’ll stop, but he just can’t stop doing it.
He needs to see a sports psychologist or something.
Because Luka is way more valuable and has more power in the team. He can just ignore him.
Luka has never been someone to play into a coach’s system, but is one of those “I am the system” sort of dudes. Part of why Carlisle left after Donnie Nelson was left and the incoming GM would choose to build around Luka’s game instead of adapting it to Carlisle’s system for better or worse.
Same reason why he clashed so badly with the FO in Dallas that he triggered egos over business moves.
Same reason he pairs nicely with a superstar friendly coach like JJ.
You get Luka, you accept him and all his piccadelos, which is generally still a good investment.
It’s like criticizing Lebron. Who is going to stand up to him? The last guy who criticized his defense on the Mavericks got ridiculed nationwide and was fired.
Not excusing Luka…but if he already does it…it makes sense that a night as egregious as last night would make his behavior worse. I dig Bill but I’m sure he enjoyed all the BS his team got away with last night.
Luka complains folks. News at 9.
And yes…the Lakers didn’t play well either.
I blame the NBA more than the players that abuse the system. NBA can easily stop this behavior and give them fewer foul calls.
Funny thing is Luka wasn’t even complaining the most last night it was everyone else around him tbh. He didn’t get back a few times but nothing out of the ordinary, iirc he made a comment about it after the game too something along the lines of “you know it was bad out there tonight as I wasn’t doing the most complaining.” Also this is a dumb quote from bill Lebron was doing the same shit several times last night complained and didn’t get back on defense. Would be a pot and kettle situation there if anything.
Luka plays a lot better when he is angry. Unfortunately for the viewer the best way for him to achieve this is the refs lol
I remember him talking about his whining on JJs podcast a few years ago. Hes obviously conscious of it and his image around the league but he cannot seem to stop doing it. Its insufferable.
God I love the current Luka discourse. On this pod - Bill & Lowe both say that Ginnis is the 3rd best player in the league despite him having far less team & playoff success than Luka since 2021.
Giannis can consistently play for a non contender and be injured come playoff time yet still gets the benifit of the doubt over Luka. And I’m not even saying this to hate on Giannis - it’s just interesting that Luka being all NBA first team in 6 of the past 7 years is not enough to cement him as top 3, yet for some reason it’s enough for Giannis.
Luka was quite literally the Lkaers best defender yesterday and this is still the discourse around him because his teamates manage to go 0/7 from the field. If you remove Luka from any single one of his teams since he came into the league - can anybody seriously say they would win 50 games without him the way that the C’s are about to win 50+ without Tatum or the amount of games OKC could win without SGA?
Totally agree, Giannis always gets a pass somehow. No playoff runs since his championship, injured every year and his play style is tough to win with. Luka is better
Giannis is an all time great player but without the Suns collapse in the Finals his legacy is completely different. I feel media would slot him just above Embiid and Harden and bitch about his availability if he didn’t win a championship. Ring really can change the entire narrative forever.
We collapsed but Giannis going fkn god mode on both ends was a big part of that lol. MF averaged 35/13/5 with 3 stocks and somehow hit 17⁄19 free throws to close us out
It’s so bad even Simmons is talking about it kinda wild
Simmons with the opportunity to talk about something bad about the Lakers?
What do you mean “even Simmons” he’s always chomping at the bit to talk shit lol. It’s warranted in this case at least.
The account you’re replying to is an LLM bot. Don’t take it seriously.
LGM
Luka never shows up for big games and gets frustrated. Luka shows up with 40 pts in meaningless reg season games. Jaylen and Celtics went right at him and Luka was talking trash to the rookie instead of Jaylen. He is so fucking soft it kills me that anyone other than casual fans think he’s top tier. he scores alot against the bottom tier, sub .500 teams and always looks like a trash cry baby to any team with one defender on him. His offensive game is nothing but Iso 1v1 ball now and the Lakers still look and play better movement when LeBron is on the court. I bet J.J. is pulling his hair out having to cater to Luka style hog ball
Never shows up is wild. We forgetting he was huge reason the Mavs surprisingly made the Finals 2 years ago? Smh
Unfortunately that’s stuff he learn from Real Madrid.
So Luka dominates for an entire month and after one bad game it’s back to “Cade is better,” “shouldn’t be anywhere near MVP convos,” “could never win a ring,” “nico had the right idea”. this subreddit is so ass
just looked through the entire thread and didn’t see a single comment about Cade you crybaby lol.
Lukas not getting MVP because the lakers are mediocre
real talk; Luka has his faults but the media is ridiculous with how they immediately dismiss him after 1 bad performance
It was a bad performance agaisnt an amazing defense too. No one else on the Lakers was doing anything.
I wish the refs would literally T him up every time. It would end quickly - either he would stop complaining or he would be off the court. It’s so goddamn annoying.
It doesn’t help that Lukas lost a lot of his functional athleticism. He could get a few blow-bys his first couple years, now his whole game is step backs and gaming the refs with his drives because he can’t get separation. He doesn’t move off the ball either, so the only way he gets an easy one is at the line. It’s amazing he’s still this elite a scorer honestly
What happened to Simmons’ face?
Luka is not good Lakers got fools gold
The biggest issue with Luka to me, aside from defensive capabilities. He is just a huge crybaby. Reminds me of high school basketball and whining about every play being a foul despite there being no ref.
Just have to deal with the fact that not everything is a foul.
The sequence where he was too busy complaining from the floor to defend the easy layup should be all you need to see.
I would take that back in a heartbeat IDGAF
Damn when lediddy is calling you out you know you are soft. Then again the whole league is.
I’m not listening to anyone who’s second point is why didn’t the Lakers get Alvarado.
Bills face is big! I wonder if it’s alcoholism
I just don’t watch the Lakers anymore. Luka is insanely talented but idk its not fun to watch.
It’s always been bad. I can’t remember watching Luka and him NOT complaining. Even my wife who only watches casually can’t stand Luka.
When even Lebron can’t take it, says a lot lmao. ‘Is that how I look like when I complain? Smh’
I know LeBron is old but does he not do this as well? Before Luka, there were several 4 on 5 situations because LeBron was arguing with the ref. Shit he’s even done it when Luka was on the time.
Per usual, Simmons is giving Gossip Girl
I don’t miss this at all. Even watching an ethical tank job the Mavs are orchestrating is much more fun to watch than Luka bitching incessantly for 48 mins.
Its been fun watching Bill Simmons change his opinions in real time as Luka went from being an undisputed top 3 best player in the league, to being picked apart for everything, ever since he got traded to the Lakers.
Bill never hides that he is a massive homer, but jesus sometimes its just a bit wild how much it affects his opinions.
LeBron is saying wow because he was wowed by the fact that Luka can whine so much better than LeBron.
I miss when Luka was a Mav and there wasn’t 20 posts about him every day. Same player as he was for the past 4 years, yet people complain about him just as much as he complains about fouls. Both are annoying
Wasn’t that clip of Luka getting absolutely slapped back to back on the front page last week? And now everyone thinks he’s just complaining for no reason