GET UP | “Dallas Mavericks can win the with Luka Doncic as leader!”, Udonis Haslem tells Zach Lowe?
we’re back on get up bottom of the hour more of the aftermath Luca doic Kyrie Irving their playoff run fell short to the Celtics in the NBA Finals the two combined for 1122 points in these playoffs which is the most by any guard duo in NBA history but our friend Chris KY still has questions about the Maverick’s leader we never question dirt Nowitzki’s work ethic we never question his commit to improve his body in his game in order to contend in the championship rounds we’re questioning all of those things with Luca and those aren’t recent questions if you listen to Brian wior and others that have covered him since he was playing pro ball in Europe these are things that been coming up these were never questions for Jason Tatum or Jaylen Brown and and that’s why I don’t know that Luca donic is going to be able to win a championship as the leader on a team it’s an interesting take and and so let me can see the skepticism in Dominique foxworth’s well I can’t not address that go ahead before I ask you d a series of questions what what is your why are you making that face at minique I mean we did question Dirk was like considered soft before he actually won a championship like I certainly don’t want to get in the way of Udonis is take on this but that seems one thing I know for sure is that Luca can win a championship it kind of seems like a bit of an absurd take I’m sorry to my man Chris KY but obviously you can win a championship with Luca as your best player here’s what’s being questioned though so so so let’s whether we agree or disagree with Chris for the purposes of this conversation what’s being questioned is whether he is in the absolute top Tip Top physical condition that a player can be in that he is and that some people will suggest that goes to motivation that it goes to Total dedication and discipline and all that is that fair no he’s 25 years old 25 years old he’s 25 years old you don’t know what you don’t know right now to this point Everything Has Come easily to Luca we see him averaging 30 we see him almost doing a triple double he’s leading his team in the playoffs and rebounds assists and scoring um he’s the only person to ever do that in the playoffs to lead the whole playoffs and rebounds assists and scoring so we’re witnessing greatness and he’s not in his best shape he has to be challenged nobody has challenged Luka yet off the basketball court working on his championship habits this is where Jason kid comes into play this is where that Championship habit that Jason kid has playing the Olympics these are the things that luuka needs to work not the basketball things that most 25 year old guys need to go in the gym and lock themselves in the gym Luca needs to lock himself outside the gym and work on his habits and his skill set you were making some interesting points to me in our conversation before the show you’ve seen that with other players other Young Players whose games were spectacular but those were things they needed to work on who who were you thinking well you talk about LeBron James when we played and we lost to Dallas in the finals and we talk about 2010 when that team first came together and then we didn’t get it done Ron had to do some soul searching this summer he had to focus on some different things and do some different things that he didn’t have to do LeBron James never wanted to play in the post he had to get in the gym he had to get in the lab with aijan he came back and he played in the post we paid a lot out of the post with LeBron in that era so that was something that he had to do that he was not accustomed to doing and SPO challenged him to do that so we focus on things like that and we talk about things like that Jason Tatum didn’t get it done in 2022 we talk about his maturity and the way he’s grown as a basketball player for us the Miami Heat frustrate him get in him make it about everything but basketball get Jason Tatum to complain to the referees more than he’s focusing on the game he is not player anymore he has graduated he has passed that test you can’t frustrate Jason t to the point anymore where he’s focused more on the refs in the basketball game so you have to go through these processes and these steps I think this is just a process and a step for LCA he will be better he has to accept the challenge coming from his coaches well it’s well said but you bring up the best point because the stuff with the refs is probably the single biggest complaint that I’ve heard from people about Luca and in fact Wendy uh Chris KY U referenced the conversation he had with Wendy Wendy went through a whole Litney of times we’ve seen that from Luka and big International games playing for Slovenia stuff that is as important to him as the NBA is so that that does feel like another legitimate area for criticism and and maybe necessity for growth and it cost them points in game three of the finals which is the one he ended up fouling out in in a series in which they had no margin for error as the underdog and look UD talked about challenging him they’ve talked to him about complaining to the refs a thousand times in Dallas they’ve talked about his conditioning I’m sure a thousand times in Dallas he can get better at those things he will get better at those things he’s not the first player that’s had to get better at them we don’t want to be having these conversations about him when he’s 30 31 32 and be like are we still talking about this and there’s been players that are in the league today and out of the league today that that’s been the case but any discussion about Luca and what he is and what he isn’t should start with these two things they are nowhere without him they are not in the finals without him they are not in the Conference Finals without him he is an MVP candidate every single year every single season and he is maybe the single most feared player in the league to game plan against and that includes the Celtics when you talk to Celtics coaches in the finals about is like man we can’t wait to get done with this dude if we can just wrap this up this dude is scary right that’s fair all those things are true but you used an expression a minute ago to whom much is given much is expected he’s as gifted LCA donic is as gifted an offensive player as we’ve probably ever seen in the history of the league I don’t think that’s an exaggeration so the question is um who can talk to him I’m I’m thinking of a story Charles Barkley once told on my old radio show on Mike and Mike that when he first came into the league Charles was having great success and all that stuff and Moses Malone in a locker room like practically back I don’t want to you know misstate this practically backed him into a locker and said to him you’re not in shape you’re not in the shape you need to be in to be the best player you can be and that’s what we need you to be and Charles said it changed his entire career because Moses was someone he’d Listen to Who who