Rick Carlisle on Luka Doncic: “He’s the greatest player I’ve ever coached.”
“In terms of sheer ability” was the next sentence.
And in the next sentence he said Luka is going to be MVP and is better than Dirk.
And he finished that sentence with “at committing war crimes”
“…Against dangerous criminals everybody hates…”
”…so that he can *harnessed the power of ultimate evil and become Lord Papatine himself…”
”…in order to restore balance to the force…”
-inducing appetite for destruction…
Sweet child of mine
Would be my favourite song off my favourite album
If Rocket Queen wasn’t on the album
If I had bad taste
To proect the world from from devastation
how did I end up reading a Key&Peele masterchef sketch here idk
the question is, how did the distilled genius of a popular subreddit ever make it onto cable tv
At complaining to refs…
Ok, fair enough.
He was basically saying the same thing as most people wrt Luka. “Best player I coached, as far as ability”. Not necessarily the greatest player he has coached when considering other aspects.
Yeah cus as we all know the true greatest player he’s ever coached is Dwight Powell
JJ Barea
JJ Barea locked down Lebron
I was close to saying Devin Harris
Devin Harris was a dawg tho.
We don’t win 2011 without him being traded. I’ll forever be thankful to him for that.
He also had a nice stint back with us before he retired. Lowkey one of my favorite Mavs all time.
The great Dwight Powell is the reason why Luka wore/wears 77!
the disrespect to JJ Barea
Dirk?
JJ Barea so great, Bad Bunny sang about him at the Super Bowl halftime show.
Salah Mejri
Backhanded compliment. this video doesn’t need a damn analysis. Just find respect in a high quality coach praising a high quality player, Jesus fucking Christ
Dirk also said he’s better than him
All the legends seem to love him and think he’s one of a kind but Skip Bayless and Kendrick Perkins think he’s not so they must be right
Goran said 16 year old doncic is going to dominate the league …
Truly dragic they never got to play together
they did,in Slovenia NT and won a European championship.Luka was like 18 and Goran was not washed up yet
Not so dragic after all
Wanna let you know that I appreciated that if no one else did
Thank you, hope you’re having a great day kind stranger
Some people just don’t like him
Me. I’m some people.
Too bad. You’re missing out.
If he stopped whining after every play - count me in. Until then. No thanks.
Skip Bayless
All in my ass
Yeah I love Dirk but Luka just straight up is a more talented player. He genuinely has the ability to be a top 15 player ever if his career goes the right way.
In terms of ability? Sure, maybe.
But Dirk’s game had way more impact on making a team win. Give me 2005-2011 Dirk over prime Luka any day. Dirk was an automatic 50+ wins and his most consistent sidekick was Jason Terry most years.
Luka has played with way better players but had less regular season and playoff success.
Jason Kidd and Josh Howard too
people always downplay how great those mav rosters were. some of the deepest teams in the league basically every year of dirk’s career
dirk wasn’t running the offense or contributing on defense either, lots of dudes were pulling their own weight on those squads, including elite coaching
You can have a deep roster while still having glaring holes though. Those teams were generally deep on guards or wings, while always having shitty bigs.
Literally the one year that Dirk had even at least an average starting center was the year that they won.
this is way over the top too though. Dirk took up a max contract, and they had two different top 10 alltime point guards most of those years lol, yeah money wasn’t really available for even more elite help (jason terry and josh howard are great pieces too, along with solid bench journey men every single year)…. Every team has holes, somehow only dirk’s had nothing to do with the team winning, it was all him every year lol
Dirk NEEDED big defensive bigs next to him for the team to win, those are expensive and rare. Dampier was solid. Chandler was a DPOY and an elite finisher, calling him an average starter center is absurd lol
Avery Johnson was one of the worst coaches in the league. Dirk won 60+ games with that bum twice.
Josh Howard fell off after two seasons, and was never a true all star. Jason Kidd is a great player but Dirk played with the elder statesman.
Luka played with Brunson, who became a multi-time MVP candidate, Kyrie Irving - one of the greatest pure scorers in league history, and now LeBron - still a top 20 player at 41 years of age.
And yet he has never won as consistently as he should have in the regular season.
so… this is a bit over the top, yeah? Avery Johnson won 60+ games twice….. how is he one of the worst coaches in the league? lol
he was a defense-first coach that the mavs desperately needed as their Nash-Dirk and loaded offenses benches kept losing easily in the playoffs
then they made a finals in his 2nd/3rd year… weird, sounds awful….
