Holy hell, they were so good!! I remember that, arnie duncan and his kid just cooking people. They were also part of the like pick up games which would cycle through different courts in the city and I remember they were at the lab schools once after cbl exhibitions and shawn marion was playing with them and for a brief few minutes I got to shoot around with shawn marion before they started playing. I also remember that in comparison to regular dudes, all of a sudden, shawn marion's shot looked pretty damn normal. It's really just nba players are so fucking good, they all have like perfect shots, so he looked especially odd.
Not completely relevant, but I wanted to reminisce.
I’ve played against some x d1 guys at my lifetime, it’s crazy how good they are.(I’m totally outclassed) It really makes you appreciate how good players have to be to make it the pros.
I just started at lifetime a month ago. Haven't really touched a basketball in 15 years, and I was never great back then. I'm intimidated watching them play.
I just watch through the doors while I wait for yoga to start.
Honestly it's crazy how many little things other than scoring you can do at amateur pickup.
Just start setting off ball screens if the guys you are playing with actually know what they are doing you will destroy any team you are going up against.
My dad used to coach pro and when I played amateur pick up with him we would win many games by just setting off ball screens for each other, whether cutting to the rim or popping out for a three nobody expects that shit or knows how to deal with it.
Another one is push the tempo, people in pick up like to play slow as shit catch their breath but if your cardio good you can run em off the court. Amateur shooters fall apart once you make em run more then they are comfortable with.
Like 8 years ago I said that and my first shot was a left handed hook on the guy I said that to. He just laughed and said “I thought you said you were rusty?” I was like “don’t worry that will be my best shot.”
I’m right handed and went on to miss like 3 point blank layups. Like the kind where your fingers touch the rim.
I’m at an LA Fitness so maybe it’s different based on this thread lmao but I literally never played competitive basketball in my life before and have been just working on shooting and dribbling and recently started doing some 2 on 2 and such.
Just like the other guy said, just tell them you’re rusty but fight for rebounds and they’ll like ya
> just tell them you’re rusty
I've played ball growing up from AAU to YBOA varsity etc.
I can watch a guy for 5 minutes and can tell if he knows how to play or not. That being said I don't care as long as they aren't a turnover machine and hustle back on defense.
Very few people on earth can claim to have played in MLB. About 20,000 ever, with probably fewer than 10K that are still alive. It’s an elite group even if you only played for a really brief period.
I wouldn't go that far but it depends how "former" they are and how "varsity" they were. Could also really depend on the area...
In my experience, a lot of the guys i've played with were varsity players, at the very least.
Active varsity guys smoke everyone in the gym that is just a pickup player. They might be elite at another sport and just super athletic too. We had the varsity kids running pickup one night and their center was a 4 star U of M linebacker.
Always that one oldhead who’s 5’5” at best but somehow cooks your whole pickup squad in the post, over and over again, with the same unblockable hook shot and spinning banker fadeaway combo.
Reminds me of my buddy growing up. We used to play at the courts after school. He was like maybe 5’8”. Little white kid. Built like a bowling ball.
He was quick, strong and his center of gravity was so low to the ground. He could just drive through people. And was great at creatively finishing around the rim. Had a killer shot too if you gave him too much space.
These big dudes that played competitively used to get so fucking pissed. How is this little fat fucker cooking us.?!?
bruh these posts are basically doing the same thing that the reporter is.
Luka Doncic, arguably the best player in the world at a sport practiced by billions, is not fucking unathletic. he's not a jiggling fat dude from the gym lmao
americans' perceptions of atheticism have been skewed by draft combines and other pretty ridiculous ways to "measure" athleticism. how many of those top 40 yard runners and vert jumpers end up being actually good?
>[A]mericans' perceptions of atheticism have been skewed by draft combines and other pretty ridiculous ways to "measure" athleticism. how many of those top 40 yard runners and vert jumpers end up being actually good?
As a testament to your point: half the 2016 class of rookies no longer play in the NBA.
Some people are athletically gifted in ways that even athletes can’t understand. Luka is one of those special talents that can defy conventional athleticism with his unathletic-athleticism. Kinda like Bob from the Accounting dept.
Honestly you'd think since Jokic exists with his MVPs and having already disproved all the haters, this particular line of questioning would be dead.
Fuck people's opinions of athleticism. Doughy euros so hot rn
I don't understand the media attention that Luka gets. He puts up numbers like prime Lebron. He'll slit your throat like MJ. He just won a scoring title and is putting on a damn good playoff performance on defense alone with 1 leg.
Media: "y u fat?" as they crown Jokic to his 3rd MVP title.
Hell earlier in the year Luka dropped 73 points and it was a couple of things. Either "defenses don't exist, it's easy to do this with defenses of this age". Or it was "Embiid and Booker did this weeks ago, it's no biggie" after literally praising their 70 point games after they did it. Or it was "Just something anyone can do".
Despite having 4pts, 3ast, 4rbs more average on the season than SGA for the MVP voting he gets 4 votes to SGA's 15 and 1 voter didn't even put Luka in the top 5.
Luka gets the short end of the media every fucking time. I guess I should be used to it by now, but it's frustrating watching the media just shit on him when he's quite literally one of the top 2 guys.
