Man luka Is amazing and looks like a future MVP. He does it completely on skill not really athletic. We know zion can be very special as well. Who would you take?
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Man luka Is amazing and looks like a future MVP. He does it completely on skill not really athletic. We know zion can be very special as well. Who would you take?
Zion, but Luka wouldn't be a bad choice.
I mean, I feel like the risk here is that Zion is (for all of his huge upside) still technically an unknown because he's never played in the NBA officially, whereas with Luka, he's a known commodity since he's already shown his star qualities on an NBA roster for over a year now.
Basketball.
If I am building a franchise I want someone who has great handles and can dominate with the ball in their hands. I don't know how good Zion's handles are at this moment.
Because of that I go with Luka atm. I think there's a far more interesting debate between Luka and Trae Young. Although I'd still go Luka. If Zion comes in and shows you can put the ball in his hands and he can create his own opportunities then I would chose him. But in the playoffs you simply have to have a guy who you put the ball in his hands and he breaks down the defense.
The Lakers had to put a hit on Luka to win that game last night and showed some of the worst sportsmanship I have seen in some time. Way I see it, superstars that can run a team (Luka, Lebron, etc.) are more valuable than superstars that can’t. Luckily for us, Zion seems to check that box too. He has no qualms being the man.
He got ''roughed'' a little bit. Looked clearly concussed for the last little while, a lot of people were concerned that he looked half out of it. After the game, Luka claimed he didn't have a concussion because he'd been checked, but NBA protocol for concussion tests require the recipient being in a quiet and distraction-free environment and he never left the bench. Had to get 3 stitches in his head.
Lakers got away with murder in that game
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Taking the Pelicans glasses off to see that Luka is the obvious choice. He is a point forward who is already clutch and will likely be a top 10 player in the league this year at the age of 20.
40 point triple double ewww
Lebron with a better shot
Worse defender, much worse athelism
I would take Luka, his game won’t break down as he gets older. Plus, nobody knows what Zion is, or how he will play.
If you Jimmer it, they will come.
I mean, surely the fact that Zion is a slight unknown could be taken as a pro or a con? The con being, of course, that Luka has proven his ability, and the pro being that all of the historically-great projections surrounding Zion could still be totally true as well.
I would also disagree that Luka's game won't break down. Firstly, because I think the assumption that Zion's will is a kind of speculative one: I think Zion has enough IQ, passing feel, touch as a finisher, etc, that even as his athleticism cools off he will still be a top quality player. On the other hand, Zion's defensive ceiling is far higher than Luka's, and as Luka ages and his already fairly low footspeed and athleticism takes that dip, it would be easy to see Luka becoming a truly dreadful defender.
There's also an issue of peak vs sustain. Would you rather pick 10-12 years of Luka as an A tier player, or 7-10 years of Zion as an A++ player?
We put soooooooo much emphasis on a player's offense and ignore the defensive side, too often. That's why Kawhi and the GS boys win championships while the Hardens of the World rack up stats. Because of that, I'll go Zion. Luka is amazing and has the potential to be an MVP but Zion has the ability to become the best two way player in the NBA......and that means ships.
BI, Zion, and CJ had a net rating of +3 when on the court together. BI and Zion had a +13.4, BI and CJ had a +13.2, Zion and CJ was just +5.4.
BI and Zion worked. BI and CJ worked. It was CJ and Zion and all three together that didn't work.
I mean, not really since Bird was, in his younger years, a better defender than Luka has shown any signs of being (although in Luka's defense, he's still younger than Bird was as a rookie, so there's always the possibility of growth as a team defender even if his 1v1 D is lacking). So Bird had further to fall.
But even if I do mean like Bird, so what? I don't think it's a contentious claim to say that Bird's value at 33 was lower than it was when he was 28 and could still play strong defense.
Is there a world that exists where Zion is not just one but two tiers better than Luka and sustains that level of production for 10 years? I just don't see it. Luka is playing at nearly the same level as LBJ at the same age. That's rare territory to begin with. To suggest that Zion will come in multiple levels higher than Luka and then sustain that for 7-10 years is I think a bit ahead of ourselves. That's basically saying Zion will be the best player ever to play the game and will sustain that level of play for a decade. Not impossible but that's a big projection compared to the guaranteed level that Luka is already playing at.
Luka is only playing at LeBron's level on half the things that a player does. You just can't compare a one sided pony to a two way player. Would you rather have Harden or Kawhi?
Why do we keep undervaluing defense?
luka unfortunately. it's close but its hard not to go with the known commodity
Investors were faced with this question a few years back when the question was: IBM or Apple? One was a known; the other was a start-up. As things have played out, Apple has surpassed IBM as the Number One Computer company in the world. This is not to say that 'Big Blue' is not still as sound an investment as there is.
Personally, IBM; I mean Luka.
Zion hasn't played a game yet. Luka is a star. I'll take Luka until Zion proves it.
Yeah, I do think that's an absolutely fair viewpoint, and it may end up being the "right" viewpoint as well. When im defending the Zion choice, I don't want to play that I think anyone is stupid for picking Luka, cause they're not.
We're talking about two generational talents here.
People forget that Lebron was not the defender in his first year that he was in his prime. If you go strictly off of stats Luka in his rookie year had a very similar defensive impact as rookie Lebron and in multiple categories was better.
Of course numbers only tell you so much but offensive Luka was better as a rookie than LBJ and defensive numbers say it was push between them.
Luka is not Harden on defense and people need to stop that narrative. Even if Luka was Harden, there's no guarantee that Zion is Kwahi so to paint the decision like as false narrative. We just don't know what Zion will be yet. It's expected he will be better on defense but it's very likely he won't reach Luka's level on offense. I don't think there's a wrong answer to picking Zion or Luka but let's not minimize Luka to try to build up a guy who hasn't played a single minute in the NBA yet.
Last edited by Mythrol; 11-19-2019 at 04:45 PM.
Just to respond to this specific section: yes, it's true that Luka is not Harden on defense, but in Harden's defense, he isn't Harden on defense anymore either And a large part of why Luka is a superior defender to Harden is just to just his innate size and strength advantage, rather than because he's actually that much better overall.
Secondly, Zion wouldn't have to be Kawhi to be multiple times better as a defender than Luka in the situation where Luka was Harden. He'd just have to be like, Mo Harkless on defense, and he'd wipe the floor with Luka on that side of the ball.
Lol, I'm sticking with Zion just because I do genuinely believe that his 1% top outcome is better than Luka's top 1% outcome, but man, Luka really is something.
Like I said earlier in this thread,
Luka's last 7 games:I don't want to say that I think anyone is stupid for picking Luka, cause they're not.
We're talking about two generational talents here.
35pts, 10rbds, 11asts on 61% shooting in 26 minutes (only second person to ever register at least 30/10/10 in under 30 minutes, with Jokic)
42pts, 11rbds, 12asts on 52% shooting
26pts, 15rbds, 7asts on 36% shooting
33pts, 10rbds, 11asts on 44% shooting
34pts, 6rbds, 9asts, on 52% shooting
24pts, 14rbds, 8asts on 56% shooting
38pts, 14rbds, 10asts on 50% shooting
He's not even 21 until the end of February and he's just annihilating everything.
He is 4th in ppg, 11th in rpg, 2nd in apg, shooting 62% TS. He has 7 triple doubles in 14 games.
Last edited by Pelicanidae; 11-21-2019 at 12:33 AM.
Zion. Pure dominance unseen since Shaq. I honestly think he’s going to be like a cheat code. Luka is incredible but I don’t believe he has the intangibles that Zion has.....
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