Around the NBA 2019-20

[bwgood77]

One thing about what Doncic is doing is it's exciting to see a player like that develop right before your eyes from the beginning of his career.

Sure, some of the older people here saw Jordan, and even Magic/Bird, and maybe further back, many saw LeBron and most all saw Curry and Harden, though they blossomed later.

It's EXTREMELY rare obviously that a guy puts up the kind of #s Doncic is putting up. Like rare as in never. Like last night, he was the first guy to get a triple double with 30+ points in as few minutes as he played (25). The previous game he had a 40+ pt triple double...youngest to do that other than LeBron.

This stuff is basically unprecedented, so it's not something people are not going to talk about.

I know many don't want to hear about Doncic in this thread, especially those who wanted Ayton, and to some who wanted Doncic, perhaps even moreso, but everyone should appreciate seeing a player like that, because it's not often you do.

For example, I HATE that Mahomes plays for the Chiefs. This guy might be the best QB ever and he plays for my favorite team's division rival, and he is in his 3rd year. HIs 1st year starting he won MVP. That would have been like a rookie winning MVP last year (kind of) since he didn't play his first season. But the guy is doing crazy things.

[bwgood77]

Positives tonight....Kings lost to Brooklyn and SA lost to Philly. Utah was down to GS but pulled it out, and Denver looks like they will beat Boston, but Utah and Denver are sure playoff teams anyway. Unfortunately Dallas killed Cleveland with Doncic getting 30, 14 and 7 in 28 minutes. Only 2 turnovers as well against his 14 assists. They look like they will definitely make the playoffs, starting 11-5, though of course beating Cleveland isn't that impressive.

But I figure both LA teams, Utah, Denver, Houston and Dallas are in for sure, so that leaves us, Minnesota, New Orleans and the Kings fighting for the last two spots. And of course the Kings have been without Bagley and Fox (though they were worse with them to start), the Pelicans are supposed to get Zion back mid December and have had other injuries, and we also know about some TWolves injuries, so it won't be easy if we don't get players back soon and win some in this stretch before we get Ayton back.

[Damkac]

Will end 9th seed.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

?s=09

I'm sure this might have been mentioned somewhere before! But still I wonder how this would affect the suns with respect to current roster construction. Again, IF passed? Any thoughts as to the overall benefits/detriment to certain teams as well?

[Sunsss]

lol at that ending of the Bulls-Hornets game.

[WeekapaugGroove]

lol at that ending of the Bulls-Hornets game.

It was crazy. So is how much the bulls seem to hate their coach lol

Read on Twitter

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[Ghost of Kleine]

lol at that ending of the Bulls-Hornets game.

It was crazy. So is how much the bulls seem to hate their coach lol

Read on Twitter

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using RealGM mobile app

That's certainly not going to help his playing time any! I wonder how the front office feels about him? And IF they're in total disarray or some fair level of chaos, Could their be a potential fleecing opportunity available to the suns in trade scenarios ( hopefully for Markkanen or Wendell Carter Jr. perhaps???

[suns12345]

One thing about what Doncic is doing is it's exciting to see a player like that develop right before your eyes from the beginning of his career.

Sure, some of the older people here saw Jordan, and even Magic/Bird, and maybe further back, many saw LeBron and most all saw Curry and Harden, though they blossomed later.

It's EXTREMELY rare obviously that a guy puts up the kind of #s Doncic is putting up. Like rare as in never. Like last night, he was the first guy to get a triple double with 30+ points in as few minutes as he played (25). The previous game he had a 40+ pt triple double...youngest to do that other than LeBron.

This stuff is basically unprecedented, so it's not something people are not going to talk about.

I know many don't want to hear about Doncic in this thread, especially those who wanted Ayton, and to some who wanted Doncic, perhaps even moreso, but everyone should appreciate seeing a player like that, because it's not often you do.

For example, I HATE that Mahomes plays for the Chiefs. This guy might be the best QB ever and he plays for my favorite team's division rival, and he is in his 3rd year. HIs 1st year starting he won MVP. That would have been like a rookie winning MVP last year (kind of) since he didn't play his first season. But the guy is doing crazy things.

