was a force for good even then. Had you watched the interaction of those players, which i had in those days, he mattered. The team was better with him and those who wanted him off the roster knew not what they were saying.

Halford was the floor leader then which Luke consciously understood well. i agree Luke's on court skill was more limited than now.

But i had seen enough of the kid at close range to know that with two years to mature, he would be the obvious one to fill the vacuum as team leader in a leaderless group. Not surprising that a guy like him would find a way to get better on the court, especially with the surprise of Mika moving on.

We don't have the objective tools to measure the impact of these intangible variables, but if this team overcomes its already considerable obstacles and improves over last year, i'll be thinking that Luke's contribution to the team psyche had a lot to do with it.