Post#67 » by JPF » Thu May 24, 2018 1:40 pm
I am also a bit tired of threads such as these. Hype isn't making Luka any better of a player than he is. And me conviencing someone that Luka is the best thing since Wilt Chamberlain doesn't have much impact on how things are going to work out either.
As a big Dončič fan since he was 13 years old... No, Dončič will not be the best rookie since Lebron.
European and NBA game are different. Luka won't come out to NBA and dominate, creating an edge with individual output. It will take time to adapt to living in the US, differences in basketball philosophies, getting to know his teamates, realising their strenghts, creating some chemistry, he will have to cope with losing, for the very first time in his career. Some people don't realise that Real Madrid was a really good fit for him.
There are situations where Luka would thrive in.
76ers with all of their outside shooting would benefit a lot from Dončič and vice-versa. Boston, GS, Spurs with their ball movement, where his ability for those strong passes from one side of the court to another would provide an edge over competition, or teams with great stretch PF or C. I would really love to see him play with Markannen. Than, there are teams with reliable screeners, Dončič excells at running the PnR, if I had to point out one thing he is really good at, that would be it. Combine him with a PG that is also great at running PnR and you can imagine all the options that come out of that.
I don't expect Dončič to create with his individual characteristics on his own as much as some other great players did, the way Lebron did, as an example.
One of the most common observations by scouts that have watched Luka, was that he is reading the game on a level of some 10 year vet and not an euroleague rookie. Dončič can be great feeding of some of his team's abilities, as the ones described above. There are some teams I could easily imagine him thrive in, while there are some others where I believe he won't have the neccesary tools to make as much of a difference.
Put him in a team that sets soft screens, his no.1 weapon becomes mediocre... put him in a team without ball circulation and expect him to create through ISO... he would create something out of it, but would be far from a superstar doing that. There are many scenarios such as these two.
Dončič will develop into that complementary, 2nd guy. Imo he has the tools to be one of the best of those. But definately won't be the best rookie since Lebron. Lebron is able to significantly pull any team on his own, Dončič won't do that. Get him into some teams with some prerequisites and his returns will likely be exponential.