will Luca listen to got to be Kyrie it’s got to be Kyrie when you talk about a guy who’s connected that locker room you talk about a guy who’s won a championship who’s been there before who’s been around a more prepared more focused athletes ever in LeBron James who understands how conditioning and preparation could take your game to the next level that’s got to be a conversation from Kyrie Irving he’s got to be the guy to have that conversation and I think Luca respects him I go back to the conversation after they beat this the Clippers that’s my hermano that’s my brother you talk about brother and you talk about Brotherhood your brother can have those un comtable conversations with you and you got to respect that let me go back to Nick Nick if we thought the first criticism was a little too much is this part of it fair I mean I think Luca lost in the finals because the Celtics were an all-time great team like there was no level of defense that luuka was going to play or no level of physical conditioning that was going to change out game that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t need to address that and I think the person that he needs to listen to is probably going to be himself and you kind of have to learn through experience and we’ve seen this happen time and time again in NBA history a player or a team gets deep into the final or gets deep into the playoffs or maybe even the finals and then they get embarrassed and then they go off to the lab like UD was saying they come back stronger so I think that this ass Whooper that he just took was kind of part of the process that we see for a lot of Champions and it probably is going to lead to him being open to some criticism when he probably hasn’t been open to that in the past because he’s never come up against it but we all have to remember that this team before the playoffs nobody was picking them I think to to Zach’s Point like they’ve gotten so far let’s not get ahead of our skis and criticizing Luca like this team is incredible because of Luca does that mean he can’t get any better no but it does mean that if they’re going to get over the hump it’s not going to be because of Luca’s defense it’s going to be because they get better around Luca honestly well and and to nique’s point like yeah we can sit call it an ass whooping and say it was Luca got his ass whoop and all this who who else on the Mavericks had like an A or even a B series in the finals against the Celtics who else was like carrying the Mavericks I I don’t know who else that’s fair obviously none of them were the Celtics were the better team from jump that said and Wendy said it yesterday sitting right here we will never know what would have happened if Luca doesn’t foul out of game three a game in which he kind of people use the word tapped out I I don’t mean that in the literal sense no no no but some of those frustration fouls he picked up which led to that stuff were the reason that he winds up fouling out for I mean it’s inexcusable that a player of his caliber should foul out a game when your season is on the line with four minutes left in regulation and a what was a very winnable game at that moment and if they did win that game like we’ll never know how differently game four might have played out but we might have been sitting there at a 2-2 Series so things could have been I don’t think it’s unreasonable to say that was possible no I agree a th% that last foul that sixth foul you do not try to take a charge 25 ft away from the Bas when you’re the best player on the team 20 seconds after he got his fifth fou that is deflating and I will say one thing about this when your best player is a defensive liability and the other four guys are watching that and he is not giving the maximum effort that is deflating to your guys that is deflating to your locker room once again to who much is given much is required people will suggest that one of the reasons he doesn’t give as much effort on the defensive end is because his usage is so high on offense that he needs to conserve energy is that fair no no you’re not I don’t agree with that was an excuse for Kobe that was an excuse for MJ and all the greats and the guys were’re starting to put him in these conversations with if we’re going to speak on you on this level and these conversations with these guys then you have to play at that level on both ends of the basketball court you don’t have to be the best defensive player on your team but you have to give effort and I think that’s where the question was with luuka guys were asking the locker room was asking the coach was challenging him for more effort so what UD just said about it being demoralizing is the word you used I think if you’re deflating is something I’ve heard from so many players and coaches around the league in the last 10 to 12 years if we’re if we’re carrying you on defense every possession yes it gets deflating and it no one is asking him to be a first Drew holiday or something it’s just you just got to compete you just got to show us that you’re competing because it gets hard for everyone around you to keep the spirits up it’s something you hear all the time and I think Luca has that in him he’s shown he has that in him and it’s just just the the competition level’s got to be there conditioning the conditioning is why he cannot sustain it we saw flashes of it we saw flashes in the Clipper series we saw flashes in game four but you cannot sustain a defensive mindset and play on both ends of the floor if you don’t have proper conditioning you got to be one of the best conditioned athletes in the world to be able to play both ends of the basketball court and to compete at a high level at least I think that’s fair and I don’t have the stat in front of me but there was a number that we’ll all remember his numbers in the first three quarters of games versus the fourth quarter of games know that could also come to conditioning where his play would clearly fall off as these games got late and maybe he’s just not in the same level of shape that some of the other players are all right it’s an interesting conversation no one is questioning his great he’s a great player every team in the league would move Heaven and Earth to have him on their team but it doesn’t mean there isn’t room for some criticism in the meantime I came across five stat so hello what’s up guys welcome to another brand new video [Music] so hello what’s up guys welcome another so guys without wasting any more time let’s start our today this [Music] video time let’s start our this video in the how to play section you you will find the training button there you can do so guys d n b g o s XXX okay guys [Music] guys have [Music] damage again [Music] damage St much okay let’s go the second character okay guys the best character go guys damage [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] guys let’s go damage [Applause] yep mat okay guys okay bye guys
GET UP | “Dallas Mavericks can win the with Luka Doncic as leader!”, Udonis Haslem tells Zach Lowe?