Man is he consistent. 40 points and 10 assists again. Not a spectacular athlete but just makes it look so easy.

Its unfortunate he isn't a sun. But Ayton is no bust. And you can win a title without having the best player in the league. Jordan, Kobe, Lebron didn't win it every year. Giannis or whoever is the best now doesn't win it every year either.

[lilfishi22]

Bloody Doncic is a machine. 41/6/10 in a rout of the Rockets on the road. Mavs are also 11-6. Playing MVP level basketball at 20 in his 2nd season

[Saberestar]

Hopefully the Wizards win against the Kings, we need all the help that we can get.
Bogdanovic is back (hamstring) but they don't have Fox, Ariza and Bagley yet.

[sunsbg]

Bloody Doncic is a machine. 41/6/10 in a rout of the Rockets on the road. Mavs are also 11-6. Playing MVP level basketball at 20 in his 2nd season

He was killing them inside, driving on a few consecutive plays fully aware nobody can stop him without commiting a foul. He's just taking full advantage of the no D rules in RS. I would honestly just let him shoot 20 3s and try to take away his driving game, which also means his teammates are more involved.

Westbrook was terrible in the first half, yet somehow finished with 27pts. Stat padding at it's best.

[bigfoot]

The Suns are destined to be the ugly sister

[lilfishi22]

Bloody Doncic is a machine. 41/6/10 in a rout of the Rockets on the road. Mavs are also 11-6. Playing MVP level basketball at 20 in his 2nd season

He was killing them inside, driving on a few consecutive plays fully aware nobody can stop him without commiting a foul. He's just taking full advantage of the no D rules in RS. I would honestly just let him shoot 20 3s and try to take away his driving game, which also means his teammates are more involved.

Westbrook was terrible in the first half, yet somehow finished with 27pts. Stat padding at it's best.

His inconsistent shooting and shot selection from range seems to be his only weakness. Once he gets inside he's like a kid in a candy store with the options he has because of his finishing and passing ability.

I would certainly try and coax him into shooting more from range as a strategy but I think he's smart enough to realise that and will change things up

[Revived]

I remember in the off-season there was talk about how Doncic had a chance at making the All Star team this season.

Lol forget that, he’s strongly in the MVP race. If he can keep the Mavs in the #3-#6 seed then he really can break Derrick Rose’s record as the youngest MVP in basketball history.

I can’t imagine how many kids he must be inspiring in Europe to just come in and wreck the entire league in barely his 2nd season at the age of 20. Hopefully the youth in Europe will start to get into basketball more instead of focusing usually on just soccer because this type of play is the future of the NBA.

[bwgood77]

I remember people saying last year that he has already peaked and wouldn't get any better.

[Saberestar]

All three teams that did not draft Doncic made a terrible mistake.

And this is interesting...

The Sacramento Kings had the second pick in the 2018 draft, but instead of grabbing Doncic, the Kings elected to move forward with Marvin Bagley. Doncic had a lot of hype coming into the draft as he was just named the EuroLeague MVP at 19-years-old. Some may have wondered why the Kings' general manager, Vlade Divac,—who is well connected with EuroLeague hoopers—decided to take the Duke freshman over Doncic. But according to MacMahon, Vlade had some unresolved issues with Luka's dad.

"My understanding is that [Divac] being so close to Luka and knowing his dad so well factored into their decision," MacMahon told The Woj Pod. "Basically, he didn’t think a whole lot of Luka’s dad, and the whole like father like son … well … no, this is a different dude. You messed that one up, Vlade."

Luka's dad, Sasha Doncic, is a professional basketball coach and former EuroLeague player. Along with playing for teams in Slovenia and France, Doncic also played for clubs in Vlade's native Serbia. That makes it possible that the two crossed paths during their time on the EuroLeague circuit.

https://www.complex.com/sports/2019/11/kings-reportedly-passed-on-luka-doncic-because-vlade-divac-didnt-like-his-dad

[lilfishi22]

I remember people saying last year that he has already peaked and wouldn't get any better.

[lilfishi22]

All three teams that did not draft Doncic made a terrible mistake.

And this is interesting...

