Shai has a higher floor (consistency), Doncic has shown a higher ceiling. Agree?

[Mephariel]

Luka has a level of offensive fire power that shai won’t have until he develops a more consistent three. I’ve always thought that a good way to compare their differences is in a three games series both guys score 120 points. Luka goes for 30, 35 and 55. Shai goes for 40, 40 and 40.

It's not really about threes, it's most of all about passing.
And there, Luka is in a totally different galaxy to SGA.
In fact, Luka is easily one of the top 4/5 passers I've ever seen in NBA history and I've been watching NBA for 35 years.
He is literally like the white version of Magic Johnson there.

I think Luka is a great passer, but not better than Lebron. I think they are about the same level.

[brackdan70]

It looks to me like SGA has a higher floor and ceiling. Ceiling MVP…floor top 15 player.
Doncic ceiling is a top 5 player, floor is a lot of missed time and poor defense…. He might prove me wrong this year, but despite his youth he feels like he has already peaked.

[Mephariel]

Who cares about their defense anyway? They both guard the worst offensive player on the court. It's like comparing who is the best rebounder. It's not that important, really.

Luka is clearly the best offensive player. He breaks down teams and creates plays, while Shai scores mostly on the mid-range. Like, he will get his, but the whole team won't be booming because of his offense. Luka gets everybody involved and can beat any defense.

What? Luka was consistently hunted by the Celtics, especially Jaylen Brown. How is that the worst offensive player on the court? Teams switch their best offensive player to you if can't play defense.

[bonita_the_frog]

I don't know what the stats were at the time, but ESPN was frequently saying Dallas had the best defense in the NBA in the 2nd half of 2023-24. And in the 2024 playoffs Kyrie Irving averaged 22.1 points on .467 field and .390 threes.
I think if you give SGA a partner like Kyrie Irving and that 2024 Dallas roster with the best defense in the NBA (which he's already got in OKC) he'd make it to the NBA Finals.

I feel the same way. I think people are understating how good that Dallas team was. Shai on that team will boost the defense even further.

I agree Shai would be an excellent fit in that Dallas team, and even though they're both ball-handlers, Shai and Kyrie would do great together because they can both spot-up efficiently and are both A+ finishers... plus Kyrie had no problem playing with Doncic, and in Cleveland Kyrie was a better fit with LeBron than Wade was in Miami...

[ChumboChappati]

Shai is like clockwork. His performance is steady and predictable (in a positive sense) throughout the entire season.

Luka has slumps and hot streaks, but I think he’s capable of reaching levels (the series against the Suns in 2022, against the Wolves last year, 72 vs Atlanta, 60-21-10) that Shai -for now- can’t quite reach.
Or maybe SGA still has one more big leap in him, like the one he’s made over the past two seasons.

IMHO, PO Doncic is even more reliable when the ball is hot if healthy.
On the other hand, Shai is always ready to go.
So, for a whole post season, I can't tell who I'd got.

I don't agree. Luka has a higher floor and a higher ceiling than Shia.

[Yuri36]

Luka has a level of offensive fire power that shai won’t have until he develops a more consistent three. I’ve always thought that a good way to compare their differences is in a three games series both guys score 120 points. Luka goes for 30, 35 and 55. Shai goes for 40, 40 and 40.

It's not really about threes, it's most of all about passing.
And there, Luka is in a totally different galaxy to SGA.
In fact, Luka is easily one of the top 4/5 passers I've ever seen in NBA history and I've been watching NBA for 35 years.
He is literally like the white version of Magic Johnson there.

I think Luka is a great passer, but not better than Lebron. I think they are about the same level.

I really think he is.
In term of vision, they're both comparable but Luka can make some passes I've not seen many players produced, Magic included

[SelfishPlayer]

Luka hasn't scored 40+ points in a single game for two consecutive postseasons. His potential has already been actualized.

[Rdude22]

Give Shai that same Dallas team and he also takes them to the Finals and undoubtedly gives Boston a better run for their money.