This comparison has nothing to do with what I addressed in your comment, you are doing the exhaustingly old and tired schtick of downplaying all of dirk’s teammates and team situation to give him all the credit for the TEAM winning a lot of games, dirk had great teammates with deep rosters and great coaching basically every single year
pretending like 2-3 years of avery johsnon between 2 HOF coaches is unlucky or a hindrance is jokes lol
Luka has his own issues, just calling out the nonsense that Jason Terry was his only good teammate for years, which IS nonsense
Josh Howard was an elite 2way player, Kidd was still elite even after the 2011 championship, he started playing with dirk at 34…..
like, using your logic, dirk carried a 1 seed to an embarrassing loss shooting less than 40% from the field…. must have been his teammates fault, right? dirk only gets credit when the team wins, obviously lol
Avery Johnson was a good defensive coach, but incredibly controlling while at the same time not making good adjustments in the playoffs.
The 2007 series was a bad matchup, and Mavs fans were worried going in because of the lack of faith in Avery to make the correct changes. I even bet against them in that series as a Mavs fan.
Agreed, he had some obvious flaws while he also certainly wasn’t one of the worst in the league
Yeah, that matchup wasn’t great, but it was also a 1-8 matchup and Dirk shit the bed at the only part of the game he really contributed to (scoring). Not many 1-8 matchups matter, the better team basically always wins. but when the offense-only star doesn’t show up, we get excuses instead of honesty. Dirk’s bad defense was carried by his teammates his entire career, same with his lack of playmaking and passing chops. Basketball is a team game
that same bad mathcup lost to a solid jazz team next round
The rosters were deep, but they were not great. Josh Howard made the all-star game 1 time as an injury replacement.
including elite coaching
The coaching was not elite until Rick Carlise got there after the 2008 playoffs.
dirk wasn’t running the offense
The entire offensive philosophy was that any jitterbug guard running pick and roll with Dirk = elite offense. JJ Barea went from a championship backup PG to replacement level when he left Dallas for Minnesota, then immediately became a positive contributor when he returned.
wasn’t contributing on defense
Directly… not really, though he wasn’t a bad defender. But the Dirk centric offensive style was extremely slow paced, which allowed them to consistently play with a set defense.
Until the Knicks did it last year (26th in pace, 5th in offense), the 06 (27th in pace, 1st in offense) & 07 (28th in pace, 2nd in offense) Mavs were the last teams to finish with a bottom 5 pace and a top 5 offense.
we can argue semantics about those rosters, but what i responded to was the nonsense that jason terry was his only good teammate for years, which is nonsense. Dirk wasn’t winning all by himself, not once, he never even carried an offense by himself
Don Nelson is pretty close to elite, no??
lol, I LOVE this shit, ya’ll make this up NON STOP. JJ Barea got BETTER in minnesota lol, keep telling on yourselves. This lie is SO weird, where does it come from? Nash also got better the second he stopped playing with dirk……….. um…… yeah…. no need to ever bring that up…..
Dirk played with Nash AND Kidd, with Nelson and Carlisle running the offenses
there is WAY more juice that Nash running an offense is all you need, or Nelson running it is all you need, or Carlisle with a jitterbug is all you need lol.
stop, dirk was a bad defender, he got hunted and hid every game of his life…. gross. Him being slow forced his team to play slow, that has some advantages and some disadvantages, the biggest one being lack of options. Dirk on a team killed his team’s defensive versatility and options, every single game
what point do you think you are making with that last stat? offensive teams usually push the pace, dirk’s teams couldn’t lol, they couldn’t take advantage of their great offense to get more possessions because their star was such a liability (weird how KAT is part of the newest one… same issues lol)
The things he does on a practice court must be crazy on top of the crazy things he does in game and in warm ups.
Playing taps or 21 or horse versus Luka must be ridiculous.
Talent wise he’s probably top 5 in nba history. He’s absolutely insane, his highlight reel could be the best in nba history at age 27 and that’s despite him being in a bit of a lull. Multiple wild game winners that are more than the GOATs had in their entire career.
Now the but…
He absolutely cannot move like his earlier years. There was a big PR campaign about how he was back in elite shape but it never materialized into those earlier years. That’s troubling, and maybe it’s just a weight thing, but it’s definitely not ideal when he should be entering his prime.