The Sacramento Kings had the second pick in the 2018 draft, but instead of grabbing Doncic, the Kings elected to move forward with Marvin Bagley. Doncic had a lot of hype coming into the draft as he was just named the EuroLeague MVP at 19-years-old. Some may have wondered why the Kings' general manager, Vlade Divac,—who is well connected with EuroLeague hoopers—decided to take the Duke freshman over Doncic. But according to MacMahon, Vlade had some unresolved issues with Luka's dad.

"My understanding is that [Divac] being so close to Luka and knowing his dad so well factored into their decision," MacMahon told The Woj Pod. "Basically, he didn’t think a whole lot of Luka’s dad, and the whole like father like son … well … no, this is a different dude. You messed that one up, Vlade."

Luka's dad, Sasha Doncic, is a professional basketball coach and former EuroLeague player. Along with playing for teams in Slovenia and France, Doncic also played for clubs in Vlade's native Serbia. That makes it possible that the two crossed paths during their time on the EuroLeague circuit.

https://www.complex.com/sports/2019/11/kings-reportedly-passed-on-luka-doncic-because-vlade-divac-didnt-like-his-dad

That's certainly a dumb thing to factor into the future of the franchise. Likewise was one of the reasons for drafting Ayton which was that he's played HS and college basketball in Phoenix and being a "hometown guy". Such a dumb reason

[DirtyDez]

All three teams that did not draft Doncic made a terrible mistake.

And this is interesting...

The Sacramento Kings had the second pick in the 2018 draft, but instead of grabbing Doncic, the Kings elected to move forward with Marvin Bagley. Doncic had a lot of hype coming into the draft as he was just named the EuroLeague MVP at 19-years-old. Some may have wondered why the Kings' general manager, Vlade Divac,—who is well connected with EuroLeague hoopers—decided to take the Duke freshman over Doncic. But according to MacMahon, Vlade had some unresolved issues with Luka's dad.

"My understanding is that [Divac] being so close to Luka and knowing his dad so well factored into their decision," MacMahon told The Woj Pod. "Basically, he didn’t think a whole lot of Luka’s dad, and the whole like father like son … well … no, this is a different dude. You messed that one up, Vlade."

Luka's dad, Sasha Doncic, is a professional basketball coach and former EuroLeague player. Along with playing for teams in Slovenia and France, Doncic also played for clubs in Vlade's native Serbia. That makes it possible that the two crossed paths during their time on the EuroLeague circuit.

https://www.complex.com/sports/2019/11/kings-reportedly-passed-on-luka-doncic-because-vlade-divac-didnt-like-his-dad

That's certainly a dumb thing to factor into the future of the franchise. Likewise was one of the reasons for drafting Ayton which was that he's played HS and college basketball in Phoenix and being a "hometown guy". Such a dumb reason

We took Ayton because McDonough has always been drunk on physical upside. Had he been the same exact player for Kansas/Duke/UNC there really wouldn’t have been much of a significant difference in hype. If the decision came down to eye ball interest you take the international phenom.

[sunsbg]

Bloody Doncic is a machine. 41/6/10 in a rout of the Rockets on the road. Mavs are also 11-6. Playing MVP level basketball at 20 in his 2nd season

He was killing them inside, driving on a few consecutive plays fully aware nobody can stop him without commiting a foul. He's just taking full advantage of the no D rules in RS. I would honestly just let him shoot 20 3s and try to take away his driving game, which also means his teammates are more involved.

Westbrook was terrible in the first half, yet somehow finished with 27pts. Stat padding at it's best.

His inconsistent shooting and shot selection from range seems to be his only weakness. Once he gets inside he's like a kid in a candy store with the options he has because of his finishing and passing ability.

I would certainly try and coax him into shooting more from range as a strategy but I think he's smart enough to realise that and will change things up

It will require team effort, but I'm amused that in the best league in the world a player can drive to the hoop whenever he likes and no one can stop him. And he's not that fast like say Lebron, so you don't have the time to react. Just comparing the leagues EL looks much more tactical and physical, so what he's doing is not possible over there to this extend. Anyway, Mavs will probably make the playoffs, so we'll see if any team will come with a good strategy to defend him.