Mickey8 wrote:Doncic's heavy domination of the ball is not the winning basketball. He's trending to be James Harden of this generation. Yes, he will break lots of individual records but it wont translate to the winning. He will have to change his playing style in order to have the team success.
While this is a distinct possibility, it is also a possibility that his style of play works in the playoffs and allows him to have a ton of team success with the right roster around him. Also, while the Harden comparisons are understandable as far as play style is concerned, there are also some problems and misconceptions to be addressed.
For starters, Luka has thus far been criticized for lack of RS success and not elevating his teams enough over the course of a full season. But Harden has been an excellent RS performer with a ton of team success playing his style. He has been more criticized for dropping off in the playoffs, which up to this point has not been the issue with Luka.
And, to be fair to Harden, he did have some notable playoff successes. He has not won it all but even during his heliocentric years in Houston he has made noise in the playoffs. Two WCFs losing to the eventual champions and a couple more WCSFs with the Rockets are nothing to scoff at objectively speaking. So ‘lack of team success’ is a matter of perspective and always relative to expectations.
I do hope that Luka will accept and find a way to play a less ball-dominant style of basketball, in which he makes an impact off the ball as well, that should also allow him to put more of an effort into defense. I believe that's more conducive to building a winning team around him, not least because it makes him an easier fit with other star players with on-ball chops that are often needed to win titles.
And yet, another deep playoff run could offer evidence that he may indeed be good enough to lead a team all the way with his heliocentric style. Is it likely? Perhaps not, but every now and then players and teams break the mold and established patterns.