Talent wise there isn’t anyone like him but I can’t help but have concerns that his peak won’t be as high as it could have been. I hope he wins a title but it keeps feeling more likely that his best chance at one was 2024.
You’re talking as if he’s not still in his peak. He’s currently averaging 33-8-9 with career highs in points per possession and TS%. Like the man said, I don’t care if he’s smoking a cigarette taking the ball up court if he’s producing like that. The bottom line is what you actually produce on the court and in that respect he’s as good as he’s ever been.
I didn’t word that great. I meant he could’ve peaked higher. And maybe he will, it’s just seeming less likely imo.
Luka is one of my all time favorite players. I really thought he was going to takedown the Celtics by himself. If he can get to that prime shape and focus for a whole year he can be mvp and win a title, it just feels like last few seasons he starts slacking off at some point.
Not sure why so many people are against giving the next generation their flowers.
Honestly if you are a great player and can’t stan the next guys coming, it says more about you and your insecurity than anything else. If you think you are better than him, you still heap praise on him and let your resume do the talking.
He won’t shut the fuck up about fouls and stays back to complain, letting 5 on 4s happen. His defense is a problem.
Offensively he’s a genius. He just gets in his own way on being likeable
I wish I would have saw this before I spent five minutes writing the same thing 😂
Dirk said he’s better than him.
Dirk said Dirk is better than Luka? Or Dirk said Luka is better than Dirk?
He and him don’t really help us out here.
…Who’s gonna tell him this is a him issue?
Im glad you pointed it out lol
They don’t hate him for his basketball ability, I’ll tell you that.
Bayless and Perkins are paid contrarians
perk hates white people and skip hates almost everyone so it checks out
I am not a gambling person, but if someone as an experiment, literally bet money on exactly the opposite of every single prediction Kendrick Perkins says for a solid month, that they would win more than half the time and make an overall profit. He’s such an absolute fucking moron.
The problem is, if he puts in this kind of defensive effort for the rest of his career, he’s never gonna win an MVP. People are gonna have a hard time putting him over player like Dirk without an MVP, unless he just wins like a bunch championships
Why would I listen to those two lol
Really high praise from a guy who coached Dirk.
Love Carlisle, always wish him the best wherever he goes.
I think he is definitely better than Dirk, I guess in terms of greatness, accolades count, so Dirk has the upper hand there but I guess Luka has time to easily match that
Where is Rick going?
I believe it. Peak Luka > peak Dirk imo.
Better, yes.
Greater, no. Not yet. Luka hasn’t shown the same level of leadership and professionalism Nowitzki has consistently shown.
Rings change everything
If Luka gets a ring people will look back on these years as Luka keeping the ship steady despite absolute dogwater rosters being thrown around him
He could have had his biggest shot this year if nico wasnt a dumbass. That Mavs roster pretrade was looking like a contender. Now he has to pray rob fucking pelinka can create something out of three firsts, cap space and austin reaves
OKC being not so healthy and JDub hasnt shown that much progress, Spurs are young, and Ant hasn’t taken the playoff playmaking leap yet - Dallas could’ve semi-easily win the West, but Nico said “nah”
All the other top players in the league are allowed to have continuity with their teams and their fellow players
Meanwhile Luka gets a new second star every other year as well as a new roster and is expected to just make it work.
Becoming more like Harden each passing year.
At least Harden had really good teammates over the years in the Rockets and was allowed to properly build. He just ran to our juggernaut of a team. No shame in that. Luka, on the other hand, had 1 “good team” his whole career.
Even an unhealthy Thunder are huge favorites
You can either be Dirk or be Barkley.
Imagine a dirk Barkley hybrid.
Deadass people be talking insane if you don’t have any hardware. League literally have multiple players in the hall of fame that have no hardware that isn’t the standard
Ya and then if the player doesnt continue getting rings they’re “washed” I think real basketball fans can appreciate it, but so much of the internet is just a bunch of people that talk shit
Yeah Dirk got a lot of hate before that chip
Wasn’t that long ago when Giannis and Jokic got major hate before their rings.
Same goes with the Celtics J’s. If I remember there were rumors of trading one of them for KD.
Ring did changed everything.
All these people calling Dirk great and amazing are probably the same that was shitting on him and called him soft.
I am a huge fan of Dirk and before his ring, he was considered soft, not a playoffs performer, no defense, not a leader etc.
