Q-was-here wrote:Just circling back to that incredible Dallas win, which may have big reverberations as many of you guys are speculating above.
But what I come back to is what Luka did to the Suns early in that game - being aggressive, hitting step back 3s, laughing it up, and talking trash with the home crowd. He just demoralized the Suns out of the gate and they could never recover. You know who reminds me of Luka a bit? Ant.
First, Ant has a similar capability of going on these mini-surges where he takes your breath away with the shot making and drives to the hoop. It doesn't happen every game, but I've seen it enough now where it doesn't surprise me. Second, like Luka, he LOVES the bright lights and seems to be un-phased by big moments. It's just fun to him. He's almost the anti-KAT in how he doesn't take himself too seriously or get himself wound up.
I'm definitely not saying Ant is as good as Luka and may be he'll never get to that level, but man, the mental makeup and talent is there. He holds the keys to the franchise because he checks a hell of a lot of boxes when it comes to what you want in a playoff-caliber alpha dog.
Great observation about Luka, Q. And I agree with your take on Ant as having a similar alpha mentality. I don't think a team can compete for an NBA title if one of their top two or three players doesn't have that sort of mentality. Luka is the best example of that sort of mentality in today's NBA. He's the most recent in long line of players in that mold who led their teams to championships or near championships. Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Isiah Thomas, Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley, Kobe, Shaq, LeBron, Giannis - talented players who, as you put it, are totally un-phased by big moments. Actually, that type of player actually loves big moments.
Other current players who have that mentality in addition to Luka are Giannis, Jimmy Butler, and Steph Curry. I think Tatum has that same mental toughness, but a quieter version more akin to Giannis. Not surprisingly, all of the four NBA finalists have that sort of player among their top two most talented players. I think the Suns lack that sort of player. I suppose Chris Paul could be considered that type of player, but I'm not sure. The mentally we're talking about only works if the player can also assert his will physically. I don't think Chris Paul can do that anymore at age 37.
If you were starting an NBA franchise and could pick one current NBA player to build around, who would it be? I'd take Giannis, but my clear second choice would be Luka.