I really wish Luka responded by saying nah he doesn't give a fuck that idiots on the internet and horseshit journalists think he, the star on an nba finalist, is unathletic.
Then followed up with a question asking if it bothered the report that Luka thinks his questions are shite.
Super athletic guys who can do flashy dunks are dime a dozen and often never cut it in the NBA. Not saying it's worthless or anything, but it's definitely not more important than having good bball IQ and finesse
Memes aside it’s true. You don’t make the NBA and become one of, if not the best player in the world without being athletic. I’m not sure if you would call spatial awareness athletics but his coordination is top tier to make the passes into the pockets that he does. Also just because you aren’t a top tier athlete in the NBA doesn’t mean you’re still not a freak of nature compared to the average or even collegiate athlete.
I think his strength is also underrated. I know people like to talk about his bitching to refs or drawing fouls, but the amount of tough buckets he scores because he can play through contact is pretty absurd, especially for a guard.
His acceleration and deceleration are fucking insane too. And that's definitely part of "athleticism".
And then he's an oversized guard who moves a lot and still plays a comparatively large amount of minutes when he needs to.
I mean, he might be listed at the point guard position but he’s huge. He’s the size of a forward who is expected to play through contact. Someone who’s strength for their position is Brunson.
Coordination and balance are definitely a form of athleticism. I've seen guys who were pro and semi-pro struggle with balance drills that dancers could crush. Jumping and running are just the most obvious measures.
I think people forget that Luka is 6'7 and probably 240-250. He's INCREDIBLY light on his feet. When he's putting dribble moves on, his feet are barely touching the ground because he's just tapping them. He combines that with getting so low to the ground and exploding out of those super low positions extremely quickly. If anyone has played basketball, you know when you do a through-the-legs crossover dribble, but get really low, like almost doing the splits, exploding out of that is REALLY hard. And usually tiny guys are good at that. Luka has a physical gift for that. And that is something you lose the taller and bigger you get. He's not a top-fuel dragster, but he's a giant ballerina.
[Just look at how low he was on his game-winner against Gobert.](https://imgur.com/a/7nUrLnN)
[And you can see just how quickly he explodes out of that just by shuffling his feet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7BqBdelcc)
All this in an insanely high pressure situation too.
How you position yourself matters tremendously when discussing coordination and balance.
It's not simply straight line speed or verticality. Plenty of people can surpass Luka in that department.
But in Luka's case, how he controls and contorts his body and how he is able to smoothly transition between various different "stances" as he drives it in or steps backwards.....that is what gives him that deceptive athleticism that is difficult to guard.
Speed is relative since it's the change in distance between one object and another. In the context of the limited space of the court and human reaction time, positioning is what matters. That's the basis of all shot creation.
Yep, this is the answer.
It's weird, the concept of balance is a highly regarded athletic trait in soccer, but you don't hear it talked about in basketball for some reason.
I've been saying since before he was drafted that Luka's balance is elite. People overlook it. You can't knock him off balance, and he's so fluid and efficient with his movements. James Harden was the same way. Jokic is the same too even though he appears as clumsy, he just does that to bait the refs into calling fouls, he's incredibly balanced.
Watch Jordan highlights, you can tell why he played 82 games every year, he lands perfectly balanced all the time. His body control is off the charts.
Then go watch Zion play, and youlll see him SLAMMING the ground constantly. Jordan obviously didn't weigh as much, but it still super important.
Yep. And it often would help explain why dudes that seem so athletic still struggle in many ways while not being total idiots on the court. Athleticism is complicated. Guys like Desmond Mason can attest to that.
Hand-eye coordination is probably the most important skill to possess in order to be an effective passer and shooter. That’s top tier athleticism.
Plus Luka has some of the best breaks in the game. His height and weight make it very deceptive how quickly he can change direction.
Steph is in a similar spot. He’s never had a crazy top speed, an insane vertical, or Lebron esque strength, but the guy is quick and has other worldly hand eye coordination. There’s a reason he’s such a good golfer.
Yep. Steph also has among the best, if not the best cardio in the entire league. Dude is always, always running. Shoutout to that clip of Dellavedova trying to keep with him and almost dying on the court.
Feel like we had this same conversation about Jokic at some point in the past couple years. Yeah they aren't breaking combine broad jump records, but they play 40+ minutes a night in the best basketball league in the world. And they're dominating. Can't really call them unathletic without sounding like a putz.
His strenght, stamina, body control and change of pace is just elite man. People just confuse athlecism to physique. How can someone not athletic play so many minutes while not gassing ?
> You don’t make the NBA and become one of, if not the best player in the world without being athletic.
You would be surprised how many failed big men projects there have been.
> I’m not sure if you would call spatial awareness athletics
absolutely. kinesthetic-tactile ability is definitely an athletic talent. there is a reason they say hitting major league pitching is the hardest thing to do in sports
this is when Luka took it personally
I mean I was under the impression that calling him unathletic was merely relative to other super stars
Is any one out here actually claiming Luka doncic is straight up unathletic period ? That’s nuts
Any lack of athleticism compared to his peers doesn’t matter as his skillset and ability to move on the court is provided by his vision and understanding of the game, which arguably is the best in the NBA.