Got a pretty good team, went super saiyan, won a ring and the narrative completely flipped which I found fucking ridiculous and dumb as hell.
A ring can’t be won by a single man. He was always great but some people needed a ring to validate him, which I disagree so fuck the narrative driven people and their dumb takes.
Even your answer isn’t completely right. Dirk was still great but past his peak for that ring in 2011. He’s had better playoff runs. That was a collective ring, wasn’t a dirk carry job
It was both to me, I watched the entire run live every game and he was never like that in any playoffs run, high arching rainbow one after another, fall away jumper etc.
I always said people talk like his team was scrubs when everyone try to make it the toughest run ever, I only agree somewhat because you can’t tell me Matrix, very old Kidd, Jet, JJ Barea and most importantly, Tyson weren’t a contender.
Yeah but thats just one way of determining “greatness.”So many things that players can’t control happen during seasons and playoffs. Things can switch on luck and matchups.
If nba reddit, nba twitter and first take/undisputed was around in 07 oh boy
It’s funny considering how people viewed Dirk before he got his ring.
I straight up dismissed Dirk and the Mavs during their championship run and pretty much anytime between that and the Warriors loss. But as a Laker/Kobe fan was I sure proven wrong in 2011!
Somehow Dirk’s one ring is much much more valuable when we take context into account
Except that’s not true. Mavs had some good rosters around him for a couple years
Hot take but I don’t think Luka wins a ring.
Should Dirk have been traded after the 2006 Finals when he lost to Miami? That’s the equivalent to what Nico did to Luka.
And let’s say Dirk was traded in 2006 to a team with some of the fewest assets in the NBA right as he’s entering his prime. Do you still sit here today and praise Dirk’s leadership and professionalism or do you clown him for being a soft euro player who couldn’t get it done when it mattered most?
So much of this shit people say about Luka is just nonsense. Give him a good supporting cast with continuity over 3-5 years like all of his peers have enjoyed and he’s obviously capable of winning a title.
The one time he had a good team he led them to the Finals 3 months after it was cobbled together at the deadline. They ran into the best championship team since the 2017 Warriors and lost, and everyone now says it’s some huge lesson about Luka. It was his “professionalism” and not the fact that Boston was head and shoulders the better team with Luka’s co-star being the one who shit the bed.
Not hating on Luka or disagreeing here. But i do feel like an undercelebrated achievement of Dirk is leading the starting 5 of Devin Harris, Jason Terry, Josh Howard and Erick Dampier to 67 wins is pretty damn impressive (not saying they arent good players). I do sometimes wonder if a Luka led team could really have such consistency. I feel like hes more of a higher highs and lower lows player which isnt as great for a no. 1 option of a contending team as a really consistently great player
While that’s true, it is almost never the case that Luka Doncic will lose you a game, even in the regular season. We’ve consistently seenn that the reason he can’t win the West is because either his team visibly sucks, or he’s overplayed to injury by the end of the season.
You listed those Mavs players like they were garbage. That squad was good af
Definitely Luka doesn’t conduct himself as well as Dirk, it’s not about rings. Kyrie was on Luka’s Finals team.
The book isn’t written on Luka, he can turn it around. I remember well when Melo was leading the league in scoring but Lebron was winning games.
Dirk was known as a soft choker before 2011. Hardware changes everything
was
Peak Dirk got bounced in the first round by the 8 seed
I mean ok but dirk gets a lot of post prime reassessment bc of 2011. Dirk lost in the first round as a 1 seed. Luka has never had a bad playoff performance (as in the entire run being subpar)
Greater is irrelevant and corny
Carlisle used the term greatest, not best.
Your comment is irrelevant and corny.
What does corny mean to you
It’s cause Luka dialed in is like he controls the freaking game. There aren’t many players that can do this. Jokic … Prime LeBron (2nd cavs and end of Miami), Kobe at the end of the game, sga is getting there now
I know this sub would hate if you said it, but lets be honest, SGA is not “getting there”, hes been there awhile now
Rick Carlisle didn’t coach Dirk at his real peak. Don Nelson and Avery Johnson did
Im and old head mavs fan and youre smoking crack
Well, he coached Kyrie, who everyone else says has the most pure ability. So it’s still strange.
But Kyrie is offensively not as complete and balanced as Luka. That’s more sheer ability to coach with.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence Carlisle said this right when the national media is ripping Luka apart day after day. He sees how completely insane the discourse has gotten.
