Luka Doncic will be the best rookie since Lebron.

[UcanUwill]

A white guard with poor conditioning does not a ROTY make, he’ll come a long slowly into a Ricky Rubio role on a bad team. His shot has been awful from WNBA range against grown men that can’t guard.

His shot is not awful at all, hes just not very efficient out of stepbacks, and he attempts at least one full court prayer every game. And he is being guarded by ACB and Euroleague best perimeter defenders, these guys can surely guard.

People in these forums act like the competition he’s facing in europe isn’t miles ahead of NCAA. Euroleague teams have competitive scrimmages against NBA teams and have even won some games. It’s be laughable to suggest any NCAA team could compete against an NBA team

Honestly, with NBA tanking being this out of control, those top 4 Euroleague teams aren't much worse than some poor excuses of NBA rosters nowadays.

[nikster]

They didn’t come into the NBA as the number 1 overall pick though, they were late round picks...

When I think about “hyped” European guards, I’m thinking Rubio, Hezonja... I’m skeptical on using high draft picks on foreign guards, bc more times than not they don’t live up to the hype they came into the league with

arent you skeptical about using high draft picks on american busts? do you know there are more american busts than euros?

Yes I am, but I think its all relative to who else is available in the draft. NCAA performance has shown to be more reliable of a barometer than Euroleague dominance, but we all know that teams nowadays are drafting on potential.

Of the 3 at the top of this draft, I see Marvin Bagley is probably the safest pick, but Deandre Ayton has the highest ceiling and I don't think Phoenix is seriously gonna pass on him. A franchise C is way harder to find than a franchise pg.

I think Doncic is good, but it just seems like ppl are putting too much stock into his accomplishments in Euroleague to justify him going number 1 overall over Ayton and Bagley, especially for a point guard whos not quick, but is big. The big point guard is a bit overrated. None of the top pgs in the NBA are excepionally big, except Simmons (Westbrook, Steph, CP3, Kyrie, Dame, Wall, Ben Simmons), and he is actually quick.

Has NCAA performance actually been more reliable? You get busts all the time in the lottery and then get sleepers late in the draft. You just have more volume which is why you have this illusion of it being a safer pick

[Yallbecrazy]

He's going to get obliterated defensively.

I think he will be a good defender, he's a pretty good rebounder and has a very high bbiq on the defensive end too. He certainly has the size.

[UcanUwill]

arent you skeptical about using high draft picks on american busts? do you know there are more american busts than euros?

Yes I am, but I think its all relative to who else is available in the draft. NCAA performance has shown to be more reliable of a barometer than Euroleague dominance, but we all know that teams nowadays are drafting on potential.

Of the 3 at the top of this draft, I see Marvin Bagley is probably the safest pick, but Deandre Ayton has the highest ceiling and I don't think Phoenix is seriously gonna pass on him. A franchise C is way harder to find than a franchise pg.

I think Doncic is good, but it just seems like ppl are putting too much stock into his accomplishments in Euroleague to justify him going number 1 overall over Ayton and Bagley, especially for a point guard whos not quick, but is big. The big point guard is a bit overrated. None of the top pgs in the NBA are excepionally big, except Simmons (Westbrook, Steph, CP3, Kyrie, Dame, Wall, Ben Simmons), and he is actually quick.

Has NCAA performance actually been more reliable? You get busts all the time in the lottery and then get sleepers late in the draft. You just have more volume which is why you have this illusion of it being a safer pick

Thing that being lost here, is that were never had Euroleague dominance in the draft. NBA fans who think Euro prospects who being drafted do so because they dominate inferior Euroleague are way wrong. Most Euro prospects are either from far inferior European leagues or they Euroleague projects as well. Doncic is first Euro prospect since Pau Gasol who is legit great Euroleague player already.

It is actually more appropriate to compare DOncic to guys like Nemanja Bjelica or Milos Teodosic, since those guys were great Euroleague players. But key difference is that these players came into the league capped already. Doncic just sniffing his potential and he is already better than Nemanja Bjelica.

[Zombiesonics]

doncic poor shooting numbers because of contested threes taken IS worrisome. I’m not sure how you pass on someone as productive as bagley or ayton...

[Stillwater]

He's either going #1 or gonna drop as many spots as he wants because his agent is using his current contract as leverage to get him to where he wants to play. Threats to not come over etc. There were some concerns lately because of how many games he has played in the past 2 years and there has been some drop off in his efficiency across the board,however he is still capable of being a top 25 player in the league based off of the supreme IQ even if he doesn't perform like he did last fall all of the time.

[mixerball]

A white guard with poor conditioning does not a ROTY make, he’ll come a long slowly into a Ricky Rubio role on a bad team. His shot has been awful from WNBA range against grown men that can’t guard.

and how is the range in the ncaa?

