Walker Kessler: “Luka doesn’t get enough credit for his defense. He’s a very high-IQ individual when it comes to being on the court.”
Unrelated but that’s a solid stat-line from Kessler. He’s so good. I don’t get why the Jazz didn’t want to pay him let alone replace him with Jaren Jackson of all people
they didn’t replace him with JJJ, they had Nurkic who’s been injured who was supposed to start. JJJ was never supposed to play C. Pretty evident that with Nurkic injury, they started Jaxson Hayes and kept Bailey on the bench instead of starting JJJ at C.
The plan should’ve been keeping Kessler and not trading for JJJ though. Kessler/Boozer/Markkanen/Keyonte would’ve been niiiiice.
But wasn’t the idea that they chose to pay Jaren’s contract over paying Kessler?
they chose Lakers draft picks over paying Kessler. They could’ve kept Kessler on the same Lakers contract, not sign Hayes and Okogie, and still be under the first apron (although it will be very tight). Nurkic also has a 19m expiring coming off the books. (which they did extend in the summer but probably doesn’t happen if they kept Kessler).
I watched the game on mute last night and i cant tell you who the center on the raptors was but that kessler looked like the biggest thing on the floor throughout the game
jakob poeltl, he’s on a pretty insane contract
He definitely didn’t play
The Jazz are not the brightest organization.
Paid Lauri instead of trading him, missed on damn near every pick the past 4-5 seasons other than Keyonte, drafted Darryn over Boozer, then let Walker go because of “injury concerns” when he really only got injured for one season.
All of this points toward poor management.
How are you writing off Darryn already? It hasn’t even been 10 games yet.
I don’t think Darryn is a bust. I’ve personally had Boozer as my 1.01 since the McDonalds All American game. I think the logic in him going third is simply “yeah winning is cool but what about flashy dunks?” And to me that’s bad process.
We’ve already seen Boozer impact winning on an extremely high level.
Boozer already looks like one of the smartest players in the league but I’ve also barely seen him score on a starter quality player at the hoop through six games and hardly seen him score at the hoop period without a head of steam. Defenses won’t be giving him walk up 3’s and leaving bench wings on an island against him in the playoffs.
The main reason he didn’t go 1:1 was questions about his athleticism and ability to get tough buckets in the NBA. He already looks like someone who is going to have a long and productive career but you are still counting on him to figure out a way to grow significantly in that area or else he will quickly run into his ceiling.
I’m not saying he won’t figure that out and I’m not saying Peterson is guaranteed to turn into Kobe but Boozer going 3 had a lot more process to it than teams being obsessed with verticals and highlights.
I think Darryn Peterson will be good, but I have to say, he is nowhere near what was said about him. This dude does not have a Kobe mentality even at the same age. He’s actually quite soft and timid. He rarely attacks the basket, settling for floaters. Has been afraid to shoot.
I think he will still end up good, you have to remember how young he is. Likely will be a solid player but not a star.
bruh Kobe’s rookie year he put up 6 shots a game and averaged like 7 points, Darryn hasn’t even played 10 games and we’re calling him soft because he isnt prime fucking KOBE BRYANT?
It was pretty clear from the jump Boozer was a more complete player than Darryn.
Utah could sign Cam Thomas tomorrow and he’d give the same impact as Darryn Peterson
That’s a wild take. Boozer always had the higher floor but Darryn has the higher ceiling. Boozer is also in a better situation than Darryn so naturally he’ll look better at first.
some rookies have more immediate impact than others, and it has 0 bearing over their career outlook and future success. Allen Iverson was the first pick in 97 and had immediate impact on the 6ers, but you would be foolish to claim his career panned out better than Kobe who went at 13 and was putting up airballs his rookie season.
They didn’t miss on Ace lmao. CMB and Fears are dope(I was calling Fears special last season) but like those are the only two dudes below Ace that I’d entertain after him and that’s assuming he doesn’t get any better. I don’t know if he’ll ever be CMB tier on defense but he’s looking to be pretty fucking great on that end in his own right. Dude would be getting jerked off like crazy if he was on a winning team rn.