And yes, of course Luka has flaws and deserves criticism. What’s happened the last couple of weeks is not normal criticism. It’s a huge pile-on and coming from the same people who didn’t give LA a chance at contending this year anyway. It’s been odd to watch happen.
The same thing happened basically every year when he was a Mav. The roster was bad > Luka played the whole team up to a good record > expectations rising > team starts to play as it should > record going back to what is expected > media blaming Luka’s weight/professionality. Repeat year after year.
Had a good team once for a few months and instantly made the finals
We call this the James Harden
Rick is a steward of the game, and real NBA people know this.
thank you for making me a real NBA person
He is only getting ripped apart because he is on the Lakers now lol
Happened all the time now it’s just getting the extra Lakers spotlight. Not really fair at the same time he has the biggest negatives of any elite player
People smoking crack if they think Hali can hold a candle to Luka. Dont get me wrong Halis good, not great.
How many go-ahead baskets has luka hit in one playoff run tho?
(It’s a fucking joke btw)
Hali’s also the best pass-first pg in the league. He’s firmly in “great” tier even if he’s not top 3 in mvp voting
They’re about to take this comment seriously, ggs
He stunned the Clippers with hard carry job in 2020 bro lmao. Thats his second year in the league
Most of the time he wills his team forward and then they miss wide open 3s… If he gets an above average big man he would be unstoppable.
Dude is currently making hayes look like deandre Jordan…
Absolute generational run, man if only I had signed up for Kalshi, I blame Giannis for not announcing his deal with them last year, and bet on Indiana winning when down 15 with 3 minutes left every playoff series I would be a wealthy man.
Kalshi is evil
That being said I’ve only sports bet twice in my life, and I made about 700 bucks off the comebacks lol. When we were at the start of the game 1 comeback against New York I did the classic “if we win this game I’m never gambling again”. Hali bounce was so unreal it felt like magic, so I feel like I gotta honor that
But still fuck Kalshi and fuck gambling companies
Hali is a deserving 2 time all NBA. I think someone making the all NBA deservingly can be called great. Great isn’t so exclusive that there aren’t 15 of them in the league.
Even if it is, if you don’t have Hali in your top 15 after that finals run you’re smoking crack
Hali’s great.
What’s your definition of great? Luka is way better than Hali, but Hali is still a great player
Yeah, just because Luka is better doesnt make Tyrese a bum lmao
Hali is awesome too. We can celebrate players without hating on other players smh.
People arent even trying to enjoy the sport, just find reasons to hate and complain.
Nah I saw that too! hali is definitely past “good” but I guess he was voted most overrated for a reason.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The phrase “hold a candle to” means that he’s worthy of assisting a master. Assists are kind of Hali’s thing, so I guess I’ll be the one to disagree with you. Hali can absolutely hold a candle to Luka.
Literally no one is saying that you dipshit
I don’t think I’ve seen a single person claim Hali is a better player than Luka, as far as ability goes, even on the pacers side
Edit: just scrolled down, I think some ppl confuse non tangibles like leadership with straight ability. But as far as strictly ability then no Hali is not better than luka
He’s coached some good players too. Reggie as an assistant and last few years as a coach, Haliburton now, Ben Wallace with the Pistons, and of course Dirk and Jason Kidd with the Mavs.
Reggie was on the pacers when malice happened and Rick was head coach.
Yeah like Pepe Sanchez
Kidd wasn’t in his prime with the Mavs, though.
But yeah, this is high praise.
Better than Kidd anyway
The ultimate stamp of approval, not just on Luka’s talent, but his personality too, from one of the best coaches in the league
Always a class act.
Wasn’t this guy fired because Luka hated how hard he bullied Luka’s teammates?
Well he quit, but he wasn’t going to get renewed. Luka hated him after how he treated Salah Mejri and Dennis Smith Jr. who were two of his best buds on the team. Carlisle basically spent the last year or two of his time as a Mavs coach talking to Luka through Jamahl Mosley and trying to get back into his good graces because he knew Cuban would axe him otherwise.
