Luka Doncic part II

[Ruzious]

Guys, I'm not interested in babysitting this thread. I appreciate the passion and the good discussions, but let's avoid personal attacks. For the most part, you guys have been great. Thanks and enjoy.

[SportsGuy8]

Speaking of having a truly competent P'n'R big on the team ... This could actually be a problem for Doncic. Let's face it, there's lots of bigs in the NBA with truly awful fundamentals, many of them are completely incompetent P'n'R players. Doncic's game could suffer greatly by not having competent P'n'R bigs on the team.

This is the main difference between a player like LeBron and Doncic. LeBron is a rare exceptional player that would be a superstar on virtually every single system (not only that, but he basically becomes THE system), while Doncic belongs in a tier or two below, with players that are good enough to be at least borderline All-Stars on most teams, but they need to be put in good situations that suit them to become true (super)stars.

[thr3ep01nte4]

His drawfoul is nice. With more space on an NBA court, I guess his change of speed can allow him to dribble in and out of the opposition like Nash once did.

[XTraderXL]

Speaking of having a truly competent P'n'R big on the team ... This could actually be a problem for Doncic. Let's face it, there's lots of bigs in the NBA with truly awful fundamentals, many of them are completely incompetent P'n'R players. Doncic's game could suffer greatly by not having competent P'n'R bigs on the team.

This is the main difference between a player like LeBron and Doncic. LeBron is a rare exceptional player that would be a superstar on virtually every single system (not only that, but he basically becomes THE system), while Doncic belongs in a tier or two below, with players that are good enough to be at least borderline All-Stars on most teams, but they need to be put in good situations that suit them to become true (super)stars.

I disagree. Up until now, Doncic has handled every single situation very well. He needs a bit of time to adapt but he always gets it in the end. Right now he only has Reyes to play PnR with and he had a hard time in the first few games because Reyes is really slow compared to Ayon and Doncic had to wait for him on every play. After a few games he got the timing right, he now invites the double teams closer to mid court which gives Reyes time and space. Its a small adjustment but it worked very well the last couple of games.

Luka is intelligent enough that he will figure out any situation. Of course some situations are better than others but I think team that drafts him will also want to bring in a capable PnR big to pair with him. It shouldnt be too hard, bigs will love to play with him as they will get plenty of assists and be able to make more money with higher scoring numbers. I really dont see this as an issue.

[AJ3]

Let's take it a step at a time guys, do you think he can take Real Madrid to the top of Europe this year?

[XTraderXL]

Let's take it a step at a time guys, do you think he can take Real Madrid to the top of Europe this year?

He can if Ayone and Randolph come back healthy. Llull would be nice as well but not with too big of a role. I would have Llull in a similar role as Luka had last year or even have him coming off the bench to provide some scoring. Real with a healthy roster and Luka as the leader is a #1 favorite to win the EL this season for me.

[ItsThatEasy]

I have absolutely no idea what's going on in this thread.

I'm trying to keep track of Doncic throughout the season but I'm pretty confused lol

[FlorentinoPerez]

doncic blow up somebodys nose)

[KD95]

Well, that's not good. Ejected with a second technical.

[FlorentinoPerez]

Ejected for nothing

[a3r0d]

Haha these referees today were hilarious, the first technical was simply not there, and it was even a CLEAR foul on Pleiss (not Doncic's fault that he wanted to block Doncic with his friggin head). It seems like they wanted to be the "stars" of this game,as today they have these first person cams on them and they also kept pausing the game all the time..Also that ejection was **** soft . They they should have called the foul on the drive but they swallowed the whistle.. i do think the offensive was there though. Anyway they are getting the **** booed out of them.

[AJ3]

They're doing a terrible job today, i bet Lasso is fuming. You could see at the end Campazzo wanted to talk **** and he grabbed him and pushed him towards exit

[XTraderXL]

WTF are the refs doing? They called Doncic for unsportsmanlike foul when he was going for a clean dunk on fastbreak and Pleiss didnt even try to make a play on the ball and got elbowed in the face in the process. They irritate him, dont call a foul on the drive and then call offensive foul which was questionable at best. And after they call a tech on him and throw him out of the game??? The refs ruined the first half because of their incompetence and wrong decisions. I hope Euroleague suspends them for a game, some of the decisions in this sequence are not even questionable, this was done out of incompetence or on purpose. In any case, Luka should have kept it cool but the refs deserve lions share of the blame.

[SportsGuy8]

The sad part is that Doncic got ejected after he did what we've been saying for a while, I even mentioned it today (is Luka actually really reading this thread? ŽIVIJO LUKA ), that he should penetrate and jump off of one leg instead of two. Unfortunately the defensive player took a (maybe questionable) charge, eventually causing Luka to get another technical.

Hopefully this isn't going to discourage him from doing it. It's really a crucial thing for his penetration game, he really needs to start incorporating it.

P.s.: As he was exiting, he really showed his father's temperament, kicking the tunnel Dirk Nowitzki 2006 Finals style.

