All Things Luka Doncic

[SportsGuy8]

My order of preference for Doncic, in terms of a fit, development and possible stardom:
1. Bulls
2. Mavs
3. Hawks
4. Kings
5. Suns

I'm conflicted about the Cavs, though, dunno where to put them.

[UcanUwill]

Porzingis had almost no hype at all until the season started. Rubio had the most "WONDER BOY" hype in europe until doncic ever. Not comparing doncic/rubio so fanboys stay seated, just talking about hype. Hezonja far from the rubio hype.

Rubio was insane good prospect, but he also was one of those ''better fit in the NBA'' type of players, because he really wasn't that great in Europe. He was wonder boy, but not because he was superstar or anything, he was just kinda ok Euroleague player. His go to was creativity in the open court and one on one defense, things that are more important in the NBA, and he really looked like NBA type for sure. Its evident because his rookie season, before he blew his knee, was far better than any of his seasons in Barcelona.

Rubio is one of those rare extraordinary players, who look better in far tougher NBA league, than in far weaker FIBA style basketball. Doncic is the opposite, Doncic is ordinary prospect - dominate weaker competition - has question marks how would that translate type.

[yoyoboy]

Man I'm so split on this guy. I absolutely love some aspects of his game. The way he plays the game, the angles he throws some of these passes, the way he goes after boards and immediately jumps starts the fast break, how he can use his length to finish, the deep range on his shot (even though he needs to get more consistent).

But I can't get past the athleticism. He has enough length where his vertical will be just fine. But in my opinion, his lack of quickness and burst is going to hurt him a lot. What position will he guard? It'll have to be probably the 3, but I think even then he's going to have a really hard time preventing penetration with his lack of lateral quickness. He does well as far as contesting shots, so I'll give him that, but he'll definitely struggle to keep guys in front of him. And then he's going to have to abuse the PnR when initiating the offense because he doesn't have the first step to blow past NBA defenders. He can't be a PG in the NBA; he should aim to play like Gordon Hayward as far as playmaking role. But yeah I'm interested to see if he's able to overcome those disadvantages and play to his strengths and how his shooting ability translates.

Right now on my big board I'd put him firmly behind Ayton and Bamba. But ahead of Bagley. And right with Porter Jr, maybe even a slight edge over him.

I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of guys who have watched Doncic a lot longer. As far as my gripes and if you think they're valid concerns and how he'll deal with them.

[JPF]

Porzingis had almost no hype at all until the season started. Rubio had the most "WONDER BOY" hype in europe until doncic ever. Not comparing doncic/rubio so fanboys stay seated, just talking about hype. Hezonja far from the rubio hype.

Rubio hype was explainable, however just about everyone missjudged his ability to improve his shot as he gets older, if he would become just an average shooter with time, it would be really intresting to see how different his impact would become.

Do note that a lot of that hype doesn't neccesarily come from europe, Chad Ford and ESPN had as much to do with it if not more, with overhypeing prospects they have rarely seen and not really put all that much effort into scouting them.

The outrage on these boards when the Knicks drafted Porzingis was hillarious... basicaly an anti-hype.

[burek3]

https://www.thestepien.com/2017/11/10/watch-watching-luka-doncic/

Nice article. It isn't loaded with too much stats and numbers, more of an outline.

[SlowPaced]

Doncic reminds me a lot of Gordon Hayward. Similar height/build, similar strengths, similar weaknesses. Hayward's perceived lack of quickness was the biggest question mark about him coming into the league, did not end up being a problem. I see the same happening with Doncic. A better playmaking version of Hayward is what I expect Doncic to be.

[pacersGM]

Porzingis had almost no hype at all until the season started. Rubio had the most "WONDER BOY" hype in europe until doncic ever. Not comparing doncic/rubio so fanboys stay seated, just talking about hype. Hezonja far from the rubio hype.

Rubio hype was explainable, however just about everyone missjudged his ability to improve his shot as he gets older, if he would become just an average shooter with time, it would be really intresting to see how different his impact would become.

Do note that a lot of that hype doesn't neccesarily come from europe, Chad Ford and ESPN had as much to do with it if not more, with overhypeing prospects they have rarely seen and not really put all that much effort into scouting them.

The outrage on these boards when the Knicks drafted Porzingis was hillarious... basicaly an anti-hype.

Yep, exactly my point. Rubios hype came from nba fans who saw the next showtime in him in the nba. And most of his rookie season it seemed it would be something.

Porzingis had non nba hype none.

