Luka Dončić Discussion - Year 2

[J_T]

Ok, after watching this I think Mavs will be 2018/19 NBA champs.

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[Jstock12]

Ok, after watching this I think Mavs will be 2018/19 NBA champs.

Watch on YouTube

Man, can't wait for his debut. I'm not even a Mavs fan but I'll try to catch as many games as possible

[thr3ep01nte4]

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[Jedzz]

Real deal. Thoroughly impressed already.

[JaysRangers]

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

[Darren]

Actually, the top few picks in 2018 all look great so far. Doncic is not the only one. Nearly all of them contribute right away.

[arkuo]

Two games down, and I know this will be an old comparison. But for the older guys here, anybody else notice that Luka kinda plays like Larry Bird?

[BlueSan]

I wouldnt say that, not until he starts running his mouth on the floor and then destroying people left and right haha

[Jedzz]

He's already up to NBA speed. Couple rookie moments pointed out to me (turnovers) completely overshadowed by everything positive he is doing. When I saw the step back three I shuddered. But the passing, floater touch, corner 3, steals, block, boards. Oh boy. When was he not involved? When he took a rest on the bench. This is the future for Mavs in a bottle of lightning it came on so fast. I hadn't bought into the draft hype. I do now.

[2011Champs]

So Luka’s ceiling is Lebron with less dunks and better 3pt shooting. Just throwing that out there.

[Dundalis]

I'm curious to see the progression to how they use him as a ball handler. He gets his touches, but his ball handling duties have been pretty limited so far. I wonder if his conditioning plays a part, or the turnovers, and it will go up when that is taken care of, because I legitimately thought the ball handling duties would be shared almost 50/50 between DSJ and Doncic.

[Absinthe]

His free throw percentage has to increase. 54% is too low. We only have a two game window to judge by, but he needs to be at least in the 75% range.

[arkuo]

I'm curious to see the progression to how they use him as a ball handler. He gets his touches, but his ball handling duties have been pretty limited so far. I wonder if his conditioning plays a part, or the turnovers, and it will go up when that is taken care of, because I legitimately thought the ball handling duties would be shared almost 50/50 between DSJ and Doncic.

I think the dynamics they'll figure out as the season progresses. Carlisle runs the offense with a lot of motion. And the team was so used to having the offense run through the PF position for like a decade.

[Rn5ho]

His free throw percentage has to increase. 54% is too low. We only have a two game window to judge by, but he needs to be at least in the 75% range.

This is my biggest concern so far actually - his FTs actually gradually worsened over the course of this year (at least that's how it feels to me, didn't check any stats yet, but will go look the history actually). Which is really weird for me, as I remember him being super efficient from FT line and was 80%+ in 2017.

[N8N]

His free throw percentage has to increase. 54% is too low. We only have a two game window to judge by, but he needs to be at least in the 75% range.

This is my biggest concern so far actually - his FTs actually gradually worsened over the course of this year (at least that's how it feels to me, didn't check any stats yet, but will go look the history actually). Which is really weird for me, as I remember him being super efficient from FT line and was 80%+ in 2017.

I believe this has to be jitters--it has to be mental for the kid, because we know he can shoot. Maybe the overall experience: the hype, the expectations, the responsibilities put upon him makes him second guess some of the things that were instinctual for him before. His last turnover during the last game where he threw it to the back of Rose seems like an apt example of him sometimes second-guessing himself. He definitely could have shot that one or not rushed it too much.

He'll be fine on this end. Is there any example of a good shooter that was a mediocre-bad FT shooter? I can't think of anyone off the top of my head. Please don't say LeBron.

[Rn5ho]

Yeah, I'm not worried in the long run at all - he was 0/2 in season opened where he obviously had a bad game altogether and in this 2nd game he was 6/9 - still not good, but at least there were no brick, some were just unlucky. I'm 99% sure he'll be fine in this regard and at least 80% eventually.

[Archx]

I followed Kobe's career really closely and i remember him saying at some point, when he started to struggle, that his shot basically became too flat. He had to fix the arc of the shot because he basically shot the ball almost in a straight line. Same thing was with his normal jumpshot.
And i noticed that with Luka toward the end of Madrid's season when he started to really struggle with FT's. I am surprised how no one tried to fix that with him so far because there is no real arc when he shoots FT's. And i think that is the main issue right now, just the technique.

[SOUNDCHASER]

Luka scored 55 points in his first 3 games. Brons first 3 produced 54. Kobe had 37 of course Jeremy Lin had 89.

[dirkules_41]

I followed Kobe's career really closely and i remember him saying at some point, when he started to struggle, that his shot basically became too flat. He had to fix the arc of the shot because he basically shot the ball almost in a straight line. Same thing was with his normal jumpshot.
And i noticed that with Luka toward the end of Madrid's season when he started to really struggle with FT's. I am surprised how no one tried to fix that with him so far because there is no real arc when he shoots FT's. And i think that is the main issue right now, just the technique.

If DAJ managed to fix his I have 0 concerns our coaching staff will get that sorted out over time.

[Pachinko_]

Ι love that kid