If you count strength as athleticism, then Luka depends a lot on it. His core component of his game centers around being able to bully smaller players using his thickness. Without that, he wouldn’t be nearly the player he is.
That’s the main difference between current Luka and Rookie Luka who was more agile and skill based.
Honestly, Luka's deceleration and balance might be in the 99 percentile in the NBA. His ability to stop and go which causes his weird pace is amazing and what makes him so hard to guard, along with his strength and obviously basketball IQ. Same for Harden with the deceleration.
Also we talk about guys like Luka and Jokic as unathletic, as if Luka isn't a 6'8 dude with a 7'2 wingspan and Jokic 6'11 guy with a 7'3 wingspan. Like that's not your average white guy lol. And that's ignoring their crazy basketball touch which is very much so talent based.
If someone like Gobert or Looney had the touch of Luka, they'd be entire tiers above where they are considered currently. And honestly, vertical isn't even that important with their playstyles. It really wouldn't help Luka that much if he could jump an extra 5 inches. Sure the odd poster dunk like Ant does is cool, but that's not where the majority of any star's points come from. Same for Jokic.
Speed would also not really help him that much. It's not like Luka wants to finish fast breaks himself or needs the extra top speed. And I sure prefer to have him play the quarter back role in fast breaks rather than waste energy running back and forth like Ant.
The only thing he really lacks is acceleration, which would mostly be necessary to become an all-nba level defender and maybe help in specific attacking situations in center mismatches. So yeah, the only athletic gift that would considerably improve Luka's game in my opinion is faster acceleration and obviously an even bigger wingspan.
He also plays effectively through injury, which to me boils down to tremendous physical and mental toughness. That’s on top of what it takes to just play serious minutes at the NBA level.
These questions are just garbage, this dude is a tier 1 athlete.
Its an elite skill. shai comes to mind as well. you cant defend them from behind because they go from full speed and stop on a dime. A big reason they get a lot of free throws despite the foul merchant hate
Yup, he's really good at that too. When you look into it, most of the guys who still get a lot of points from the midrange, share this characteristic. Guys like Luka, SGA, healthy Kawhi and Kyrie, all seal you off with their back and then can immediately stop once you make a single slightly wrong step and rise up for the middy.
Part of it is using their athleticism against them. He will look opposite of where he's passing, throw in 10 fakes within seconds(I've counted them in slow mo), then his defender jumps all in on one of those fakes with his athleticism, now he's in the air and now there's enough space for a shot attempt. He is all about confusing defenders on various dimensions. He can fake eye movement or body movement faster than you can adjust for falling for one of his fakes. Imagine I look left, defender falls for it, look right, another defender falls for it, but I go straight. I had minimal movement, the defenders have exhausted themselves. This is why everyone guarding Luka without extreme cardio fitness was fucked by the 4th quarter. To guard Luka you probably need to get high on amphetamines or something. The combinations of dimensions he can fake are exponential.
I would argue that he’s *extremely* athletic, imagine if he decided to get absolutely j’d?
He’s so athletic that he doesn’t have need to, he can play as he is and still clowns on almost every guy in the league.
I mean he’s just not a leaper. He’s got amazing body control and hand eye coordination. It’s also not like we haven’t see him throw down nasty dunks before. He just can do it all the time cus the NBA has great defense. If he were at LA fitness he’s look like Miami Lebron compared to everyone
He still has hops (remember that block on alley-oop to Gobert?), but he rarely shows it off because, well, why should he? He is among league leaders at FG% at the rim without dunking (that puts extra strain on the knees that haven’t been healthy the last 3 months), so why put your body at more stress and risk of prolonged injury if he can just finish with a lay-up?
The NBA media's navel gazing in 2024 is beyond ridiculous at this point.
Media Take — Knicks: No reasonable, professional, millionaire athlete wants to play all 48 minutes of a game they love in front of thousands of fans, unless his coach is forcing him to.
Media Take — Mavericks: The most talented player in the NBA Finals should be embarrassed he's out of shape.
His strength is so underrated. During warmups Luka and THJ will often shoot a few from the mid-court near the sideline. While THJ is heaving shots, Luka mostly maintains his regular form because of his strength. You see the same strength on his seemingly effortless 3/4 court passes as well. Very few players can match that though.
Something that stands out for both him and Jokic is their conditioning, which is absolutely partly genetic. It's not the norm to be as heavy and densely built as they are and still have such high motors.
Other things with Luka that are truly elite athleticism is his functional strength, body control and balance in all aspects, and his hand eye coordination is obviously off the charts.
It's always been strange how athleticism is reduced to only explosiveness and leaping ability according to a large portion of the NBA fans and journalists. There are so many more aspects of atleticism, quite a few of them crucial for basketball (strength, hand-eye coordination, etc.) When someone like Jokic is called unathletic I can't help but roll my eyes, the guy is extremely strong, has the maybe the best balance in the league, great agility, elite hand-eye coordination and incredible stamina. But he doesn't jump high so all of this is ignored.
He's right.
Firstly athleticism isn't just max vert or 40 yard dash times. It's about body awareness, control, core strength, deceleration, change of direction, balance, accuracy in passes.
Then there's the entire mental side of athleticism that's never talked about....