Doncic has that bodiroga euroleague legend hype, not the i cant wait until he does that in the nba kinda hype.

I watched the game against maccabi. Now the second team that put a 6ft5, 6ft6 athletic guy on him to shadow him right after the half court line. And other then p&R action, he couldnt break his guy down on iso or semi iso situation.

And thats exactly why i get such reactions here. I dont see the iso game getting any better in the nba.

Yes he is smart yes he can run the p&r very good but when his number is called in crunch time and he gets a side cleared out, i dont see many guys in the nba by whom he would get by in iso mode.

Yes the nba is different now. A lot ball movement, p&r, etc, but if you cant go one on one when needed is still a must if you want to be considered a threat in the nba

And i dont see that getting any faster better more explosive. Not now, and not at 25. Hayward was a better athlete then him in college

[UcanUwill]

Doncic reminds me a lot of Gordon Hayward. Similar height/build, similar strengths, similar weaknesses. Hayward's perceived lack of quickness was the biggest question mark about him coming into the league, did not end up being a problem. I see the same happening with Doncic. A better playmaking version of Hayward is what I expect Doncic to be.

Personally, I dont like this comparison. Hayward seems way more athletic to me, way better defender also. I feel this comparison is rather popular because they look a like, you know, they both white. They do have some similarities, but I still think much better shooting Evan Turner is better comparison.

[BoardCrusher]

Porzingis had almost no hype at all until the season started. Rubio had the most "WONDER BOY" hype in europe until doncic ever. Not comparing doncic/rubio so fanboys stay seated, just talking about hype. Hezonja far from the rubio hype.

Rubio hype was explainable, however just about everyone missjudged his ability to improve his shot as he gets older, if he would become just an average shooter with time, it would be really intresting to see how different his impact would become.

Do note that a lot of that hype doesn't neccesarily come from europe, Chad Ford and ESPN had as much to do with it if not more, with overhypeing prospects they have rarely seen and not really put all that much effort into scouting them.

The outrage on these boards when the Knicks drafted Porzingis was hillarious... basicaly an anti-hype.

Yep, exactly my point. Rubios hype came from nba fans who saw the next showtime in him in the nba. And most of his rookie season it seemed it would be something.

Porzingis had non nba hype none.

Doncic has that bodiroga euroleague legend hype, not the i cant wait until he does that in the nba kinda hype.

I watched the game against maccabi. Now the second team that put a 6ft5, 6ft6 athletic guy on him to shadow him right after the half court line. And other then p&R action, he couldnt break his guy down on iso or semi iso situation.

And thats exactly why i get such reactions here. I dont see the iso game getting any better in the nba.

Yes he is smart yes he can run the p&r very good but when his number is called in crunch time and he gets a side cleared out, i dont see many guys in the nba by whom he would get by in iso mode.

Yes the nba is different now. A lot ball movement, p&r, etc, but if you cant go one on one when needed is still a must if you want to be considered a threat in the nba

And i dont see that getting any faster better more explosive. Not now, and not at 25. Hayward was a better athlete then him in college

so youre saying Doncic maxed out his iso game at age of 18, gotcha.

and last time you posted here you were kinda upset, and said you wont post again and will come back when Doncic will be just an average NBA player...

[reanimator]

Doncic reminds me a lot of Gordon Hayward. Similar height/build, similar strengths, similar weaknesses. Hayward's perceived lack of quickness was the biggest question mark about him coming into the league, did not end up being a problem. I see the same happening with Doncic. A better playmaking version of Hayward is what I expect Doncic to be.

Personally, I dont like this comparison. Hayward seems way more athletic to me, way better defender also. I feel this comparison is rather popular because they look a like, you know, they both white.

Something we can agree on.

Personally, I still like my 6'7 D'Angelo Russell comp. Not as much creativity with his handle as DLo and not as wreckless with the ball but functionally they are very similar.

[XTraderXL]

I feel like some people here see Doncic as a finished product at 18 and project his career based on the player he is today while all other prospects are judged differently.

Every single player gets better after 18. They get better at shooting, ballhandling, decision making, conditioning, strenght... Its just all about how much better thay can get. Doncic is already a top 3 EL player, virtually a lock for MVP after 20% of regular season games. On top of all this, he still has a lot of room for improvement and he keeps getting better and better very fast.

The main thing he needs to improve is his strength. When he does that, he will look much more athletic than right now. He is quite fast when running down the court but as soon as there is some contact, he slows down considerably. Thats not about athleticism, that all lack of strenght. Plus in Europe the rules are different than in the NBA and even American players say its much harder to penetrate in EL than in NBA. I think this will benefit him a lot, he has the whole summer to work on his body and get stronger and will be just fine once the NBA season starts.

