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One of the more impressive Rookies of the last decade goes into his second year. Discuss.

freethrows and consistency.still have high hopes after the rather disappointing second half of the season.lets go luka...

Once Kristaps gets back into NBA game shape and conditioning, the Mavs are going to be a challenge for the other team every night. They might sneak into the playoffs, definitely a dark horse candidate to make it. Especially if JJ "The GOAT" Barea returns to round out the big 3

Hot take: Top 15 player in the NBA by the end of the season.

Ambrose wrote:Hot take: Top 15 player in the NBA by the end of the season.

He should get there.

So what do yall think of my guy's handles?

I'm starting to think he's got the best pure ballhandling ability for a guy his size in the league already. Guys like LeBron get aided by all-time great strength and athleticism that helps them get places, but i never recall LeBron being this shifty with the ball, having the ability to move front to back and laterally with the ball on the strong like Luka does. He legit looks like a 6'7 Harden.

Luka's got a very very nice handle, but he's closer to Harden sized than LeBron sized.

eminence wrote:Luka's got a very very nice handle, but he's closer to Harden sized than LeBron sized.

And not nearly as strong as Harden yet either.

Nice debut though. Shame the refs didn't understand Beal was just going hard too. That first double T was so ridiculous. Obviously the 2nd one he kinda had to give but it should have never gotten to that. Beal caused him some problems for sure, but I like that Luka didn't force it or seem rattled. In fact he kinda seemed excited about it. Like oh someone is going to actually provide some resistance tonight finally.

Maybe I'm biased because he's a Mav, but he seems to have that Manu basketball joy factor. Like everyone should just love watching play, flaws and all.

i don't even know what makes this guy so good honestly, but he's so good...like everyone else in the league I can point to exactly what makes them a star, but with Doncic I can't but he's still a monster...just incredible

he's already a top-20 guy, might be top-10 by the end of the year

clyde21 wrote:i don't even know what makes this guy so good honestly, but he's so good...like everyone else in the league I can point to exactly what makes them a star, but with Doncic I can't but he's still a monster...just incredible

he's already a top-20 guy, might be top-10 by the end of the year

Essentially he is a counter player. He lacks the speed to reliably blow past his opponents, so he sets them up via dribbles, fakes, etc. That way he can get to the rim or get a shot off as soon as they are out of position or out of balance. He is also trying to create contact hile doing so for getting his opponents into foul trouble and And1s, of course. He has a lot of tools to set them up in various ways as well has having a lot of tools to finish, from shooting to driving to floaters to step backs, he has so much variety that trying to take away one tool becomes an exercise in futility.
Thanks to his high bbalIQ he can also resort to setting his team mates up instead of finishing himself and he is a willing and highly skilled passer. Then take in his ridiculous range and potent step back 3 and you can see why he is so good. His post game is surprisingly good as well. Some people scoff at Bird comparisons, but remember Bird was 23 years old when he came into the league, Luka is only 20 and won't turn 21 until next year.
I do not think he will add as much hustle to his game as Bird and whether he can be as good of a help defender has to be seen. But offensively I do see at least a realistic chance that he can refine his skills and bball IQ to a similar level.

Luka reminds me of athletic prime Harden stylistically but he seems to be able to operate at more spots on the court.

Washington’s entire defense got warped off high screens, those little elbow area post-ups where’s he’s ridiculous with drawing fouls and has touch, and then the penetration with just dribble moves and a first step that’s most like Harden.

He's so good at creating shots he’s getting a little tunnel vision though.

Fun to watch though and one of the true unpredictable players in the league.

Looks quicker than last year

Better than Dallas Nash.

ShotCreator wrote:Luka reminds me of athletic prime Harden stylistically but he seems to be able to operate at more spots on the court.

Maybe able to isn't the right way to put it? I think Harden might could operate in more areas but he and Houston are all-in on only operating in certain areas. I think Harden chooses to spam the same actions because he's determined they are the most efficient.

Luka is still figuring out exactly what works best and Dallas has had so much turnover in his brief tenure that he's got to figure out his teammates. Dallas did sign almost everyone to long-term deals though so stability could be in the cards though you can never rule out Cuban/Donnie making a big move.


But yeah Luka can attack in a lot of ways. So great and I still can't believe holding the 5th pick my little Mavs got this guy. Should have never ever ever been possible.

The best players in the Western Conference are getting up there age wise... LeBron is 34, CP3 is 34, Curry is 31, Harden and Westbrook are 30, Paul George is 29, Kawhi is 28...

Doncic is 20 and Porzingis is 24.

There will be a window in a couple of years where, if the Mavs don't have bad luck and play their cards right, they can position themselves superbly to dominate the league.

Doncic isn't the fastest guy off the bounce... but he's very shifty and has absolutely elite deceleration. His ability to stop on a dime has defenders guessing wrong and off balance a lot of the time.

25/10/10

Game 1 vs Wizards

Game 2 vs Pelicans: 25-10-10

His shot was off tonight, had two lucky threes go in, but otherwise played a really good floor game. KP was amazing too, I don't care if he gets 4-5 rebounds per game if he protects the rim like that and spaces the floor like that. The team looks solid so far, hopefully we can beat the Blazers Sunday evening and start out 3-0.