All Things Luka Doncic

Juree93 · Post #2041 » by **Juree93** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:17 pm

16 pts at halftime against Barca. (livestream on last page)

BoardCrusher · Post #2042 » by **BoardCrusher** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:47 pm

Ive said it once already but ill say it again, Doncic cant play with Campazzo

Thespianoid · Post #2043 » by **Thespianoid** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 6:51 pm

his shot selection has been very ambitious ever since Eurobasket. settling for 3's too often and getting a bit of tunnel vision in transition. also still has the tendency to leave his feet too early for floaters or fading away from contact instead of taking the open lane and looking to destroy the rim.

lately seems to have gotten lazy defensively, not seeing the same effort/focus as before. gambling/reaching at bad times, sagging off his man for no reason, failing to stay in the play if his closeout is beat, not contesting much at the rim when he's in position.

he's picked up some bad habits, hopefully this trajectory doesn't continue. Maybe somewhat due to adjusting to a new role (scorer/first option) but something to keep an eye on.

SportsGuy8 · Post #2044 » by **SportsGuy8** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 7:47 pm

True. "Ambitious" is just about the most positive (or least negative) word you could have used there.

It's a lot easier to do the little things when you're not the no.1 option and/or main player, though, and it shows.

But let's look at the bright side, at least he's showing some ego and arrogance with his game, something that's going to be needed in the NBA.

Johnny Firpo · Post #2045 » by **Johnny Firpo** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 8:37 pm

Hanga really made it tough on him today when he was on him. But then again, he is one of the best defenders in Europe. The Spurs should have brought him over...

Mirotic12 · Post #2046 » by **Mirotic12** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:33 pm

Johnny Firpo wrote:Hanga really made it tough on him today when he was on him. But then again, he is one of the best defenders in Europe. The Spurs should have brought him over...

Hanga is quite overrated. He's a good, not great, not even very good, but a good defender (he's not remotely close to being one of the best defenders in Europe). He's also a pretty good athlete, though not a great athlete, and certainly nothing resembling a freak athlete.

He's a pretty good rebounder for a 3.

Offensively, he's quite limited, and basically is mostly a stand at the 3 point line and wait for the ball guy - only he has a fairly bad shot. He's not even really adequate on shooting wide open jumpers. He really has to be in transition to be effective offensively. He's a borderline offensive liability in the half court.

Sure, he could be a solid backup small forward in the NBA, but he's way overrated.

The Spurs have the draft rights to Nikola Milutinov - he's a much better talent than Hanga is. If there is a draft rights player they have that they should "bring over", then it's Milutinov. They have Printezis' rights to, but he already said he has no interest in the NBA.

Milutinov should be a lot bigger priority than Hanga for the Spurs, as far as their overseas stash picks go.

Wagonband · Post #2047 » by **Wagonband** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:46 pm

I was amazed to see today how much they were trapping him when he initiated the pick-n-roll, in nba you rarely see this unless it's someone you really need to shutdown.

That said he had an amazing first half, some great passes that weren't converted, and a really bad second half

Johnny Firpo · Post #2048 » by **Johnny Firpo** » Sun Nov 12, 2017 9:48 pm

Mirotic12 wrote:Hanga is quite overrated. He's a good, not great, not even very good, but a good defender (he's not remotely close to being one of the best defenders in Europe). He's also a pretty good athlete, though not a great athlete, and certainly nothing resembling a freak athlete.

He's a pretty good rebounder for a 3.

Offensively, he's quite limited, and basically is mostly a stand at the 3 point line and wait for the ball guy - only he has a fairly bad shot. He's not even really adequate on shooting wide open jumpers. He really has to be in transition to be effective offensively. He's a borderline offensive liability in the half court.

Sure, he could be a solid backup small forward in the NBA, but he's way overrated.

The Spurs have the draft rights to Nikola Milutinov - he's a much better talent than Hanga is. If there is a draft rights player they have that they should "bring over", then it's Milutinov. They have Printezis' rights to, but he already said he has no interest in the NBA.

