All Things Luka Doncic

[Juree93]

is that anthony randolph playing for slovenia?? how did he get naturalized, he played for team USA not that long ago in the Pan Am games

Pan Am games arent recongisable as official fiba games so that allowed him to play as naturalized player for slovenia.

[pacersGM]

i give you 24 FIRST HALF goran dragic points. this is for everybody comparing doncic & dragic in prep games
and to everybody saying dragic isnt a top 3 european all time pointguards in the nba. and to all saying he cant play euro ball. and to all who laughed when i said that doncic can hope and dream to be near the level goran is playing. goran is doncics ceiling, not his floor guys :

im out for a few years, until we get some nba action. anyone up for some additional useless comparing?

[UcanUwill]

Does anyone still think Euroleague legend scrubs are better than Dragic? Dragic is scoring 20 in the NBA for a reason fellas.

[blazeyo]

i give you 24 FIRST HALF goran dragic points. this is for everybody comparing doncic & dragic in prep games
and to everybody saying dragic isnt a top 3 european all time pointguards in the nba. and to all saying he cant play euro ball. and to all who laughed when i said that doncic can hope and dream to be near the level goran is playing. goran is doncics ceiling, not his floor guys :

im out for a few years, until we get some nba action. anyone up for some additional useless comparing?

Damn, you sound so proud it makes it seem like he is your son.

[SportsGuy8]

Another underwhelming game from Doncic. If this continues I'm going to start worrying a bit. He doesn't look composed at all when he faces adversity, getting frustrated easily, especially in games he really cares about.

He's still very young, obviously, but maybe this is a serious flaw. You need to be a special type of character to be one of the best ...

[XTraderXL]

i give you 24 FIRST HALF goran dragic points. this is for everybody comparing doncic & dragic in prep games
and to everybody saying dragic isnt a top 3 european all time pointguards in the nba. and to all saying he cant play euro ball. and to all who laughed when i said that doncic can hope and dream to be near the level goran is playing. goran is doncics ceiling, not his floor guys :

im out for a few years, until we get some nba action. anyone up for some additional useless comparing?

The only one who was comparing them was Bob8 if I am not mistaken so its not like it was some popular belief around here

[XTraderXL]

Another underwhelming game from Doncic. If this continues I'm going to start worrying a bit. He doesn't look composed at all when he faces adversity, getting frustrated easily, especially in games he really cares about.

He's still very young, obviously, but maybe this is a serious flaw. You need to be a special type of character to be one of the best ...

He will be fine. His shot is not falling and he is obviously getting frustrated. He just needs to hit a couple of threes and he will be ok.

I see the problem in Kokoskov. In prep games Slovenia played with Doncic at the point much more, now he barely gets to play PG and is mostly playing the role he had in Real last season. Thats not his ideal role and his talent is wasted standing in the corner. He doesnt get enough touches so when he does get them, he tries to do too much. Kokoskov will burn out Dragic if Slovenia keeps playing this way and if that happens and he doesnt get Doncic in the rythm, Slovenia will get knocked out early in playoffs. They need both to play well in konck out phase, if everything stays the same they will both be playing bad when Slovenia gets there and they will have no chance.

I expect much bigger role for Doncic tomorrow against Greece, Dragic said after the game that he could barely walk in the second half. If that doesnt happen, my prediction is Slovenia will get koncked out in the first game in Istanbul.

[SportsGuy8]

I generally agree with that, however, when the same thing is happening in both Real and on national team, you begin to wonder. Sure, we could say that both situations are specific because he's playing next to big, ball-dominant stars in Llull and Dragic, but the NBA is truly stacked with star PGs nowadays, so he's most likely always going to play alongside some ball-dominant star PG. What if he's always going to submit?

Yes, he's young, but people's personalities don't change with age nearly as much as society thinks. Main personality traits remain the same, you are who you are in late teens, you just gain experience with age, so your personality gets small tweaks, adjustments, but nothing drastic ...

If he ends up being clearly the best player on the team (like Dirk, for example; somewhat similar personality), that shouldn't be a problem at all, but if he's going to be 2nd or 3rd best player, it could hinder his game a whole lot ...

Don't get me wrong, I really like that Doncic is like that as a person, but in most situations you need to be a bit of an arrogant **** to be a true star.

[Mulhollanddrive]

So does Doncic have to play PG to have a star ceiling?

[SportsGuy8]

He has to be the focal point of offense (either as a PG or as a point-forward) to have a superstar/HOF ceiling. Otherwise his ceiling drastically lowers.

[SportsGuy8]

A very good game by Doncic, 22 points on 7/12 shooting, 5 reb, 3 ast.

Oh and he again looked at his best when he was the focal point (Dragic had foul trouble and was a bit tired from yesterday).

[narcolepsy]

So does Doncic have to play PG to have a star ceiling?

He can still contribute with rebounding and shooting, but he's definetly at his best when he can be the focal point of offense. He's got great courtvision and high enough bball iq to make the right pass. If you put him in pick and roll and surround him with shooters he'll find the open man.

He said it himself that he's disappointed with his offensive performances during the first two games and that he needs to be better going forward. He played really well today, Anthony Randolph is still lackluster though. Slovenia plays Iceland on Tuesday so hopefully he can gain some confidence vs a bit weaker opponent.

[Juree93]

Watch on YouTube

[narcolepsy]

Watch on YouTube

At 2:10 I really wish he'd just explode and try to dunk it as hard as he can. He was way too scared.
That cross court pass to Murič won the game.

[Johnny Firpo]

So does Doncic have to play PG to have a star ceiling?

I don't think so, not in today's pace and space, pick&roll heavy league. It's arbitrary to say he is a PG, SG, or SF. He'll be able to play any of these three positions on offense, and on defense he wiill get the SG or the SF.

[narcolepsy]

[XTraderXL]

He had a much better game today, should have had more assists but his teammates were not able to make easy layups. All they had to do was to lay the ball up after Doncic did everything for them and they were not able to. In those 3 situations it was harder to miss.

Yesterday I was not satisfied with the coach, today he did a much better job. Goran can not play 30 min at PG and starting every offense. You have to let Doncic take some of that, it will open up the offense and it will be easier for everyone plus Dragic will be more fresh for the final minutes and other games. If Kokoskov would have kept yesterdays strategy, Slovenia would easily loose this game. He needed to adjust which he did and it turned out well.

[KF10]

Possible starting 5 in the near future:

De'Aaron Fox
Bogdan Bogdanović
Luka Dončić
Skal Labissière
Willie Cauley-Stein

Depth:

George Hill
Zach Randolph
Kosta Koufos
Vince Carter
Garrett Temple
Buddy Hield
Justin Jackson
Georgios Papagiannis
Harry Giles
Malachi Richardson
Frank Mason III

Europeans stashed:

Luka Mitrovic
Arturas Gudaitis

==========

Does Luka Dončić fit with the Kings?

[SportsGuy8]

Probably not too good of a fit with De'Aaron Fox (who's a really bad shooter, something that's going to make him terrible off the ball), but I bet Divac & Peja would absolutely LOVE Doncic, so they would make it work somehow.

Kings also surely want to play a much more team-oriented style of play and for that Doncic would be quite perfect.

[Mulhollanddrive]

Love his ability to hit the off screen / pull up 3 as only the very best like Harden or Curry make it a good shot.

Out of the projected bottom teams I can see him in a Ntilkina-Doncic backcourt, but harder to see his fit on other teams.