Luka Doncic

[kayath]

Laso lost the game for Real once again. This loss in on him.

But Laso cant help it when some "smart" players are making contested shoots when you still have still 20 sec up for attack.

[Mirotic12]

The only way Fultz wouldn't see playing time is if the Euro coach was clueless, not because he wouldn't be effective.

I've watched several of his games recently...he'd be doing about as well as Maodo Lo is doing, or worse.

Here is how Maodo Lo is doing in EuroLeague:

http://www.euroleague.net/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=007032&seasoncode=E2016

Based on what I've seen of Fultz right now in NCAA, that's about the best case scenario for how he would be doing if he was in EuroLeague.

[Bob8]

22 mins; 13 points, 8R, 8A, PER 26 - calculate that to 36 mins

His stats are impressive, but much more impressive is how he turned game around. They were 16 points behind, he came in instead of Llull, played great, they were up by 4 all this without Llull and then Laso lost the game. Great game again. Triple double, first in Euroleague in 10 years time, looks to be very near. The biggest problem is his playing time.

[peja_the_legend]

and despite all this they lost to a team that are 8th in the Turkish league.

[reanimator]

Did someone really compare Fultz to Maodo Lo? Is this life?

[Bob8]

and despite all this they lost to a team that are 8th in the Turkish league.

this year anybody can beat anybody in Euroleague.
One of the reason is, Euroleague teams are not used to play so many difficult games. Real will play 80+ games this year and not many easy ones. Today they played in Istanbul, on Saturday they play in Spain for the leadership in Spanish league.

[XTraderXL]

Well, Llull had +/- of -24, Doncic had +14. They were on the court together for 1:25 min and Real went -4 in that time. Laso should take Llull out after first 5 min of the second half and keep playing the unit which brought Real from -17 to +1 with 2 min left. I knew Real will lose when Laso put Llull back in. He disrupted Reals play, holding the ball on offense and not doing anything with it. Terrible decision by Laso.

[Kentavicius]

Watch on YouTube

[SportsGuy8]

Regarding Luka's playing time: since Real is basically on an NBA-like schedule now, it's highly questionable his body would be able to handle 30 mpg (almost nobody even plays that kind of minutes in Europe). It's not even that much about his age per se, it's just that it takes time for your body to get used to such a grueling schedule, that's the main reason for the famous "rookie-wall".

It's quite possible that since they know he's going to be important when the playoffs start, they don't want him to be burned-out by then.

[Mirotic12]

Regarding Luka's playing time: since Real is basically on an NBA-like schedule now, it's highly questionable his body would be able to handle 30 mpg (almost nobody even plays that kind of minutes in Europe). It's not even that much about his age per se, it's just that it takes time for your body to get used to such a grueling schedule, that's the main reason for the famous "rookie-wall".

It's quite possible that since they know he's going to be important when the playoffs start, they don't want him to be burned-out by then.

These EuroLeague teams are basically on an NBA schedule now, plus even worse travel than NBA teams. EuroLeague coaches are going to have to start practicing less, like in the NBA, or they are going to burn out or injure all of their players. I don't think these EuroLeague coaches realize that NBA teams barely practice at all.

Plus, so many of the EuroLeague players have national team commitments, and are playing 11 out of the 12 months during the year.

[Bob8]

There's one thing no one mentioned. How incredible good rebounder is he becoming. The best rebounder in Real is Randolph, who's 6.11 and has avg. 5.2 rbd. Doncic has 4.4, playing less. In last 7 games, he has 6.9 rebounds per game. Nobody in Euroleague with his height is doing something like that.

[SportsGuy8]

Regarding Luka's playing time: since Real is basically on an NBA-like schedule now, it's highly questionable his body would be able to handle 30 mpg (almost nobody even plays that kind of minutes in Europe). It's not even that much about his age per se, it's just that it takes time for your body to get used to such a grueling schedule, that's the main reason for the famous "rookie-wall".

It's quite possible that since they know he's going to be important when the playoffs start, they don't want him to be burned-out by then.

These EuroLeague teams are basically on an NBA schedule now, plus even worse travel than NBA teams. EuroLeague coaches are going to have to start practicing less, like in the NBA, or they are going to burn out or injure all of their players. I don't think these EuroLeague coaches realize that NBA teams barely practice at all.

Plus, so many of the EuroLeague players have national team commitments, and are playing 11 out of the 12 months during the year.

Good point.