[SlowPaced]

Personally, I dont like this comparison. Hayward seems way more athletic to me, way better defender also. I feel this comparison is rather popular because they look a like, you know, they both white. They do have some similarities, but I still think much better shooting Evan Turner is better comparison.

I was in an argument on the GB recently where I called out race based comparisons for being stupid. So that's not where I'm coming from at all. Hayward was not considered a very good athlete coming out of college and he's a decent defender, nothing too great.

Much better shooting Evan Turner doesn't make much sense to me. A much better shooting Evan Turner is pretty far away from Evan Turner.

[The Master]

It's hard to make any valuable comparison to people like Doncic, on nbadraft.net I saw comparison of Doncic and Gallinari, and then realized we should stop it. Hayward is much more athletic player who averaged last season 4apg, just different players, in fact Hayward plays like o non-typical white player.

As I wrote few weeks ago, I still hope Doncic will shoot 3s on better efficiency (to this moment 34,5% considering ACB and Euroleague), and I don't like a fact that 45% of his field goal are 3s - if he has that big issue in creating shot closer to the rim on Euroleague level, how it will look like in NBA, without size advantage, against much better competition? Because this isn't Houston-like basketball, he's just not fast enough to attack rim on HCO.

He's lock for top5 selection with chances of getting selected higher, and he's still amazing prospect because of his shooting touch and playmaking, but in my opinion this season to this moment doesn't answer questions about limitations of his scoring and defense, even when he plays amazingly.

I don't agree with you saying that Doncic is going to defend SFs, it's half-true, he won't be tall and quick enough to defend real forwards, in my opinion he's going to be guarded by better SG or SF defensively from opposing team, and will guard in defense worse offensively SG or SF. And of course he will be main playmaker wherever he gets. We should leave this position-based perception, Ben Simmons is point guard on offense and is switching PGs, SFs and PFs all the time on defense, same with Doncic who will defend the worst offensive player of opposing team on a perimeter, and probably be defended by the best defender. So how to describe this position?

[reanimator]

Ben Simmons is defined by all of the positions he CAN guard.
Luka Doncic is defined by all of the positions he CANNOT guard.
Both are on-ball playmakers but only Ben is truly "positionless" while Doncic is likely to get pigeonholed into a position.

[Johnny Firpo]

Doncic is at least 15 pounds heavier than Hayward was when he was drafted, which was at, what, 20? Doncic is much stronger than rookie Hayward was, all that while still having a little bit of baby fat. There is no good comparison for him, you would have to combine players to get there.

Btw, I want to introduce this gem from reanimator, to demonstrate his gifts as a talent evaluator.

For the question that who will be the biggest bust from the 2015 draft, he answered that:

Out of guys in lotto consideration, its Devin Booker for me. Porzingis would be next as he can go either way.

LMAO, he literally picked the two best prospects to bust, one of whom scored 70 since, and the other one looks like a perennial MVP candidate, in his third year. Doncic's superstardom confirmed, I guess?

[Gam]

last time we've seen a young international prospect this accomplished at the highest level?

Never.

[Johnny Firpo]

Btw, Reanimator's gem was good for something other than revealing his gifts, what about a Booker with elite playmaking comp? How does that sound? There are some similarities, they are/were both branded unathletic, similar size, good, but maybe not elite shooting touch. Not perfect, obviously, Doncic is a little bit bigger, stronger, much better passer, but... There are some similarities.

[jonjames]

His lack of athleticism really limits his ceiling as far as how good he can be..unless he becomes a lights out shooter with very good handles its hard to become a star type player in this league with less athleticism as a wing. I saw Russell as a comparison but as much as hes maligned for being slow and unathletic he is very skilled and creative player.

[Johnny Firpo]

I saw Russell as a comparison but as much as hes maligned for being slow and unathletic he is very skilled and creative player.

Wait, you are saying Doncic is not as skilled and creative as Russell?

[jonjames]

I saw Russell as a comparison but as much as hes maligned for being slow and unathletic he is very skilled and creative player.

Wait, you are saying Doncic is not as skilled and creative as Russell?

He is skilled but no i dont honestly believe hes anywhere as skilled as russell is or at least at the monent. Russell has great court vision, can shoot, pass, handle and use the pnr at high level and will only continue to get better. If he is as skilled as russell doncic can also be perennial allstar.