Milutinov should be a lot bigger priority than Hanga for the Spurs, as far as their overseas stash picks go.

Yeah, I don't agree with any of this.

Catchall · Post #2049 » by **Catchall** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:29 am

I think Doncic is the clear #1 prospect right now. He should be better than Ben Simmons and probably already is.

burek3 · Post #2050 » by **burek3** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 9:36 am

Atrocious 2nd half, but what can we say... El Classico brings more pressure than other regular season matches in ACB Liga. Though we know he can handle it pretty well, this one was bad. The turnovers, missed floaters, missed easy shots, lots of missed 3s...

XTraderXL · Post #2051 » by **XTraderXL** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 10:25 am

Laso needs to give him some rest. He played over 30 games this season already, had an ankle injury and a flu 10 days ago and played through both. Its just crazy to me that they dont shut him down for one ACB game and give him 2 days extra rest. Been saying this for a while now as he looks more tired with every game. He is just not physically ready for this rythm yet.

UcanUwill · Post #2052 » by **UcanUwill** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 10:48 am

Catchall wrote:I think Doncic is the clear #1 prospect right now. He should be better than Ben Simmons and probably already is.

Wouldnt go that far.

blazeyo · Post #2053 » by **blazeyo** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:44 am

I just can't pick him 1st overall, no matter how far ahead of the curve he is.

I love Luka as a player and as a person, but he has some serious issues that are going to be problematic at the next level.

Do you guys think he is going to be effective against a switch? do you think he is going to be effective against bigger, more athletic SFs guarding him? Do you think he is going to be effective attacking the rim against centers in the NBA?

Most efficient shot in the NBA is the 3 and the layup. The way I see Luka creating offense for himself is the 3 ball and the midrange shot and maybe a floater game later on. Problem with that is the mid range shot is no longer a good shot and if teams are going to take away his 3, he is going to depend on that shot more than any other shot because the layup against NBA centers is going to be more of a problem.

What i'm most concerned about is his ability to generate offense when the other team take away his PnR ability. You had Kane guarding him very well, not giving him any breathing room. Kane is okay as a defender at the EL level, but he isn't anything special compared to NBA athletes. NBA is quietly becoming positionless basketball, teams use switches much more, teams are much more versatile defensively at each position... He is going to need to play with a big that can take advantage of his matchup inside against a switch, because i'm having hard time picturing Doncic generating an above average offense against a switch.

I see Luka forcing the issue a lot these days especailly when he cant get by his defender or create enough separation for a shot. If he can't generate an elite offensive team output, then his defense, especially at the next level is going to be exposed, badly.

He never had to play over 30 minutes and guard starting caliber NBA players for 82 games. Does he have the stamina and the ability to play adequate defense despite of his physical limitations? I can see how he might take defensive possessions off at the next level.

Unless he develops an elite nba 3pt shot, then his ceiling as a player shrinks considerably. It's possible, but it's not certain.

Picking him 1st is just a huge risk in this top heavy draft. I really wouldn't wanna be the GM in that case.

Rn5ho · Post #2054 » by **Rn5ho** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 11:48 am

Not sure if mentioned - he again had the highest PIR last week in Euroleague and would have been the MVP of the round again (I guess?) if Real Madrid had won.

He's still almost 10 PIR per game ahead of 2nd, Nando de Colo, who has just less than 21 per game.

Still 1st scorer with just over 21 points per game.

6th rebounder with 6.6 rebounds per game

14th in assists with 4 per game (this area I'm a bit disappointed, but since he plays less PG and is forced to take more offense on himself, guess it makes sense)

14th in steals

2nd in fouls drawn with 6.67 per game

1st in FT made (48) and 4th in FT % with 89.5%

Full stats: http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=005929&seasoncode=E2017#!ranks

UcanUwill · Post #2055 » by **UcanUwill** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:22 pm

He also first in PER - 32.9 (Nando De Colo is second with 31.7)

15th. in TS% - 67,5%

6th. in USG% - 30.2%

7th. in PPS - 1.7

4th. in eDiff - 32.2

blazeyo · Post #2056 » by **blazeyo** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:25 pm

UcanUwill wrote:He also first in PER - 32.9 (Nando De Colo is second with 31.7)

15th. in TS% - 67,5%

6th. in USG% - 30.2%

7th. in PPS - 1.7

4th. in eDiff - 32.2

Insane stats.