Yep & it surprises me because if I’m not mistaken Ainge is in charge over there and he’s usually good at these type of things
Idk how he watched Jaren have one of his worst/lazy seasons ever and felt that was the guy to go all in on
Man, there’s a world where that front court is Lauri/Boozer/Kessler. Seeing Boozer can stretch the floor and pass is incredible. Plus, he was born right in Salt Lake. I wonder if that would mean Keyonte George and Ace at the 2?
Yeah ngl on paper that looks better. They could have then moved Ace at the starting 2 spot.
Kessler wanted out and was going to take the qualifying offer irregardless of the contract Utah offered. Ace has been incredible, and Peterson has played 6 games and is still finding his groove. We took Key at pick 16, our biggest draft miss was Cody Williams who is not good. Hendricks had his career essentially stolen from him with a freak leg injury, Collier showed a ton of promise and was great value for his draft position, Filipowski is decent value for his position, and so on.
I understand you don’t follow Utah basketball closely, most dont, but to make these statements is just flat out incorrect
He wanted out possibly because they went for JJJ. Kessler knew his career was being siffled.
Rich coming from a Pels fan
lol i feel like his direct replacement was more jaxson hayes
He’s been alright this season but I doubt he could be the long-term guy. I think they have to try and find a guy in the next 2 years
definitely not a long term option imo, i was saying that i think jjj would be a much better trade if they find a true good 5 and he can play the 4
The Jazz really have been making so awful moves. I’m not sure why they went with JJJ either. Kind of seems like behind-the-curve decision making based off his past as a DPOY / all star instead of ahead-the-curve predicting Kessler will be better.
It’s been little things like they had an undrafted player named Blake Hinson looking amazing last season and preseason and looked like he’d be a great depth piece. Everyone including the announcers were talking about him. Then they cut him for….Kobe Bufkin? What?
I kind of disagree, I felt like Kessler showed a lot of promise during his time as a Jazz. It’s just hard to do it consistently when your organization is intentionally trying its hardest to play losing basketball. His rookie season he was one of the best rebounders & shot-blockers in the league
I don’t think the Jazz are contenders right now, but with the injuries OKC have taken on this season, I think
KeyonteBaileyLauriBoozerKessler
could’ve been a contending team. Or at least a team that had completed it’s rebuild
Plus, the 0 meaningful minutes argument is kind of funny because all his Jazz teammates haven’t played any either?
Unrelated to the post but I got to be honest with you I never really watched much Walker Kessler before lol he’s exactly (and I mean exactly) what a guy like Luka needs. He’s been great
Luka defense talks 6 games into the season. What are we doing
talking basketball
I don’t understand, are we not supposed to talk basketball?
The bar for ‘what are we doing’ seems to get lowered by the day when it comes to sports on reddit.
This is Reddit, we’re suppose to talk about off the court drama until post all star break.
Well ya see that fully depends on how much this sub likes or dislikes the player being discussed.
Typing on our phones on the internet, guys what are doing
Dude can play 60 games of great defense but just slips a couple games and the talk will be “Ohh we told you it was a phase and he can’t keep it up.” Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
Campaigning for mvp
Properly campaigning for it too, showing team sinergy lmao
hopefully he doesn’t get injured, an end of season where him and Wemby are trying hard every game with strong arguments for both is a best case scenario for the spectators
now that SGA has become stuck in hospital team prison for a season, personally i’m cheering for Luka to get his
He was phenomenal on defense last night to be fair
Discussing a players performance?
You’re in a basketball forum where people are talking about basketball.
To be fair, he had a really good defensive game last night and his defense has come a long way from his time in Dallas.
Dude forces 8 turnovers in one game and we aren’t supposed to talk about it lol
That’s just Luka ball in general. Crazy 3s followed by a turnover, another step back 3 then a turnover
Um cool? That’s not what this post is about. But thanks for playing
It’s 7 games.
To be fair, his defence improved starting last season and people have been talking about it last year already. That’s why he was even nominated for best defensive player in the West back in March. So it’s not like we’re talking about it just because he did it for 6 games. It’s just that more evidence is mounting for his improvement in defence and we’re recognizing that this improvement might actually be here to stay.
The Laker bump
We all find it funny but early media narratives play a big role in the mvp voting.
Six games is exactly enough time for this sub to decide he’s both a traffic cone and Gary Payton.
