Luka Doncic

[Derento]

I really like his skill-set but I want to see more improvement in his slashing,inside skills and using his pullup jumpshot to playoff the drive.
If he can do that by next years draft he's the number one prospect for me.

Same. I have noticed already a couple of times that he managed to beat his own defender on the drive to the basket but then he didn't finish the layup and instead he goes for the kickout for the 3. Sometimes it seems like he ends up being surprised that he managed to get so easily under the basket.. I think that it has something to do with the "seniority" on the team as he obviously still doesn't have the green light to just shoot every time and it has also something to do that he is still adjusting to his body.
In the future i would really like him to try start finishing contested layups and goin for and ones, as he his body looks big enough to absorb contact.

I think he's going to best at lead guard instead of forward. His shot has improved this year and the step back jumper he worked on looks good. In the preseason game against OKC he was able to drive past Oladipo a very quick and long defender but he passed out on most of the drives. He's speed and fluidity dribbling up court also surprised me. It reminds me of his country man Goran Dragic. He needs to watch Nash, Tony Parker, Wade and see how they use their body, footwork, touch to penetrate and get off floaters,runners,layups,spins,post moves. Especially Wade and Parker both were beasts inside due their footwork and touch. Doncic is very coordinated and strong so I think he could become a very good inside player.

[KingJay]

Anyone willing to take a guess at his wingspan? We have no official measurements yet, but it looks pretty decent to me on his 6'8" frame.

[a3r0d]

Anyone willing to take a guess at his wingspan? We have no official measurements yet, but it looks pretty decent to me on his 6'8" frame.

Yeah the wingspan is definitely there. This is all an asumption, bot considering that in many pictures his hands end up below his hips it wouldn't surprise me if he had a wingspan around 6'10". I'm actually really interested when we're going to get some real measurements on him.

[Derento]

His standing reach is probably above average relative to his height.
Doncic has no neck. He's a height is mostly in his torso and legs.

[Mirotic12]

Anyone willing to take a guess at his wingspan? We have no official measurements yet, but it looks pretty decent to me on his 6'8" frame.

Yeah the wingspan is definitely there. This is all an asumption, bot considering that in many pictures his hands end up below his hips it wouldn't surprise me if he had a wingspan around 6'10". I'm actually really interested when we're going to get some real measurements on him.

Here is a pic from the last few days with him right next to Sergio Llull. Llull is 6-4 in shoes.



Doncic is clearly standing closer to the camera than Llull is, which will artificially inflate Doncic's height and make him appear more taller than Llull, than he actually is. Even with standing closer to the camera, Doncic looks no more than 3 inches taller than Llull.

Doncic's reported height of 6-8 "in shoes" might be a bit of a stretch. I watched Real again looking to see how Doncic compared in height next to teammate Jeff Taylor, that NBA listed at 6-7, and teammate Othello Hunter, that NBA listed at 6-8. Still, Doncic actually appears no taller than Taylor and to be clearly shorter than Hunter.

Doncic's height is definitely getting exaggerated, when people start with the 6-9 or 6-10 stuff. He honestly does not even look 6-8 in shoes.


Here is a pic from last year, with most of Real's players,




Doncic is in the front row (#7), so closest row to the camera (to appeal taller than guys behind). You can clearly see he's noticeably shorter than Felipe Reyes (#9 next to him), that is supposedly 6-9 in shoes. Reyes is closer to the camera, but still, the difference is obvious.

Doncic is about same distance from the camera as Andres Nocioni (#6), actually, Doncic is a little bit closer to the camera, and he really looks no taller at all than Nocioni. Nocioni was listed by NBA at 6-7. Behind Doncic in the back row is Jonas Maciulis, so obviously Doncic is much closer to the camera than him. Maciulis is variously listed at 6-6 and 6-7, and being behind Doncic in the row, still only looks a bit shorter.

So very clearly, the maximum possible height Doncic could be right now is 6-8 in shoes, and that honestly seems like a bit of a stretch. He really looks about 6-7 in shoes, to be perfectly honest about it. So, he might have grown an inch in the last year, with 6-8 in shoes being his height, but that's a high estimate, as he still looks no taller than Taylor (6-7 NBA listing) and shorter than Hunter (6-8 NBA listing). The claims he grew 2-3 inches in the last year are clearly completely bogus.

[XTraderXL]

Anyone willing to take a guess at his wingspan? We have no official measurements yet, but it looks pretty decent to me on his 6'8" frame.