SportsGuy8 · Post #2057 » by **SportsGuy8** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 12:49 pm

Keep in mind, though, that his stats are still a bit inflated, he started the season with some very hot games. Still amazing ...

Rn5ho · Post #2058 » by **Rn5ho** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:05 pm

SportsGuy8 wrote:Keep in mind, though, that his stats are still a bit inflated, he started the season with some very hot games. Still amazing ...

Why is that inflated? Same could be said that he had some cold games lately which deflated his stats (he had a cold hand with threes). Don't think it's inflated, he's been consistently good, just his shots didn't fall as much in last 2 games.

SportsGuy8 · Post #2059 » by **SportsGuy8** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:29 pm

His increase of shots lately is also a consequence (in part) of his hot start, so even if we take into account his cold shooting as of late, it's still probably inflated.

Besides, look at his ACB stats. He does seem to care more about Euroleague (and some ACB games vs. top teams), but still, the difference is too substantial right now. Choosing his Euroleague stats (and play) as basis is a bit too close to confirmation bias.

Variance plays a huge part in sports (and also in basically everything in life). Look at Oladipo, for example, looking like a star after 14 games, I can assure you it's not going to last, at least not the efficiency. Just one of numerous examples.

batigol18 · Post #2060 » by **batigol18** » Mon Nov 13, 2017 1:46 pm

Hi, first I would like to greet everyone, long time reader of this board, now decided also to be more active...

Some of my thoughts regarding Luka.

In my opinion the best situation for Luka would be that he is selected as No. 3 or No. 4. Because in this case he won't need to live with extreme pressure if some of his close competitors for No. 1 pick will then in the future become stars in NBA. But on the other hand the team, that will select him, won't regret their decision. I'm saying right now that Luka will be new youngest triple-double in NBA and that he will achieve that in one of his first ten matches of next NBA season. Because I'm also convinced that he'll go in NBA next year. He is aware that there is almost no possibility to have much better statistic in Eurobasket as he is having right now and that he can only stagnate if he'll continue to stay in Real for one more season. After that season before NBA draft he'll be probably Euroleague MVP, Eurochampion with NT, Eurobasket all-star, so what can he in realitly achieve more? Only question is if he'll go to NBA as Euroleague champion or not. This could be his only challenge left after this season in Eurobasket, that could convince him to stay one more season. But I believe there are slim chances for something like that.

As far as his current season goes and regarding his a bit worse games in last few weeks, take into consideration that Luka is now in unique situation in compare to any other prospect. We know that there is usually situation when rookie start very good, have very good numbers in his first season and then he hit a wall after some time (sophomore slump). Other teams are starting to take more focus on him, game plan in defense of other teams become oriented toward them and the this young guys need to find a way to overcome that. The best one are the find a way and adjust to this new situation.

Luka is right now in that situation. Game plans of all Real opponents are totally focused to stop Luka, his PnR game, they double or even triple him and are ready to left some other guys more open that they receive the ball and throw it at basket. When you just watch those highlights, you could see that Luka should have on every game double digit assists if his fellow players would be able to convert his passes. But for sure there is some effect on his game because of that and it looks like sometimes Luka overforce his game.

What I'm trying to say, Luka will need to adjust to this new situation and I don't have any doubts he will adjust. His numbers are despite this new situation already great, but you could see some frustration in his game at the moment because of this losing streak.

But at the end, he'll have this experience even before he'll start to play in NBA and I'm sure, he'll have much easier adjusting period in NBA in compare if he wouldn't have this experience. And in NBA at least at the beginning he won't be focus point of other teams...