[FlorentinoPerez]

The owner of this business called Euroleague is Mr Bertomeu
Oh and hes from Barcelona...

[KD95]

Saw this comment on Twitter, but it really feels like he could start a revolution in Madrid if he wanted.

[SportsGuy8]

WTF are the refs doing? They called Doncic for unsportsmanlike foul when he was going for a clean dunk on fastbreak and Pleiss didnt even try to make a play on the ball and got elbowed in the face in the process. They irritate him, dont call a foul on the drive and then call offensive foul which was questionable at best. And after they call a tech on him and throw him out of the game??? The refs ruined the first half because of their incompetence and wrong decisions. I hope Euroleague suspends them for a game, some of the decisions in this sequence are not even questionable, this was done out of incompetence or on purpose. In any case, Luka should have kept it cool but the refs deserve lions share of the blame.

I think that a3r0d is right, they were under the influence of wearing those cams on their shirts, thinking that today they're the "stars".

And yeah, that possession when he was going for a clean dunk is ridiculous. Doncic wasn't even using his arm/elbow that much, it's just that Pleiss ran in it full force. What was Luka supposed to do, let a 7'3, 260lbs tank run into him full force while he's in the air, possibly severely injuring him? He needed to protect himself a bit with his arm.

[KD95]

Apparently, Real could contest the game if they lose, because they gave the unsportsmanlike foul to Doncic after watching the replay for another action (whether Plesiss' foul was unsportsmanlike), which is against EuroLeague rules. Not sure if it's true, could be interesting.

[peja_the_legend]

Doncic behaving like a spoiled child.His behaviour after the ejection would lead to a 5 game suspension in NBA.He was agressive towards the refs.And lmfao at all those ppl here claiming than him elbowing Pleiss and opening his nose was/forehead was not a foul let alone an unsportsmanship..

[deb]

Spoiler:

Paul Pierce really wasn't that much more athletic. He was a lot more aggressive and confident on his drives, though, going for dunks a whole lot more. Doncic rarely even tries it in traffic, so we don't even have a true idea what he's capable of. Personally I think that he got less aggressive in the past couple years because he had to adapt to playing vs. grown men, and his subconscious still didn't adapt to the fact that he now has an adult-like body also.

Or take Andre Miller. If he had decent shooting abilities (instead of being a worse shooter than Rubio), he would have easily been a perennial All-Star, maybe even a superstar. Andre did everything by being smart, crafty and strong, which is exactly what Doncic's game is all about. But he's also a whole 4 inches taller and with a very good (most likely great in the future) shooting ability.

We can also go back to a player like Chris Mullin. His prime years were in early 90s, when the league was already very athletic. You give Mullin slightly better passing and rebounding, and you're at superstar level. Compared to him, Doncic is a super athlete, ha.

The mistake you make is comparing Doncic to the players in recent years who had nowhere near the combination of physical characteristics and skill level that Doncic possesses. Sure there were some similarly skilled players with equally "questionable" athleticism, but nobody also had his combination of strength, frame and even height. He's simply unique, like Jokic is unique for C position. The same doubters who are now doubting Doncic are probably the ones who were doubting that there's still a place in the NBA for slow Cs, since all tall guys are super agile and fast nowadays.

Just as Jokic crushed those beliefs for Cs, I think Doncic is going to do the same for perimeter players.

first of / forget jokic - 7 ft 3 wingspan and no need for speed at the center position. + he is a big liability at the 5 defensively.

second / i dont know where you got andre miller from, but since i can remember he was a very good athlete. certanly very well above doncic. a solid role player starter, so i dont know what that has to do with superstars or below average athletes? hes 6ft1

Spoiler:

Watch on YouTube

third / pierce elite iso player - crazy finisher, loved the contact / the things doncic is lacking

mullin - elite shooter

doncics elite skill is his vision, but that wont take him over the top into superstardom, just like it cant help teodosic in the nba.

what combination of skill and physical attributes are you talking about (strength, frame and height?- is it something out of the ordinary with doncic? i see a normal 6ft8 guy with a normal frame. you see someting else? if you say he will get stronger with age. but he shurely wont get faster or quicker.

Other non super athletes in your size range besides Pierce and Mullin: Nash, Curry, Kidd, Reggie Miller, Joe Johnson, Ray Allen...
Almost all elite shooters, true. But why can't Doncic evolve into an elite shooter thus giving himself another elite ability? I agree that he isn't and he'll never be an elite athlete, but I feel he's on the right track to becoming a great 3pt shooter. Some stats:

Chris Mullen in his rookie season shot .185 from 3, .302 in his second season and .351 in his third. He also never attempted more than 3.7 threes a game...

Another stat fact:
Luka Doncic 17/18 Euroleague season, 18y: 6.3 3pt attempts per game, .373 3pt%, .857 ft%
Predrag Stojakovic 97/98 Euroleague season, 20y: 7.3 3pt attempts per game, .359 3pt%, .812 ft%