[Rdude22]

I mean, why do we pretend like Shai didn’t completely outplay Luka in the WCSFs 2-years ago? DAL won because of the big men advantage and Kyrie/PJ outplaying JDub

Then Shai came back the next year and swept the awards, raising the team’s ceiling to 68 wins and a title despite being one of if not the youngest teams ever.

Luka is a great player but he’s not on that level

[doogie_hauser]

We have already seen Luka's peak/ceiling.

He ain't getting any better whereas SGA still has a level or two to elevate his game.

Take away the illogical argument some may throw at me for being a Lakers Hater (which is am) i just honestly don't see Luka Doncic given his age and unhealthy lifestyle ever becoming a better player than SGA or indeed best player in the NBA.

And no, I am hardly the biggest SGA fan going around but the dissing and disrespect he gets around here and on NBA Online fandom is pathetic.

He has been the second best player in the world (after SGA) for at least 2 or 3 years now.

Give the man his flowers

[Rubios]

I mean, why do we pretend like Shai didn’t completely outplay Luka in the WCSFs 2-years ago? DAL won because of the big men advantage and Kyrie/PJ outplaying JDub

Shai has many arguments one can use as exhibits for the case for him above Luka.
That H2H isn't one of them*

Why do we pretend like Luka wasn't playing on one leg these series?

*Unless your point is to highlight that Shai is always ready to go. If so, fair, then.

[Godymas]

what has Luka shown in his ceiling that's higher than SGA

SGA just had like a top 5 or so guard season of all time. Luka hasn't even gotten close to a great James Harden season. Complain all you want about Dallas and NIko's reasons, but the #s Luka put up never correlated with insane advanced stats. WS/48, PER, BPM, they're all great, they're never true MVP level. MVP level means breaking 30 PER, double digit BPM, and a WS/48 approaching .3. These consistent across all MVP level seasons, minus those few outliers that are considered "weak" MVPs.

Luka has never had a season better than even SGA last year.

OKC were rather tanking than trying to win with those **** early teams. Check his advance numbers then... Which obviously was a smart move because then they assembled an all around juggernaut team that got it done on offense and defense. By pure "coincidence" his advance numbers suddenly went up, weird huh?

How good OKC are on defense? SGA was probably their by far the worst defensive players who was targeted all the time in the Finals but ESPN didn't bother to mention that because he has Dort, Caruso and others behind him to back him up.

If you think SGA could drag Dwight Powell and Dinwiddie as his 3rd option to WCF and then Finals, sure... whatever.

those early teams where SGA was not good? SGA played like half the season and was a worse player than when he finally broke out. No clue why you're even trying to bring this up, it's like trying to judge Luka for his rookie season.

Luka made the WCF with Jalen Brunson as his second option averaging 22 ppg, so please stop with this nonsense. Brunson who broke out that playoffs and is now a consistent All NBA guy. Dinwiddie did his job fine, he was decent, he had DFS and Reggie Bullock was decent that year too.

Sure the center rotation was trash, but nice of you to omit that he had Jalen Brunson on that team.

[Archx]

what has Luka shown in his ceiling that's higher than SGA

SGA just had like a top 5 or so guard season of all time. Luka hasn't even gotten close to a great James Harden season. Complain all you want about Dallas and NIko's reasons, but the #s Luka put up never correlated with insane advanced stats. WS/48, PER, BPM, they're all great, they're never true MVP level. MVP level means breaking 30 PER, double digit BPM, and a WS/48 approaching .3. These consistent across all MVP level seasons, minus those few outliers that are considered "weak" MVPs.

Luka has never had a season better than even SGA last year.

OKC were rather tanking than trying to win with those **** early teams. Check his advance numbers then... Which obviously was a smart move because then they assembled an all around juggernaut team that got it done on offense and defense. By pure "coincidence" his advance numbers suddenly went up, weird huh?