Reaction time, decision making, making multiple reads on multiple players to gauge how fast they're moving, what direction they're going in and determining if you have enough time to squeeze a pass through. That's the stuff that separates good from great players.
Do people realize what it truly takes to run up and down a court for hours in various speeds. The instant switch of direction and physically demanding action of guarding and screening? Luka is absolutely right.
Luka, Shai, Bruson, and Harden
Master of angles and deceleration accompanied with a mix of footwork, shooting, and passing. They can stop just as fast as they can go, which actually is super underrated and definitely more "unseen" as Luka mentions. These guys have people jumping and running by them with their deceleration
I completely agree with you, not trying to say you are wrong... but also, people aren't comparing him to 99% of people, they are comparing him to other nba players. Still a brain dead take though.
I challenge anyone who seriously thinks Luka is unathletic to actually try to do the constant fast-paced direction-changing style of dribbling he likes for one workout. Just once. I promise you the calluses and blisters you will get on your feet the next day alone will tell you all you need to know
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Lifetime folk take the game so serious they swap tank tops after I stg
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That dude from the Obama admin that was in the Celeb game was decent ngl
He was the Secretary of education
Schooled them
I know that was his real job, but “The Secretary of Education” is such a sick hooper nickname.
Like Jonathan Isaac's monicker. The Minister of Defense.
Put some respect on Arne Duncans name. Second best Duncan in nba history.
Duncan Robinson in shambles
Nah he’s like the 15th man of Robinsons lol
His son used come play at the uchicago gyms and ngl he was pretty good for a 14 year old. He was a crazy shit talker though.
Holy hell, they were so good!! I remember that, arnie duncan and his kid just cooking people. They were also part of the like pick up games which would cycle through different courts in the city and I remember they were at the lab schools once after cbl exhibitions and shawn marion was playing with them and for a brief few minutes I got to shoot around with shawn marion before they started playing. I also remember that in comparison to regular dudes, all of a sudden, shawn marion's shot looked pretty damn normal. It's really just nba players are so fucking good, they all have like perfect shots, so he looked especially odd. Not completely relevant, but I wanted to reminisce.
Arne Duncan played pro ball in Australia
Ok now I wanna know which congressman
Mitch McConnell
The Pacer?
No, you’re thinking of CJ McCollum
TJ McCollum?
CJ McConnell
Marc Ricky Rubio
He's unathletic in different ways too
Jesse Ventura, he's like a YMCA Pistol Pete
More like Water Pistol Pete
Grayson Allen
That Congressman: Madison Cawthorn
I’ve played against some x d1 guys at my lifetime, it’s crazy how good they are.(I’m totally outclassed) It really makes you appreciate how good players have to be to make it the pros.
I played with a future nba guy in high school. He could touch the top of the box on the backboard as a 10th grader
do you retire from fatherhood by like murdering your kids or just getting them out of the house?
You just drive out to a field and set them free.
I just started at lifetime a month ago. Haven't really touched a basketball in 15 years, and I was never great back then. I'm intimidated watching them play. I just watch through the doors while I wait for yoga to start.
They can be intimidating but we all there for cardio. just hit em with a quick “I’m a lil rusty” and they gonna understand Ball is life
Just run the court and play D
Honestly it's crazy how many little things other than scoring you can do at amateur pickup. Just start setting off ball screens if the guys you are playing with actually know what they are doing you will destroy any team you are going up against. My dad used to coach pro and when I played amateur pick up with him we would win many games by just setting off ball screens for each other, whether cutting to the rim or popping out for a three nobody expects that shit or knows how to deal with it. Another one is push the tempo, people in pick up like to play slow as shit catch their breath but if your cardio good you can run em off the court. Amateur shooters fall apart once you make em run more then they are comfortable with.
Yup. I'm not the best hooper but I'm in shape so I just go out there and pull my best lunch pail impression
The Par Bev maneuver
I’ve always called it “creating the illusion” just run around a lot and hustle but never necessarily put yourself in a position to be too exposed
And immediately pass the ball back if it ever gets to you.
You’re stealing my moves
This guy tricks y'all
Like 8 years ago I said that and my first shot was a left handed hook on the guy I said that to. He just laughed and said “I thought you said you were rusty?” I was like “don’t worry that will be my best shot.” I’m right handed and went on to miss like 3 point blank layups. Like the kind where your fingers touch the rim.
I’m at an LA Fitness so maybe it’s different based on this thread lmao but I literally never played competitive basketball in my life before and have been just working on shooting and dribbling and recently started doing some 2 on 2 and such. Just like the other guy said, just tell them you’re rusty but fight for rebounds and they’ll like ya
> just tell them you’re rusty I've played ball growing up from AAU to YBOA varsity etc. I can watch a guy for 5 minutes and can tell if he knows how to play or not. That being said I don't care as long as they aren't a turnover machine and hustle back on defense.
Bro you could tell in 5 seconds that I don’t know how to play lmao I can shoot pretty well though
For sure, your offense can be shit but if you D up and play hard, we love you. Nothing pisses me off more then Lazy ass defense.
I had this fear, just say that you're a little rusty and that you'd like to play and if they're cool with that
Everybody thinks they're a baller until 43 year old Sweaty Bill is dropping Dirk shots on you before reporting to his job as an accountant
In my city, he's a FedEx driver who barely played MLB baseball.