Yeah the wingspan is definitely there. This is all an asumption, bot considering that in many pictures his hands end up below his hips it wouldn't surprise me if he had a wingspan around 6'10". I'm actually really interested when we're going to get some real measurements on him.

Here is a pic from the last few days with him right next to Sergio Llull. Llull is 6-4 in shoes.



Doncic is clearly standing closer to the camera than Llull is, which will artificially inflate Doncic's height and make him appear more taller than Llull, than he actually is. Even with standing closer to the camera, Doncic looks no more than 3 inches taller than Llull.

Doncic's reported height of 6-8 "in shoes" might be a bit of a stretch. I watched Real again looking to see how Doncic compared in height next to teammate Jeff Taylor, that NBA listed at 6-7, and teammate Othello Hunter, that NBA listed at 6-8. Still, Doncic actually appears no taller than Taylor and to be clearly shorter than Hunter.

Doncic's height is definitely getting exaggerated, when people start with the 6-9 or 6-10 stuff. He honestly does not even look 6-8 in shoes.


Here is a pic from last year, with most of Real's players,




Doncic is in the front row (#7), so closest row to the camera (to appeal taller than guys behind). You can clearly see he's noticeably shorter than Felipe Reyes (#9 next to him), that is supposedly 6-9 in shoes. Reyes is closer to the camera, but still, the difference is obvious.

Doncic is about same distance from the camera as Andres Nocioni (#6), actually, Doncic is a little bit closer to the camera, and he really looks no taller at all than Nocioni. Nocioni was listed by NBA at 6-7. Behind Doncic in the back row is Jonas Maciulis, so obviously Doncic is much closer to the camera than him. Maciulis is variously listed at 6-6 and 6-7, and being behind Doncic in the row, still only looks a bit shorter.

So very clearly, the maximum possible height Doncic could be right now is 6-8 in shoes, and that honestly seems like a bit of a stretch. He really looks about 6-7 in shoes, to be perfectly honest about it. So, he might have grown an inch in the last year, with 6-8 in shoes being his height, but that's a high estimate, as he still looks no taller than Taylor (6-7 NBA listing) and shorter than Hunter (6-8 NBA listing). The claims he grew 2-3 inches in the last year are clearly completely bogus.

You just cant let it go, can you?

Anyway, here are photos of Doncic with Nocioni and Taylor. He is clearly at least an inch taller then both of them and Taylor is 201cm and Nocioni 203cm. You will probably say Doncic is standing on a ladder and Real is trying to make him look taller than he really is)) My point is you cant trust the photos until you have official measurements on hand. Doncic is listed at 201cm and if you compare videos from the start of the season and now, you can clearly see he looks bigger and taller now than he did back then. We will just have to wait for official info about his height.

http://imgur.com/9RFnCKU

http://imgur.com/5zuQm4p

[Thespianoid]

Can only go by highlights as usual, but I'm starting to get concerned about his finishing at the rim. Seems to get his footwork wrong a lot - instead of taking an extra dribble and a few extra steps to really explode off the ground towards the rim he takes off too early and either ends up short of the rim (and thus a more contested layup attempt) or ends up going for some really weird hanging/floating jumpers.

Basically I'm concerned he doesn't have enough explosion in tight spaces, only with enough time and enough space, and has to develop more advanced footwork and craftiness. Kinda like how this situation plays out, but in the half court:

Read on Twitter

That's never going to fly in the NBA and right now by virtue of his court vision he can get some incredible bailout passes off for high percentage looks. But when defenses get more aware and the on-ball defenders are quicker/longer he might not be able to make those passes after having left his feet.

He really needs to fix his footwork when attacking the basket to score, or develop better shake/change of pace & direction on his PnR drives (he's shown this during transition drives). For example could snake the pick sometimes and really attack the defending big in space or incorporate a Eurostep on full-speed drives (like Russell should have done in the clip above).

edit: I will try to update this post with video clips for more insight later on.

[XTraderXL]

Can only go by highlights as usual, but I'm starting to get concerned about his finishing at the rim. Seems to get his footwork wrong a lot - instead of taking an extra dribble and a few extra steps to really explode off the ground towards the rim he takes off too early and either ends up short of the rim (and thus a more contested layup attempt) or ends up going for some really weird hanging/floating jumpers.

Basically I'm concerned he doesn't have enough explosion in tight spaces, only with enough time and enough space, and has to develop more advanced footwork and craftiness. Kinda like how this situation plays out, but in the half court:

Read on Twitter

That's never going to fly in the NBA and right now by virtue of his court vision he can get some incredible bailout passes off for high percentage looks. But when defenses get more aware and the on-ball defenders are quicker/longer he might not be able to make those passes after having left his feet.