Luka tonight: 44/9/5 with 5 stocks in 3 quarters
Legendary coach Rick Carlisle: Luka is the greatest player I’ve ever coached
ESPN, literally morbidly obese Brian Windhorst, nobodies on Reddit, podcasts from washed up former players that never accomplished anything in a couple of hours: Luka Doncic is UNWATCHABLE. Lakers fans are TURNING on Luka!! Why Luka is a LOSER and a FAT OBESE PIG and why I’d take Cade over him
Im a sixers fan but I don’t get how people can say he is unwatchable lol. Half the time it looks like he is barely trying and still dominates. The only thing I don’t like is the constant complaining to the refs but then again I don’t blame him because the refs suck
As a fan of Luka since he started playing in the euroleague i can wholeheartedly say his complaining is annoying as hell, but 50% of the time its warranted since he gets fouled alot with no calls beeing made.
He is too big and skilled for his position, just like Jokic, which is why the refs allow more and swallow their whistle sometimes.
If the refs would call every foul like it is written in the rulebook Luka could avg 40pt, he is just to skilled and smart in manipulating the defenders.
Same thing in his last season with the Mavs. He played some of the best offense I have ever seen anyone play and the Mavs were still one of the top defenses. Yet people kept posting carefully selected defensive low-lights and downplaying his contributions.
I think that it is possible that Luka will be the best player to never win an MVP. If his last season with the Mavs was not good enough, I don’t know what will. He was borderline superhuman for most of the season, dropped 73 points in a game and took his team to the finals while playing injured. Yet he was still only a very distant third in MVP voting, leagues behind Jokic.
Almost a 73 point triple double on 91% TS and he dropped in the MVP standings 😭✌️
The fact that some may think Haliburton is anywhere near Luka only shows the level of ignorance here.
I actually think there’s a good chance Luka won’t ever win a championship.
Your crazy. Lakers gonna somehow end up with anthony edwards, Cooper flagg and wemby.
Fuck yeah Rick, This should be be the standard in case teams want to trade for Luka 👀
didn’t Rick coach Stephen Jackson who started Malice in the Palace?
Why does Rick Carlisle look more like Jim Carrey than Jim Carrey does now?
Damn Jim Carrey getting old
”….his defense however…”
Imagine how good he would be if he wasn’t such a spoiled brat.
He is better than Dirk and Dirk is great. Look at Dirk’s first seven seasons compared to Luka.
Rick was always a real one. I don’t really think Kidd played a part in the Luka trade but I’d have 0 doubt if it was Rick (or basically any other coach lol)
Is Rick doing well health wise? No shade intended
He’s almost 70 years old man lol
But what does Nico think
haha i bet JJ has something to say about that
The JJ barea erasure
That’s high praise cause didn’t he also coach Dirk?
I know this comparison has been made a million times before but with that recent pic of Jim Carey, its fair to say Rick Carlisle looks more like Old Jim Carey than the real old Jim Carey lol
Most skill in the NBA
3 posts up from this one in my feed is Jim Carrey and now I can’t unsee it.
Poor hali
And instantly he lost all Fans he still had in Dallas.
Jim Carrey finally losing his hair. What a shame.
Dang another Jim Carey appearance?
Wait a second, I thought a bunch of regards on Reddit told me he was overrated. WHO DO I BELIEVE?
Is that Jim Carey playing a retired basketball player?
We sure Rick Carlisle wasn’t cosplaying as Jim carry the other day?
Championship>MVP
Disrespectful to Dirk
He looks more like Jim Carrey than Jim Carrey looks like Jim Carrey anymore.
He must not have gotten the memo, no praise of Luka allowed
Just don’t mention defence or complaining.
I’m just not sold on this big whining bitch.
“Let me show you something.” - Fire Marshall Bill
He doesn’t do what Hali does tho. In the Boston series. They switched everything. Luka couldn’t pick a roll. He just had to iso. Stall the offense. Hali woulda had the whole team playing fast with pace, multiple actions, ball movement. Luka wouldn’t do that. Just settle for inefficient iso scoring
I still got Dirk as greater than Luka. (not willing to debate who’s better)
Wonder why he resigned as head coach from the Mavs then. Didnt make much sense then and from this statement doesn’t make much sense either.
He said greatest not easiest to work with.
He lost his rapport with Luka, and knew he was gone eventually. Luka seems hard to coach, no matter how good he is
Luka liked Carlisle as a coach but didn’t like how he treated roleplayers and used them as a punching bag in the locker room
Rick and Luka were butting heads a lot before Rick left. There were a lot of articles on how bad the relationship had gotten around that time.
I don’t think Dirk would disagree that Luka has more basketball skills and abilities, but Dirk was an MVP and finals MVP.
He had a lot more of the intangibles than Luka currently possesses.