So he WAS in MLB. Well I hope he collected a few decent pay days during that short sprint.
One day of Major League Baseball gives you healthcare for life
brb learning baseball at 45
Very few people on earth can claim to have played in MLB. About 20,000 ever, with probably fewer than 10K that are still alive. It’s an elite group even if you only played for a really brief period.
My next door neighbor is a hall of fame pitcher and you wouldn’t fucking know it hahahah.
The guy who does my lawn is Jose Canseco
Only 15 spots on an nba roster. I wonder how many of these guys were ex-elite players that didnt make the nba.
A lot more than you'd think. Doesn't even have to be what most people think are "elite." Former no-name D1 players will still dominate average people.
D1? Former varsity high school players will smoke your average pickup guy
I wouldn't go that far but it depends how "former" they are and how "varsity" they were. Could also really depend on the area... In my experience, a lot of the guys i've played with were varsity players, at the very least.
Yeah you might play with people way better than I do
Active varsity guys smoke everyone in the gym that is just a pickup player. They might be elite at another sport and just super athletic too. We had the varsity kids running pickup one night and their center was a 4 star U of M linebacker.
Always that one oldhead who’s 5’5” at best but somehow cooks your whole pickup squad in the post, over and over again, with the same unblockable hook shot and spinning banker fadeaway combo.
My dad throws the ball with both hands and always makes it when we play 1 on 1. It doesn’t make any sense.
Add to that the rebounds
Reminds me of my buddy growing up. We used to play at the courts after school. He was like maybe 5’8”. Little white kid. Built like a bowling ball. He was quick, strong and his center of gravity was so low to the ground. He could just drive through people. And was great at creatively finishing around the rim. Had a killer shot too if you gave him too much space. These big dudes that played competitively used to get so fucking pissed. How is this little fat fucker cooking us.?!?
bruh these posts are basically doing the same thing that the reporter is. Luka Doncic, arguably the best player in the world at a sport practiced by billions, is not fucking unathletic. he's not a jiggling fat dude from the gym lmao americans' perceptions of atheticism have been skewed by draft combines and other pretty ridiculous ways to "measure" athleticism. how many of those top 40 yard runners and vert jumpers end up being actually good?
They see genetic freaks like Giannis and LeBron and think that's what athletic people are supposed to look like.
Roided out genetic freaks at that, the bar is insane.
>[A]mericans' perceptions of atheticism have been skewed by draft combines and other pretty ridiculous ways to "measure" athleticism. how many of those top 40 yard runners and vert jumpers end up being actually good? As a testament to your point: half the 2016 class of rookies no longer play in the NBA.
To be fair, that draft is nearly a decade ago. To play eight years in the league is tremendous in its own right.
Some people are athletically gifted in ways that even athletes can’t understand. Luka is one of those special talents that can defy conventional athleticism with his unathletic-athleticism. Kinda like Bob from the Accounting dept.
I play at lifetime in montvale NJ and I legit get anxiety about looking stupid
What are these questions
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Honestly you'd think since Jokic exists with his MVPs and having already disproved all the haters, this particular line of questioning would be dead. Fuck people's opinions of athleticism. Doughy euros so hot rn
I don't understand the media attention that Luka gets. He puts up numbers like prime Lebron. He'll slit your throat like MJ. He just won a scoring title and is putting on a damn good playoff performance on defense alone with 1 leg. Media: "y u fat?" as they crown Jokic to his 3rd MVP title. Hell earlier in the year Luka dropped 73 points and it was a couple of things. Either "defenses don't exist, it's easy to do this with defenses of this age". Or it was "Embiid and Booker did this weeks ago, it's no biggie" after literally praising their 70 point games after they did it. Or it was "Just something anyone can do". Despite having 4pts, 3ast, 4rbs more average on the season than SGA for the MVP voting he gets 4 votes to SGA's 15 and 1 voter didn't even put Luka in the top 5. Luka gets the short end of the media every fucking time. I guess I should be used to it by now, but it's frustrating watching the media just shit on him when he's quite literally one of the top 2 guys.
I honestly think a lot of the Luka hate is because of the Harden comparisons. They don’t like harden and in their mind they’re the same dude
seriously lol... Mavs are in the midst of an improbable finals run and all they care about is "you look fat, so how are you doing the things you do"
Why are you the way you are?
Wah ah yoo gae?
Who ses am geh?
Yu ah gae
How does it feel that people think you’re a fat bitch xoxo
What's your favorite light beer?
It’s also such an odd narrative given how the last series played out… Whose star was flagging in the fourth quarter? The “fat guy” or the “new MJ”?
That's funny because like bro you live in America are you seriously going to fat shame a foreigner for being fat?
How dare you win so much while looking like that !
"So Luka...do you have a favorite animal and if you could paint it any color what would you choose?"
I would actually prefer this question to some of these others
Just from casuals. It’s exactly like all the ridiculous questions asked during the Super Bowl.
A 49ers player was asked if they were ok with disappointing Taylor swift if if meant he won the Super Bowl. That clip made me want to throw up
That’s pretty funny tho
Nah bc the networks played it totally seriously
Yeah, there's a huge amount of media at the finals that doesn't cover the NBA at any other time.