He really needs to fix his footwork when attacking the basket to score, or develop better shake/change of pace & direction on his PnR drives (he's shown this during transition drives). For example could snake the pick sometimes and really attack the defending big in space or incorporate a Eurostep on full-speed drives (like Russell should have done in the clip above).

edit: I will try to update this post with video clips for more insight later on.

I noticed this too but I am not concerned about it yet. I played pro ball in Europe and when I was his age, I had the same problem. It was because my body (especially legs) wasnt strong enough. When I fixed that, it was much easier to play and finish in traffic and had no such problems going forward. I think its the same thing with him, you can see he is weaker than players his size and doesnt have enough power to get off the ground under contact. Its really hard to play when opponents are physically stronger, you use a lot of energy just to get to the paint and then you have nothing left. His last step is slow and long and because of that, he looses a lot of strength. He has a large frame so he needs to put on at least 10-15 lbs of muscle to be able to control his body better and improve his overall game. He will be 18 in a couple of days and he has plenty of time to work on this but he can not do it during the season. We should see a significant physical improvement over this summer when he will be working out individually and with the Slovenian NT.

[Thespianoid]

I noticed this too but I am not concerned about it yet. I played pro ball in Europe and when I was his age, I had the same problem. It was because my body (especially legs) wasnt strong enough. When I fixed that, it was much easier to play and finish in traffic and had no such problems going forward. I think its the same thing with him, you can see he is weaker than players his size and doesnt have enough power to get off the ground under contact. Its really hard to play when opponents are physically stronger, you use a lot of energy just to get to the paint and then you have nothing left. His last step is slow and long and because of that, he looses a lot of strength. He has a large frame so he needs to put on at least 10-15 lbs of muscle to be able to control his body better and improve his overall game. He will be 18 in a couple of days and he has plenty of time to work on this but he can not do it during the season. We should see a significant physical improvement over this summer when he will be working out individually and with the Slovenian NT.

thanks for that insight, really interesting to get this type of information from former players, junior or professional. For example a few posters on the Raptors board played against Valanciunas in youth competitions and it's always interesting to hear about their experiences.

What you said actually explains something I've seen, which is his first step/two steps starting a drive are very good and then he slows down dramatically due to the strength issue, so thanks for explaining that for me from a player's perspective

As for his strength work, he went to P3 (Peak Performance Project) in Santa Barbara, CA starting from two summers ago

which tells me he/his management understand where to go to get the best physical training tailored to the NBA. They are by far the best place to go, two NBA teams (Utah/Atlanta) have partnered with them, they do all the NBA pre-draft evaluations, and plenty of NBA players go to them during the offseason.

I hope he continues to go even with the Slovenian NT commitment, as it's arguably more important to improve his physical state to an NBA level rather than compete against European national team competition, which he's arguably already shown he can do.

[Derento]

Yeah he needs to learn finish moves other than his floater and basic 1-2 layup.
To me his explosion is better than DAR. DAR struggles to run past anyone. Doncic speed in the open court is much better.
half court he needs to work his shiftiness.

[Mirotic12]

You just cant let it go, can you?

Anyway, here are photos of Doncic with Nocioni and Taylor. He is clearly at least an inch taller then both of them and Taylor is 201cm and Nocioni 203cm. You will probably say Doncic is standing on a ladder and Real is trying to make him look taller than he really is)) My point is you cant trust the photos until you have official measurements on hand. Doncic is listed at 201cm and if you compare videos from the start of the season and now, you can clearly see he looks bigger and taller now than he did back then. We will just have to wait for official info about his height.

In almost every single game, you can see him standing next to Taylor at some point. He's absolutely not taller than him. Same with Nocioni, who is also always slumped over (he is one of those people that never ever stands up straight for whatever reason).

Nocioni was listed at 6-7 by the NBA, not 6-8. We can post numerous game clips from YouTube and the time stamps, showing he's no taller than either of them. There is no logical reason why his height keeps getting exaggerated. Just because he's 17, and actually he's 18 in a few days, so we can drop with the "he's just 17". It's like some people just assume he grew 2-3 inches because of his age. That's not logical, and if it isn't backed up by any evidence whatsoever (absolutely none in this case), then it really makes no sense to keep saying he grew and is taller than listed.

Othello Hunter - listed at 6-8 in shoes by NBA - clearly looks taller than Doncic in any Real game you watch.