Top Euro teams also take most games more seriously than NBA teams. Even if the top NBA team loses to some terrible, lottery-bound team, it's not a big deal, most people go "it's just a regular season game" ... But if a top European team loses to some team with 1/10th of it's budget, the whole organization is on suicide watch.

There's one thing no one mentioned. How incredible good rebounder is he becoming. The best rebounder in Real is Randolph, who's 6.11 and has avg. 5.2 rbd. Doncic has 4.4, playing less. In last 7 games, he has 6.9 rebounds per game. Nobody in Euroleague with his height is doing something like that.

It's been mentioned several times ...

It's true, though. It's incredible just how well-rounded his game is.

[XTraderXL]

Yes, the regular season is much more intense in Europe than NBA because there are less games so each game is more important. I think Doncic plays just enough, sometimes Laso should play him more like yesterday but usually his minutes are good. I predicted he will be getting 20-25 min in EL this year especially because they dont really have a 3rd PG (Draper is non factor). I think we will see a big increase in minutes and his offensive role next season.

[burek3]

Agree. Hopefully, he will go through the transition to adulthood without injuries. It's critical up to hm, 20-21 yrs of age? He probably stopped growing, and needs to reinforce now. He still has time to shine.

Maybe he has it easy here in Real, because he has competent teammates. It will be interesting to see if he will prove his individual quality in Eurobasket2017 in September.

I mean, I'm not trying to put down Slovenian team, can be a tough bunch, but maybe with exception of Dragic, they aren't really of superstar quality individually speaking. Maybe Dragic & Doncic will pull a Heat in the competition

[rukavica]

I am new on this forum so I don't know if you guys already talked about his genes, his father... He is (or at least was as a player) one tough m****f****! He has huge body and also Balkan toughness and character (which is most of the times great if you are sportsman). If Luka has only 25% of this in himself he will definitely be top 5 Euro player of all time! He is only 18 now and he looks very humble most of the time, but I sincerely hope that this is just becouse of his age and that he will become more like his father in this respect. However, I agree with most of you guys here that there was no player in Europe who played like he does with 17, 18 years.

[UcanUwill]

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Reals best player already. Llull killed Real yesterday, brutal. Llull is a great tough-shots specialists, I give him that, but what else he does better than Doncic?

[XTraderXL]

I think Llull is still an overall better player than Doncic but not by a lot. He either has very good games or very bad ones. If his shots are not falling, he always has a very bad game because he doesnt do anything else and just keeps shooting. If Lukas shots arent falling, he plays defense, rebounds, makes plays, assists etc. and thats why he is always efficient, makes his teammates better and in the end fills up the stats so he practically doesnt have really bad games. They are almost always at least ok but most of the time good/very good.

I think we will see even better version of him next year. He will definitely improve over the summer, he will be practicing and playing with Goran Dragic for 6 weeks every day and that will help him develop his game a lot. He said himself that he needs to work on his quickness, explosiveness and strength so that will improve as well. He will get even more playing time and bigger role so he will be able to play more freely which will help his game as well. It is easily noticeable, Real is not taking advantage of his full potential yet, he could already do more for the team than he is doing at the moment. Yesterday he should have played at least 27 min, because Llull was killing the team with his 1 on 1s, crazy shots, holding the ball and not playing defense. I am excited to see him play for Slovenia this summer with Dragic, that will be a joy to watch.

[Mirotic12]

Yes, the regular season is much more intense in Europe than NBA because there are less games so each game is more important. I think Doncic plays just enough, sometimes Laso should play him more like yesterday but usually his minutes are good. I predicted he will be getting 20-25 min in EL this year especially because they dont really have a 3rd PG (Draper is non factor). I think we will see a big increase in minutes and his offensive role next season.

They will have to move Doncic to a basic SG role next season. Llull is an on the ball scorer. Campazzo (who they have to start playing at this point) is an on the ball scorer and creator off dribble penetration. Carroll and Rudy are getting old and steadily losing their athleticism, and in both of their cases, their game was largely built off athletic ability.

So if Laso wants to keep Doncic at his current minutes, or increase them, for next season he is going to have to move Doncic to SG, where he is usually playing defense anyway, and also where he can be more suited to take the screen roll game, after someone else like Llull or Campazzo first sets up the offense. Which would just make it easier on offense for Doncic.

As far as Draper goes...he isn't a non-factor. He's a mediocre ball handler, and his offense is almost non-existent, as all he can do is jack up 3 pointers (without being a good shooter), as he has no dribble penetration game and almost no mid range shot game.