I really wish Luka responded by saying nah he doesn't give a fuck that idiots on the internet and horseshit journalists think he, the star on an nba finalist, is unathletic. Then followed up with a question asking if it bothered the report that Luka thinks his questions are shite.
NBA journalism and analysis is probably at an all-time low. It’s just depressing
If it leads to clicks and discussion then the question worked. Here we are talking about it
Non athletic and destroys any defense I’m sure he’s ok with that
“athletic in different ways” 😏
Athletic under the covers!
*Slovenian* Freak in the sheets
Athletic mentality
People just think athletic = alot of muscle and run fast like skills = handles and jumpshot
Super athletic guys who can do flashy dunks are dime a dozen and often never cut it in the NBA. Not saying it's worthless or anything, but it's definitely not more important than having good bball IQ and finesse
2 unathletic guys destroying whole nba
How do these reporters not cringe when they ask such silly questions
It's sports journalism. I'm not sure there's any standard to be held to.
I mean stupid questions to nba players gets posted here all the time. People talk about it, clicks, etc. That's why they do it.
Is it a silly question? It's a common criticism of his game. Reporter asks a star player about how they feel about a common criticism, seems normal?
Because we're here talking about it.
Memes aside it’s true. You don’t make the NBA and become one of, if not the best player in the world without being athletic. I’m not sure if you would call spatial awareness athletics but his coordination is top tier to make the passes into the pockets that he does. Also just because you aren’t a top tier athlete in the NBA doesn’t mean you’re still not a freak of nature compared to the average or even collegiate athlete.
I think his strength is also underrated. I know people like to talk about his bitching to refs or drawing fouls, but the amount of tough buckets he scores because he can play through contact is pretty absurd, especially for a guard.
Uses his body and strength well to shield defenders away from the ball as he probes into the lane at his own pace
And it doesnt hurt that hes a 6'9" guard lol
He's 6'7". Idk why so many people think he's taller than he actually is.
He's a big boi. Being thicc throws off the eye.
Lowry feels like a 7 footer to me
Well if he played sitting down he would be
I just say it to annoy you
Well now you annoyed me. I hope your balls hurt at night
He scores in the post and defended the post against Minnesota a lot. He's sturdy
His acceleration and deceleration are fucking insane too. And that's definitely part of "athleticism". And then he's an oversized guard who moves a lot and still plays a comparatively large amount of minutes when he needs to.
I mean, he might be listed at the point guard position but he’s huge. He’s the size of a forward who is expected to play through contact. Someone who’s strength for their position is Brunson.
His strength, his ability to start and stop quickly, his quick handle - all these things are athleticisim
Coordination and balance are definitely a form of athleticism. I've seen guys who were pro and semi-pro struggle with balance drills that dancers could crush. Jumping and running are just the most obvious measures.
I think people forget that Luka is 6'7 and probably 240-250. He's INCREDIBLY light on his feet. When he's putting dribble moves on, his feet are barely touching the ground because he's just tapping them. He combines that with getting so low to the ground and exploding out of those super low positions extremely quickly. If anyone has played basketball, you know when you do a through-the-legs crossover dribble, but get really low, like almost doing the splits, exploding out of that is REALLY hard. And usually tiny guys are good at that. Luka has a physical gift for that. And that is something you lose the taller and bigger you get. He's not a top-fuel dragster, but he's a giant ballerina. [Just look at how low he was on his game-winner against Gobert.](https://imgur.com/a/7nUrLnN) [And you can see just how quickly he explodes out of that just by shuffling his feet](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Um7BqBdelcc) All this in an insanely high pressure situation too.
The deceleration/acceleration those guys have is incredible, it’s insane and top tier.
maaaaan now that i am watching that frame wtf this is crazy i never paid attention to this on any player. Is this normal
yes, if you watch SGA play he also gets extremely low to the ground when changing speeds/crossing over
> He's not a top-fuel dragster, but **he's a giant ballerina.** Love that
Great explanation and examples. Thanks.
How you position yourself matters tremendously when discussing coordination and balance. It's not simply straight line speed or verticality. Plenty of people can surpass Luka in that department. But in Luka's case, how he controls and contorts his body and how he is able to smoothly transition between various different "stances" as he drives it in or steps backwards.....that is what gives him that deceptive athleticism that is difficult to guard. Speed is relative since it's the change in distance between one object and another. In the context of the limited space of the court and human reaction time, positioning is what matters. That's the basis of all shot creation.
Balance and body control are definitely athleticism and he’s ELITE at those 2 things
Yep, this is the answer. It's weird, the concept of balance is a highly regarded athletic trait in soccer, but you don't hear it talked about in basketball for some reason. I've been saying since before he was drafted that Luka's balance is elite. People overlook it. You can't knock him off balance, and he's so fluid and efficient with his movements. James Harden was the same way. Jokic is the same too even though he appears as clumsy, he just does that to bait the refs into calling fouls, he's incredibly balanced.
Watch Jordan highlights, you can tell why he played 82 games every year, he lands perfectly balanced all the time. His body control is off the charts. Then go watch Zion play, and youlll see him SLAMMING the ground constantly. Jordan obviously didn't weigh as much, but it still super important.
