Why did it take this long for Luka to get in shape?

Everyone is seeing how heavily the media is pushing the narrative that Luka is having an insane off-season, getting in the best shape of his life, and about to take LA by storm. He looks great, and it's clear he has taken his conditioning more seriously.

But why was Nico Harrison blasted for insinuating that Luka wasn't a hard worker and for not allowing him to keep the training staff he preferred? I saw Instagram comments along the lines of "I don't care if he weighs 300 pounds if he has the stat line". It was for some reason wrong of the Mavericks (who share some blame, more should have been done on their end to get him in shape if they felt that way) to expect their superstar to take his conditioning seriously. But now he's being praised for getting in shape, because it fits a revenge narrative.

I don't know, maybe I'm reading way too much into this. I just think it's odd how so many people adamantly pushed that Luka's conditioning wasn't an issue, but now that he's toning up, he's going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread. I thought it wasn't a problem?