Hunter's measurements:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Othello-Hunter-5024/

So he was once measured at 6-6 1/2 barefoot, and once at 6-7 barefoot. Let's assume the 6-7 barefoot. Say his shoes are 1 1/2 inches...that's 6-8 1/2 or 2.04 meters. And he always looks taller than Doncic does.

[3baller9]

In almost every single game, you can see him standing next to Taylor at some point. He's absolutely not taller than him. Same with Nocioni, who is also always slumped over (he is one of those people that never ever stands up straight for whatever reason).

Nocioni was listed at 6-7 by the NBA, not 6-8. We can post numerous game clips from YouTube and the time stamps, showing he's no taller than either of them. There is no logical reason why his height keeps getting exaggerated. Just because he's 17, and actually he's 18 in a few days, so we can drop with the "he's just 17". It's like some people just assume he grew 2-3 inches because of his age. That's not logical, and if it isn't backed up by any evidence whatsoever (absolutely none in this case), then it really makes no sense to keep saying he grew and is taller than listed.

Othello Hunter - listed at 6-8 in shoes by NBA - clearly looks taller than Doncic in any Real game you watch.

Hunter's measurements:

http://www.draftexpress.com/profile/Othello-Hunter-5024/

So he was once measured at 6-6 1/2 barefoot, and once at 6-7 barefoot. Let's assume the 6-7 barefoot. Say his shoes are 1 1/2 inches...that's 6-8 1/2 or 2.04 meters. And he always looks taller than Doncic does.

I don't know about Hunter and others but I got a friend who was there when Doncic was measured to be 201cm in socks this summer at his fathers camp. Also the biggest spanish newspaper Marca was reporting in September that he is already 204cm tall. In his shoes Doncic was a legit 6-8 back in September no matter how hard you look at his photos.

[Marcus]

The height argument ends now. Either take it to the PM's or leave the draft board.

[Bob8]

Yeah, Givony has this irrational love for Euros.

I guess nbadraft.net has the same irrational love. http://www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

Hes definitely raising. Was 8th. the last time I checked I believe. Is Real playing today?

EDIT : if I see this correctly, Real is playing Baskonia today. Very interesting game.

he's 4th now.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

[UcanUwill]

I guess nbadraft.net has the same irrational love. http://www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

Hes definitely raising. Was 8th. the last time I checked I believe. Is Real playing today?

EDIT : if I see this correctly, Real is playing Baskonia today. Very interesting game.

he's 4th now.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

First 10 guys on that mock are all in highschool still. It's pretty irrelevant mock so far,

[Bob8]

Hes definitely raising. Was 8th. the last time I checked I believe. Is Real playing today?

EDIT : if I see this correctly, Real is playing Baskonia today. Very interesting game.

he's 4th now.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

First 10 guys on that mock are all in highschool still. It's pretty irrelevant mock so far,

I agree. It's pretty unfair to compare someone who plays in school league to someone who plays in second league in the world. Doncic should be first.

[jrob23]

Hes definitely raising. Was 8th. the last time I checked I believe. Is Real playing today?

EDIT : if I see this correctly, Real is playing Baskonia today. Very interesting game.

he's 4th now.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

First 10 guys on that mock are all in highschool still. It's pretty irrelevant mock so far,

that site's mock drafts are laughable. I had to call them out on Bridges, Leaf, Hart, Patton and Justin Jackson just to get them in the 1st. No lie. They mostly go on hype and groupthink. I don't know what is worse, their mocks or regurgitating their mocks smh

[CalL]

he's 4th now.

http://www.nbadraft.net/2018mock_draft

First 10 guys on that mock are all in highschool still. It's pretty irrelevant mock so far,

that site's mock drafts are laughable. I had to call them out on Bridges, Leaf, Hart, Patton and Justin Jackson just to get them in the 1st. No lie. They mostly go on hype and groupthink. I don't know what is worse, their mocks or regurgitating their mocks smh

I think i have to agree on this one. I might be biased (because we are both german), but Isaac Bonga as a second rounder in 2018 (33rd) ... ?
Tillie and Dos Anjos in 8th and 13th in 2018 ... ?
Giles in 12th this year?
Pasecniks in 52nd this year?
Jeanne not getting drafted at all this year?

[SportsGuy8]

NBAdraft.net simply seems like it's ran by some casual fans ... DraftExpress has always been a lot more professional, although even they make some serious blunders sometimes.

[kayath]

Your new sig "make noah and rose play 40minutes" you wana kill their careers or something Lol

But most of the 2018 mock Drafts are bad while it is still more then 1 year away and things can change fast.