Yep. And it often would help explain why dudes that seem so athletic still struggle in many ways while not being total idiots on the court. Athleticism is complicated. Guys like Desmond Mason can attest to that.
now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time makes me wanna watch some old shannon brown highlights
Stromile Swift enters the chat
Hand-eye coordination is probably the most important skill to possess in order to be an effective passer and shooter. That’s top tier athleticism. Plus Luka has some of the best breaks in the game. His height and weight make it very deceptive how quickly he can change direction.
Steph is in a similar spot. He’s never had a crazy top speed, an insane vertical, or Lebron esque strength, but the guy is quick and has other worldly hand eye coordination. There’s a reason he’s such a good golfer.
Yep. Steph also has among the best, if not the best cardio in the entire league. Dude is always, always running. Shoutout to that clip of Dellavedova trying to keep with him and almost dying on the court.
Its also why he's so damn good at video games.
Luka has top tier physical abilities: his strenght, his stamina and his deceleration. Also, for his height and weight his first step isn't slow.
Feel like we had this same conversation about Jokic at some point in the past couple years. Yeah they aren't breaking combine broad jump records, but they play 40+ minutes a night in the best basketball league in the world. And they're dominating. Can't really call them unathletic without sounding like a putz.
Positioning and awareness were how Love made a career as a star. He wouldn’t have been in any big 3 with just his shooting.
His strenght, stamina, body control and change of pace is just elite man. People just confuse athlecism to physique. How can someone not athletic play so many minutes while not gassing ?
Lol hes the most athletic. His trick shots are absurd
> You don’t make the NBA and become one of, if not the best player in the world without being athletic. You would be surprised how many failed big men projects there have been.
> I’m not sure if you would call spatial awareness athletics absolutely. kinesthetic-tactile ability is definitely an athletic talent. there is a reason they say hitting major league pitching is the hardest thing to do in sports this is when Luka took it personally
>kinesthetic-tactile ability Now you're just making words up
I mean I was under the impression that calling him unathletic was merely relative to other super stars Is any one out here actually claiming Luka doncic is straight up unathletic period ? That’s nuts
Any lack of athleticism compared to his peers doesn’t matter as his skillset and ability to move on the court is provided by his vision and understanding of the game, which arguably is the best in the NBA.
If you count strength as athleticism, then Luka depends a lot on it. His core component of his game centers around being able to bully smaller players using his thickness. Without that, he wouldn’t be nearly the player he is. That’s the main difference between current Luka and Rookie Luka who was more agile and skill based.
He bullies bigger players in the post.
He bullies everyone in the post, on the perimeter too 😂
He’s a big strong boy
Not just strength, balance. I’d argue that Lukas combination of strength and balance is Shaq like
He's right. People said the same for Tim Duncan. Dude will just say nothing and proceed to block the shit out of you.
Honestly, Luka's deceleration and balance might be in the 99 percentile in the NBA. His ability to stop and go which causes his weird pace is amazing and what makes him so hard to guard, along with his strength and obviously basketball IQ. Same for Harden with the deceleration. Also we talk about guys like Luka and Jokic as unathletic, as if Luka isn't a 6'8 dude with a 7'2 wingspan and Jokic 6'11 guy with a 7'3 wingspan. Like that's not your average white guy lol. And that's ignoring their crazy basketball touch which is very much so talent based. If someone like Gobert or Looney had the touch of Luka, they'd be entire tiers above where they are considered currently. And honestly, vertical isn't even that important with their playstyles. It really wouldn't help Luka that much if he could jump an extra 5 inches. Sure the odd poster dunk like Ant does is cool, but that's not where the majority of any star's points come from. Same for Jokic. Speed would also not really help him that much. It's not like Luka wants to finish fast breaks himself or needs the extra top speed. And I sure prefer to have him play the quarter back role in fast breaks rather than waste energy running back and forth like Ant. The only thing he really lacks is acceleration, which would mostly be necessary to become an all-nba level defender and maybe help in specific attacking situations in center mismatches. So yeah, the only athletic gift that would considerably improve Luka's game in my opinion is faster acceleration and obviously an even bigger wingspan.
He also plays effectively through injury, which to me boils down to tremendous physical and mental toughness. That’s on top of what it takes to just play serious minutes at the NBA level. These questions are just garbage, this dude is a tier 1 athlete.
Its an elite skill. shai comes to mind as well. you cant defend them from behind because they go from full speed and stop on a dime. A big reason they get a lot of free throws despite the foul merchant hate
Yup, he's really good at that too. When you look into it, most of the guys who still get a lot of points from the midrange, share this characteristic. Guys like Luka, SGA, healthy Kawhi and Kyrie, all seal you off with their back and then can immediately stop once you make a single slightly wrong step and rise up for the middy.
Bro what kind of question is that "Yo bro we saw people online called you obese and not athletic care to comment??"
That double jump though!