Welcome to the Lakers subreddit
his defense has never really been a problem, hes a mediocre defender which is fine when you spend all that time on offense creating the entire flow of the game. his biggest problem has always been taking plays off to yell at a ref while the team plays 4 vs 5. hes been somewhat better about that so far but only time will tell.
Getting back on D is part of playing good D. Sounds like he has a defensive effort problem. No one else gets white washed quite like this for their lack of effort on one end.
It’s one of the things he’s most criticized for year after year, white washing is doing some absolutely insane work there
I’d say he’s an average defender, not even mediocre. He is one of the best spot up defending guards in the league and around average for guards when it comes to perimeter and blow-bys
Luka’s PR is reaching prime Jokic levels
Nah people were actually arguing Jokic was great defender based on D-Raptor at one point. We aren’t there yet.
In his prime he was better than most people thought he was, but he was never a “good” defender. A bad rim protector with good positional awareness and great rebounding, he was above average for a bit. He’s below average now as his prime is on the downswing.
I mean it’s hard for a non rim protecting big to be a good defender. Because not only is he not protecting the rim but you can’t really play him alongside someone who does. But I agree he was never as bad as his detractors said.
Man I always see stupid fucking takes from top 1% commenters. What does it mean?? Are you implying jokic wasn’t as good or something?
Flairless fucking loser commenting bait to farm karma
“Good PR” has just become a buzzword on this sub to describe someone being well liked
Well liked by the media specifically hence PR. If y’all want to pretend the criticism has been proportional to the realms he’s been considered, especially compared to every other star that falls short, knock yourself out.
The one title is the most important stat to them no matter what logic they mask it with. The real reason Jokic got overrated is because Murray and Gordon got overrated. Also jokic hate is definitely peaking rn because he actually had a bad playoffs for once
Top 1%ers not being flaired is kinda wild though. Seems like a common thing. Like how are you participating in this subreddit so often and still not bothering to pick a flair. It doesn’t even have to be a team.
Not surprised, a lot of them just get karma by posting controversial statements on every new post they come across
Keep crying
Not even close. This is regular Luka glaze. Jokic is deadass called the best to ever play the game
There were legit conversations on what it would take for Jokic to surpass LeBron all time as if Jokic already surpassed Magic, Bird, Chamberlain etc.
Jokic has been called the greatest offensive player ever with a higher peak than Wilt Chamberlain. Luka dickriding hasn’t reached that mark just yet.
no one thinks wilt is the goat offensive player lol. jokic has an argument. wilt doesn’t really. it’s jordan curry bron who are the unassailable top 3 on offense, jokic and luka are in the conversation after them.
Perkins (who has an MVP vote) just said he doesn’t see Luka winning it no matter how well he plays, because the Lakers won’t be a top 3 seed. Jokic won it as a 6th seed, before he even had a championship…
I only remember coach Malone sometimes glaze Jokic from his organization but seems like the Lakers are a cult obsessed with how Luka is perceived.
When he’s being lauded as the greatest offensive player ever it’ll be AND a good defender he’ll be there.
Nah if it was Jokic level, he’d have an MVP already
If Luka wins MVP as the 6th seed, sure
There were zero players in the league that year playing at or near Jokic’s level with a significant win disparity to sway the MVP odds. Both the Bucks and Sixers won just three more games than the Nuggets, and the funny part is, Jokic appeared in more overall wins (46) than either of them (45)
That’s not even getting into MPJ missing 73 games and Murray missing the entire year, leaving a supporting cast of Aaron Gordon, Will Barton, Monte Morris, Jeff Green, Austin Rivers, Facundo Campazzo, Jamychal Green, and a rookie Bones Hyland. Four of those players played 1 more NBA season and haven’t played a game since. Still led to .585 and the leagues 6th best offense
I mean what the fuck are we talking about
He will if none of the players on teams with considerably more wins have MVP cases
Lol
Jokic got called the worst MVP winner we’ve had in 35 years, only won MVPs because he’s white, not top 5 in the league, worse than Ja Morant, will never be better than Okafor, will never be better than Porzingis, will never be better than KAT, will never be better than Embiid,…
Before he won his chip, he was disrespected far worse than Luka.