How good OKC are on defense? SGA was probably their by far the worst defensive players who was targeted all the time in the Finals but ESPN didn't bother to mention that because he has Dort, Caruso and others behind him to back him up.

If you think SGA could drag Dwight Powell and Dinwiddie as his 3rd option to WCF and then Finals, sure... whatever.

those early teams where SGA was not good? SGA played like half the season and was a worse player than when he finally broke out. No clue why you're even trying to bring this up, it's like trying to judge Luka for his rookie season.

Luka made the WCF with Jalen Brunson as his second option averaging 22 ppg, so please stop with this nonsense. Brunson who broke out that playoffs and is now a consistent All NBA guy. Dinwiddie did his job fine, he was decent, he had DFS and Reggie Bullock was decent that year too.

Sure the center rotation was trash, but nice of you to omit that he had Jalen Brunson on that team.

Brunson still wasn't Brunson that he is today. There were games where even Dinwiddie outplayed him. He started playing like the player he is today after he joined the Knicks. But again... bringing up 1 player to help Luka compared to entire team that is helping SGA now is laughable.

[Godymas]

OKC were rather tanking than trying to win with those **** early teams. Check his advance numbers then... Which obviously was a smart move because then they assembled an all around juggernaut team that got it done on offense and defense. By pure "coincidence" his advance numbers suddenly went up, weird huh?

How good OKC are on defense? SGA was probably their by far the worst defensive players who was targeted all the time in the Finals but ESPN didn't bother to mention that because he has Dort, Caruso and others behind him to back him up.

If you think SGA could drag Dwight Powell and Dinwiddie as his 3rd option to WCF and then Finals, sure... whatever.

those early teams where SGA was not good? SGA played like half the season and was a worse player than when he finally broke out. No clue why you're even trying to bring this up, it's like trying to judge Luka for his rookie season.

Luka made the WCF with Jalen Brunson as his second option averaging 22 ppg, so please stop with this nonsense. Brunson who broke out that playoffs and is now a consistent All NBA guy. Dinwiddie did his job fine, he was decent, he had DFS and Reggie Bullock was decent that year too.

Sure the center rotation was trash, but nice of you to omit that he had Jalen Brunson on that team.

Brunson still wasn't Brunson that he is today. There were games where even Dinwiddie outplayed him. He started playing like the player he is today after he joined the Knicks. But again... bringing up 1 player to help Luka compared to entire team that is helping SGA now is laughable.

Brunson averaged 22 ppg as a second option on that team. Hmm it's almost as if changing the context of a player changes what they can do on the court. Crazy.

[dirkdiggler4177]

Who cares about their defense anyway? They both guard the worst offensive player on the court. It's like comparing who is the best rebounder. It's not that important, really.

Luka is clearly the best offensive player. He breaks down teams and creates plays, while Shai scores mostly on the mid-range. Like, he will get his, but the whole team won't be booming because of his offense. Luka gets everybody involved and can beat any defense.

What? Luka was consistently hunted by the Celtics, especially Jaylen Brown. How is that the worst offensive player on the court? Teams switch their best offensive player to you if can't play defense.

He might be hunted by the Celtics, but they are the only team that can really do that. From what I see team run their plays, no matter who is on defense. I dont see them running plays to get Luka involved. Like last night against Germany Luka had 4 fouls with 7(?) minutes left in the third quarter. I think Germany involved Luka in one play. When I searched Jaylen Brown High mavs finals this was the video that showed up. How many times did the Celtic run plays to isolate Luka against the defender? https://youtu.be/g9ORyk7o32w?si=LLyPpHgDVmzlX0mE


I honsestly dont understand why they dont Hunt, but I guess they rather run their offense instead of running the clocks to get a mediocre shot against a bad defender.


I might be mistaken here, from what I remeber Luka was a bad defender during the finals, but Celtics offense was penetration and pass out and penetration again till they got a good shot. Not matchup hunting.