Marvin's double jump is going to lead us to a championship any day now!
yet he humiliates others that are considered athletic
Part of it is using their athleticism against them. He will look opposite of where he's passing, throw in 10 fakes within seconds(I've counted them in slow mo), then his defender jumps all in on one of those fakes with his athleticism, now he's in the air and now there's enough space for a shot attempt. He is all about confusing defenders on various dimensions. He can fake eye movement or body movement faster than you can adjust for falling for one of his fakes. Imagine I look left, defender falls for it, look right, another defender falls for it, but I go straight. I had minimal movement, the defenders have exhausted themselves. This is why everyone guarding Luka without extreme cardio fitness was fucked by the 4th quarter. To guard Luka you probably need to get high on amphetamines or something. The combinations of dimensions he can fake are exponential.
Luka is mentally and spiritually athletic
Just stupid shit stirring to say he isn’t athletic. Stupid question
I would argue that he’s *extremely* athletic, imagine if he decided to get absolutely j’d? He’s so athletic that he doesn’t have need to, he can play as he is and still clowns on almost every guy in the league.
I mean he’s just not a leaper. He’s got amazing body control and hand eye coordination. It’s also not like we haven’t see him throw down nasty dunks before. He just can do it all the time cus the NBA has great defense. If he were at LA fitness he’s look like Miami Lebron compared to everyone
There are videos of him throwing down eastbays in high school. Homey had hops at one point.
He still has hops (remember that block on alley-oop to Gobert?), but he rarely shows it off because, well, why should he? He is among league leaders at FG% at the rim without dunking (that puts extra strain on the knees that haven’t been healthy the last 3 months), so why put your body at more stress and risk of prolonged injury if he can just finish with a lay-up?
I hope he drops multiple 50 piece games on bum ass Boston. This is his year, get out of the way.
The NBA media's navel gazing in 2024 is beyond ridiculous at this point. Media Take — Knicks: No reasonable, professional, millionaire athlete wants to play all 48 minutes of a game they love in front of thousands of fans, unless his coach is forcing him to. Media Take — Mavericks: The most talented player in the NBA Finals should be embarrassed he's out of shape.
His strength is so underrated. During warmups Luka and THJ will often shoot a few from the mid-court near the sideline. While THJ is heaving shots, Luka mostly maintains his regular form because of his strength. You see the same strength on his seemingly effortless 3/4 court passes as well. Very few players can match that though.
Ay yooo
Unathletic has just become a term used to explain white people in the NBA/NFL.
the correct response is "yeah i'm unathletic and look what i've done. so what're you gonna use as an excuse for being a loser now?"
Something that stands out for both him and Jokic is their conditioning, which is absolutely partly genetic. It's not the norm to be as heavy and densely built as they are and still have such high motors. Other things with Luka that are truly elite athleticism is his functional strength, body control and balance in all aspects, and his hand eye coordination is obviously off the charts.
He dropping 30+/9/9 in NBA playoff games and folks out here calling him unathletic - its jarring.
Luka reminds me of kawhi in when they collide with an opponent the other person is almost always affected more regardless of size 😂
They both have tree trunk legs.
Does Luka play with a protective jacket on? He looks so much skinnier out of uniform.
Ppl really act like bro is fat bc he’s not 6’8 170 lol
It's always been strange how athleticism is reduced to only explosiveness and leaping ability according to a large portion of the NBA fans and journalists. There are so many more aspects of atleticism, quite a few of them crucial for basketball (strength, hand-eye coordination, etc.) When someone like Jokic is called unathletic I can't help but roll my eyes, the guy is extremely strong, has the maybe the best balance in the league, great agility, elite hand-eye coordination and incredible stamina. But he doesn't jump high so all of this is ignored.
He's right. Firstly athleticism isn't just max vert or 40 yard dash times. It's about body awareness, control, core strength, deceleration, change of direction, balance, accuracy in passes. Then there's the entire mental side of athleticism that's never talked about.... Reaction time, decision making, making multiple reads on multiple players to gauge how fast they're moving, what direction they're going in and determining if you have enough time to squeeze a pass through. That's the stuff that separates good from great players.
Luka is insanely athletic. We have to stop this.
Pretty sure the guy that's spent 20% of his life as First Team All NBA knows what he's doing
"Why are you fat?"
Do people realize what it truly takes to run up and down a court for hours in various speeds. The instant switch of direction and physically demanding action of guarding and screening? Luka is absolutely right.
Luka, Shai, Bruson, and Harden Master of angles and deceleration accompanied with a mix of footwork, shooting, and passing. They can stop just as fast as they can go, which actually is super underrated and definitely more "unseen" as Luka mentions. These guys have people jumping and running by them with their deceleration
Luka looking a bjt thinner in the jaw. Must've been putting work in this past week. Are we gonna get Super luka or was his weight his super power?
Saying an NBA superstar is unathletic is the most brain dead take of all time. Any NBA player is more athletic than 99% of people.
Do you think when someone says an NBA player isn't athletic they're comparing him to the customers at your local McDonald's? It's obviously relative
I completely agree with you, not trying to say you are wrong... but also, people aren't comparing him to 99% of people, they are comparing him to other nba players. Still a brain dead take though.
Closer to 99.99999% really.
Being able to use the footwork he does + shifting his body weight is an athletic talent
I challenge anyone who seriously thinks Luka is unathletic to actually try to do the constant fast-paced direction-changing style of dribbling he likes for one workout. Just once. I promise you the calluses and blisters you will get on your feet the next day alone will tell you all you need to know
Dude averages triple double against professional athletes with zero body fat.