[Rn5ho]

A white guard with poor conditioning does not a ROTY make, he’ll come a long slowly into a Ricky Rubio role on a bad team. His shot has been awful from WNBA range against grown men that can’t guard.

and how is the range in the ncaa?

Euroleague: 22ft 2in
NCAA: 20ft 9in

So yeah.

[Indomitable]

I think it's covert racism

Theres no track record of any European guard ever coming to the NBA and living up to their hype, so ppl are right to be skeptical.

Also, even though hes playing against "grown men", European guards on a whole way less athletic than the NBA guards he will be playing against, so its justifiable to assume he will struggle.

The covert racism comes in when people automatically assume a Euro player will be less athletic

He is known for his guile and IQ. He is not athletic

[OdomFan]

Eh I would argue that Melo had the better rookie season.

[trezer12]

I'd run him at SG personally. He will have trouble possibly not fouling so much at the NBA level guarding PG's and he has plenty of size/athleticism to play SG.

That's a very difficult position for him. The athleticism+size is much better at SG and taking him off the ball lowers his ceiling for me. Philly figured it out best . Use PGs to be PGs

He will play PG offensively and it's arbitrary in a way. Lebron and Simmons are SF in their lineups and run PG. Defensively he will be a SG.

If simmons is an SF, who starts at PG? Reddick? Covington?

[OGLife]

I don’t think any of these rookies will show off in their rookie season.

[peja_the_legend]

there is no way Doncic performs like Tatum did this season let alone Lebron.

[Yoshun]

I feel bad for this kid. If he's not playing at all time great rookie level midway through the first season he's going to get called a bust.

[Alatan]

Way too overhyped. A decent player with a low ceiling. Ingles/Batum maybe Ginobili.

[E-Balla]

Doncic will be the best rookie SF since Ben Simmons.

And the best overall rookie since Marvin Bagley.

[Kool_Name_Right]

There's a lot of hot takes here, people are judging him off the failures of other euros but still don't seem to understand how much of an outlier he is.

Luka has all the tools to be an all star, curious to see where he gets drafted going anywhere from PHX, Sac to Boston could be the difference between a potential all-star to premier young player

Sent from my SM-G920I using RealGM mobile app

[Rocketsbaby]

Not taking Doncic #1 is just insane.

Let's see who Ayton reminds us of by looking at successful NBA teams:.

Warriors: Can he score like Durant? Nope

Houston: He doesn't offer anywhere near the defensive capabilities of Clint Capela...

Cleveland: Can he shoot 3's like Kevin Love, nope?

Boston: Defensive Mobility, playmaking, and perimeter shooting of Al Horford? Nope

Utah: Defensive dominance of Rudy Gobert? Nope..

Philly: Joel Embiid? Nope.
Okay I'm already bored...

Bottom line is that Ayton doesn't appear to be a guy you can really win with.

Luka Doncic... oh yeah I think I've seen a few teams that have perimeter players who can score and pass extremely well. Oh wait he's not 6'2, he's actually huge? And you're tellling me this guy is better at his age than any prospect we've ever seen before? I think I'm going to take a chance on him as long as he has enough athleticism to be a better defender than Kyrie Irving, Marco Bellinelli, etc

[Rocketsbaby]

I personally think its Bagley but if any team plays Doncic at PG which is what he is in the NBA, who knows? I have him having a tough transition but if plays PG, he could be very good and very soon. Euro PGs who have PG skills and high BBIQ have translated well into the NBA regardless of their athletic abilities.

I think you can definitely make an argument to take Bagley over Ayton. And I'd probably do it.... but not over Doncic.

Bagley doesn't appear to have enough defensive IQ to be a standout in this league. His athleticism though means he's definitely got serious potential to become an impact player

[Rocketsbaby]

He's going to get obliterated defensively.

I don't think he will. He will likely be a slightly below average to average defender over his career. Similar to a Curry or Dirk in the sense that his offense will be so dominant, his defensive shortcomings won't be a huge factor in his impact.

Having one below average defender in a lineup is not a big deal because every team has a guy you can "hide" him on. Like you can put a bad defender on Danny Green because the guy literally can not dribble.

You can put a bad defender on Klay Thompson because he isn't a playmaker either. Now if you put him on Klay he better put in some effort to keep up with him and not give him airspace.. but that's not the same thing as trying to park him on Jayson Tatum and saying "hey try to stay in front of this guy and oh by the way he will can it in your face from anywhere on the court too"


It's even LESS of a big deal when the guy is huge because you can't just get bumhunt him in switches like you can with IT or Lillard before he improved defensively.

If Luka Doncic is the weakest defender out there you are fine. And I'm not even convinced he'll be a "bad" defender.

Everyone said Lonzo Ball was going to be a terrible defender and just look at him. The bigger guys fare well these days because they do well in switches, they defend lobs aggressively, they get back into the play faster, and they rebound effectively and push the ball in transition upon doing so