Sports Geek wrote:I think there is a misunderstanding. De Colo said he had never seen something like that in Europe at such a young age, that he was much worse back then. He meant in general, not only athleticism. He said maybe Ricky Rubio was at a similar level, but De Colo highlighted more Rubio's creativity and Doncic's athleticism.
And obviously he is right. I mean, numbers don't lie. Not any other 17 y.o. player has ever put up those numbers. Doncic is destroying Rubio's records. And it is even more valuable when you play for a "championship" team.
The post you made quoted De Colo as saying Doncic and Rubio were the two most athletic players ever in EuroLeague (obviously way false by a lot). That's what i was commenting on.
It was probably just a translation error. But the fact is, we should correct mistakes like that. There is a huge difference from saying player x is the best ever at his age, to saying player x is the most athletic ever. Thanks for clarifying what De Colo said.
UcanUwill wrote:Doncic is destroying Rubio's records, but that doesn't mean he is better than Rubio. Rubio was exceptional talent, better than Doncic IMO for sure, his impact was always beyond the stat sheet.
I am totally 100% in disagreement with this. Doncic is by several miles a better player than Rubio.
reanimator wrote:Just don't see Doncic playing PG in the NBA.
He's not a real PG at all. Just understand that in Europe being a point guard has a certain added element of special or greatness attached to it, like being a quarterback in American sports.
So some European basketball fans always try to push certain players as "point guards' even when they clearly are not, or try to claim others that are point guards are not, in order to somehow make that player seem less important.
Reality is that Doncic is cleary going to be a 2/3, and most likely a 3, whether that be NBA, EuroLeague - any serious pro league. I honestly don't think any other coach in EuroLeague besides Laso would use him as a PG, and even Laso only uses him mainly in screen roll on offense, and in defense he spends plenty of time guarding wings.
The idea of playing Llull next to him is also so he does not have to guard point guards.
It's pretty absolutely totally obvious that Doncic is a good ball handling and passing 3 with good size. Like a Pippen, Bird, LeBron, G. Hill, McGrady - that kind of player. Not a "point guard". But you will always get some European fans arguing with that as much as they can, because like I said, it is considered like a real important alpha position in a team, and somehow carrying more weight to the player.
It's like with Dimitris Diamantidis. He spent like 8 years playing point forward and 4 years playing small forward, and he was only ever called a "point guard" in European basketball, despite not actually being one. But to point out that he was a small forward / point forward to some people would bring them to troll you hard, because somehow it deflects from the player's legacy if he wasn't the coach on the floor or whatever.
kayath wrote:Why it is so hard imagine that his best position is PG. He is already surpassing Lull in that making his teammates better and finding them spots for easy baskets. Just because you think he is too slow to guard Pgs? He can guard SG without problems and even PG. Sure he is still raw, in some defensive responsibilities while he is 17. Toughness will come when he bulks up same thing with speed.
Llull has never in his career been a point guard. He's at best a combo guard, and really he's always been a typical shooting guard. He has a very good handle, so that allowed him to be used at either position. But his entire game style and playing technique has always been shooting guard.
Real used to have Sergio Rodriguez doing the vast majority of play making and it really shows now on their team this year on offense. Their offense was so, so, so much better when they had Rodriguez than it is now. Now they play like a typical run and gun, just chuck 3s total Mike D'Antoni gimmick team.
With Rodriguez they really could break down the defense and create. The main reason Doncic is even used in screen roll is because Llull isn't all that good at it. They tried to see if Llull could handle being a full time point guard for the first time this year with Rodriguez gone, and they are already starting to abandon that. Llull has never had much in the way of point guard skills, other than dribbling.
UcanUwill wrote:He is good defender at Euroleague level already. Coach Laso already uses him as primary defensive stopper it seems. Laso trusts his D more than Llull's, who I always thought was incredibly overrated on defense. Or at least I got that impression from Maccabi game.
Doncic started the game defending Sonny Weems, and did a great job, then for a limited time he guarded Devin Smith. And at the end of the game, Laso put Doncic on Goudelock, who was causing the most problems to Real Madrid on offense. Goudelock was hardest assignment for sure, Doncic struggled a lil bit with that match up.
I must have a totally different concept of what a good defender is. Doncic is a good team defender, and he's a good defender from a physicality standpoint (he seems to be one of those pesky annoying kinds of defenders), but his man defense is absolutely not good. I am sorry, but in open space, he can't stay in front of any EuroLeague guards that put the ball on the floor. Laso does not care one shred about defense, and Real has a log jam at the 3 position (Jonas Maciulis, Rudy Fernandez, Jeff Taylor), otherwise Doncic would be primarily guarding 3s.
I really don't see how this guarding point guards thing is even a debate.
As far as Llull goes, he's a really great defender against bigger, longer, wings. Guys like 6-6 to 6-8. He's never been very good at guarding smallish two guards, smallish combo guards, or quick point guards. His lateral speed is simply non existent on defense against those kinds of guys.