Downvoted by revisionists, but we were inundated with “a team will never win a title with a center that can’t defend the rim”. That’s just what happened
Luka DPOY season loading
He legit looked good out there like scottie barnes good lol
That’s it, im dropping him down my MVP ladder now
I mean IQ was never the issue. Someone that understands everything there is to offense obviously understands everything an offense can do to you.
I don’t think it goes both ways. Some defensive guys have great instincts and can just read players and plays that go beyond basic understanding and hustle
Exactly. Yes you know you have to be in that spot but CAN you get to that spot?? 🤣
I don’t care about Luka defence but it’s fun how this suddenly become a main topic
It’s crazy how much the lakers have been campaigning for Luka to win mvp.
He’s been incredible it’s not unwarranted
I agree, but every other post is somebody in the lakers organization glazing Luka
I mean tbf, they’d be 0-7 without him. The team is complete ass if he’s not on the floor
Honestly, I think it’s more that he’s been deserving for quite some time now, but keeps getting overlooked because the media hates him and because he’s always played on bad or mid rosters. People are campaigning for him because they feel like he’s been deserving for a while now
I mean he is playing like the mvp what do you want them to downplay how great their player is?
Luka plays defence for a couple of games and people act like he is Gary Payton
His PR is insane
If that was the case, he would have 2 MVP titles by now
As opposed to the media heads that said they wouldn’t vote for Luka in mvp before the season has even started because he plays no defense.
I wish. If you watch any ESPN broadcast suddenly Luka is the worst defender in the league
It’s just he’s objectively been a good defender so far this season. The only reason it needs to be a post is because the prevailing narrative is that Luka is literally one of the worst defenders in the league, which he just isn’t.
People blindly follow the traffic cone narrative built on a Finals performance against a super team while injured, and being forced to hard carry the offense and being hunted on defense.
Luka has never been a bad defender. Mediocre? Sure. Taking plays off in the regular season to jaw at a ref? Yea. But never bad, and certainly not “worst in the league” type stuff like people claim.
It’s not really narrative just something people overrate or underrate. Like if Luke was lockdown those team flaws wouldn’t exist, but also it’s also something the team should be able to cover up for. As good as the Mavs bigs by committee were they weren’t able to protect the rim when Luka got blown by or was hidden on the worst offensive player. Unfortunately the discourse is always super black and white
it always seemed more like an effort thing than iq, but ok
It is not as simple as saying not effort: no one has unlimited energy. He spends it on offense. It is hard to have it for both with high intensity for 35-40 minutes in every game where he has ball most of the time.
It astounds me how much this isnt understood, it feels like we talk about it all the time too. I think when people hear something along the lines of “he’s expending that energy on offense as the main ball handler and scorer” they immediately equate that to laziness on the other end.
Also, 20-30 years ago, hell even 15 years ago, teams werent running multi screen baseline actions and pin downs with anywhere near this frequency. Effort on defense especially for guards requires so much more energy now than before just on the basis of chasing through these screen heavy offenses and all over the court for off ball guys. Even centers are expected to be ready to pick up the screen 25 feet from the basket while also defending the roll in todays game, in so many cases its nowhere near as simple as “effort issue” as you said
Doesn’t seem hard for other players to do it
Other player doesn’t have his attack production.For those that have similar production, Jokic is also a bad defender, SGA had the best team in the league to share his workload on both end.
I’ve said in the past that he has flashes of being a legit good defender, he has a really high BBIQ and is a strong, long guy with great hands. If he could have his offensive load meaningfully reduced (assuming he wanted it to be) he’d probably end up being a very good two way guy.
Your new guy is a perfect example lol Jaylen Brown is known as an elite 2 way player. After JT went down last season he had to carry more offensively. His defensive rating was worse than Luka’s.
The effort is expected, what makes him him good is his “iq”, being in the right spot at the right time/his vision of the court and understanding of what the opponent’s offence wants todo gives him the chance of being a good defensive player and a MVP candidate on offense.
The issue is that when ur essentially the entire offense, u have to reserve energy somewhere. It was the same with Harden. He was actually a pretty solid defender when he tried, but he really couldn’t afford to give it his all on both ends because he was averaging all-time levels of usage on offense.
I don’t think it’s just effort, he has slow feet