However, he isn't a non-factor. He's a really truly elite level defensive player, that can lock down point guards and shooting guards. He's been known to totally change and take over games, just with his defense. So yeah, he's a 3rd point guard and provides almost no offense, but his defense can definitely be a factor. So he's always going to get some minutes, even if it's just 8-10, depending on match ups and situations.

Maybe he has it easy here in Real, because he has competent teammates. It will be interesting to see if he will prove his individual quality in Eurobasket2017 in September.

I mean, I'm not trying to put down Slovenian team, can be a tough bunch, but maybe with exception of Dragic, they aren't really of superstar quality individually speaking. Maybe Dragic & Doncic will pull a Heat in the competition

Zoran Dragic's injury will greatly affect that Slovenian team. If they had,

Goran Dragic
Zoran Dragic
Luka Doncic

in the perimeter, they could have used a great 3 guard lineup, and it really would have benefited their style of play, which is the ability to press and run on the fast break. That injury was really costly to that team, especially since their front court just isn't at the same level as most other European teams. Slovenia has always had several good players, but their depth is really small compared to teams like Spain, France, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Russia, Turkey, Italy, Lithuania...

What the Z. Dragic injury also means is that Doncic probably gets like 30 minutes of playing time. I guess Udrih could possibly play for them, but he never does, so no reason to think he would.

I think we will see even better version of him next year. He will definitely improve over the summer, he will be practicing and playing with Goran Dragic for 6 weeks every day and that will help him develop his game a lot. He said himself that he needs to work on his quickness, explosiveness and strength so that will improve as well. He will get even more playing time and bigger role so he will be able to play more freely which will help his game as well. It is easily noticeable, Real is not taking advantage of his full potential yet, he could already do more for the team than he is doing at the moment. Yesterday he should have played at least 27 min, because Llull was killing the team with his 1 on 1s, crazy shots, holding the ball and not playing defense. I am excited to see him play for Slovenia this summer with Dragic, that will be a joy to watch.

Yeah, but keep in mind that Real Madrid has so many scorers and offensive weapons that the defense can't focus on anyone. If you are the defense, you can barely focus slightly on someone like Llull, and even then hardly. You sure the heck can't focus on anyone else. And it's not like Llull sees even remotely the kind of defense attention someone like Spanoulis gets by comparison. In Real, every single player has it nice and easy on offense, because the defense can't lock in on anyone. It's like when teams play against Team USA.

In Slovenian national team, with Zoran Dragic injury, there is just Goran Dragic, maybe someone like Nebojsa Joksimovic, maybe Gasper Vidmar, Klemen Prepelic, Jaka Blazic, Alen Omic, Edo Muric, Domen Lorbek, Jaka Klobuchar, maybe some guys like Uros Slokar, Miha Zupan (if they are even still playing in NT)....

A guy like Beno Udrih that never plays for their team, and is old anyway. A guy like Erazem Lorbek that has totally shot knees and has been failing tryouts with teams recently and probably couldn't play even if he wanted to, etc. (not even worth to consider someone like Sasha Vujacic that fights with their whole team every time and is terrible anyway)...

It's not like playing in Real, where there is everything one to one against some smaller defender, or just an easy pass to beat a zone. If you watch G. Dragic play with Slovenia, almost nothing happens on offense in half court, other than for the most part, some jacked up 3 pointers, he is doing the most damage in the open court. Although, the level of EuroBasket is for sure lower than this current EuroLeague, so that is also a factor.

[burek3]

Watch on YouTube

;

EL posted top plays of February 2017.

Dončić has the top1 play of Feb2017.

And people arguing in comments that Dončić's shouldn't be a top1 play.

[UcanUwill]

Watch on YouTube

;

EL posted top plays of February 2017.

Dončić has the top1 play of Feb2017.

And people arguing in comments that Dončić's shouldn't be a top1 play.

Strangely number 10 was my favorite. Love Heurtel. That block on Datome was sick as well, and Mike James putting 2 defenders in the air and draining a game winning 3 was sweat and funny. Good top 10.

Considering Euroleague has like 32-40 games per month, its basically like NBA top 10 of the week. I got to say, Euroleague produces better highlights as of late IMO.

Highlight of the video tho, English announcer pronouncing Kavaliauskas almost perfectly. Most of the time they butcher Lithuanian names bad.