Luka Doncic - performance discussion
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What do you expect when opposing defense is focused on him and who is their second go to guy, Tim Hardaway? Maxi Kleber who?... never heard of 'em. Yet he still keeps notching almost double rebounds and assists in every game. Now he's been compared to Fox, steering a debate who is leading his respectable team better and no other rookies are mentioned or pointless at this point.
Not baffling at all. We passed on Doncic in the draft and now he's turning into a superstar. So now every time he has a bad game I feel ever so slightly better about passing on him. I'm salty.
Is it petty? Absolutely! There's no denying that. But that isn't gonna stop me from rooting against him and wishing the absolute best for Bagley.
Is it petty? Absolutely! There's no denying that. But that isn't gonna stop me from rooting against him and wishing the absolute best for Bagley.
I'm not anointing him anything, just pointing out that he's already an elite playmaker and clutch performer with a balanced game. Very few players in the entire league can say that. My point is that IF he continues this progress and becomes this era's Bird, and IF MB3 reaches his "anointed" potential of being an all-star PF, then that's still going to be looked at as a bad decision, especially if he's going to help the competition of the Kings in future playoff campaigns.
But you're right, we can't judge anything based on what has actually happened thus far. Sounds like Grant "wait and see" Napear.
But you're right, we can't judge anything based on what has actually happened thus far. Sounds like Grant "wait and see" Napear.
Very interesting and relevant stat indeed, shows how extraordinary rookie season Luka is having. One big aspect of the pre draft (and post draft) discussions has been positional value/value of different roles and skillsets. A lot of people who preferred Doncic argued that in general the players that provide the most value are often guards/wings that create offense for themselves and others. That list (while not supposed to be taken as an absolute truth) is trying to list players that provide most value. That list is dominated by wings&guards that create offense for themselves and others.
You said he's "a Larry Bird" we passed on to get 'Karl Malone." That's total exaggeration/hyperbole at this point. And that's why non-Luka worshippers tend to react. If one side didn't tilt the scale so far in one direction, the other side wouldn't feel necessary to try and restore (at least in their own minds) a sense of balance. Hence my comment.
Feel free to continue, however, with forgone conclusions about Luka and MB3, complete with the myriad of provisos. I'd rather just wait and see. if that makes me Grant Napear, I can live with it.
Feel free to continue, however, with forgone conclusions about Luka and MB3, complete with the myriad of provisos. I'd rather just wait and see. if that makes me Grant Napear, I can live with it.
This is where I think your argument falls apart. Right now, you compare what Luka is doing in his rookie year vs. Marvin and it's true you do have to fall back on the potential of Marvin and his long term fit on the Kings. There is a leap of faith there. However, if Luka really does become Bird and Marvin really does become Malone (for the sake of this silly hypothetical....) it will not be considered a "bad decision". Anytime you select the second leading scorer in NBA history, hard to complain about who you passed up -- even if it was Larry Legend. Would you take 8 to 10 years of transcendence vs. almost 20 years of greatness of an ironman? Would Stockton/Bird worked as well or would Stockton be the Dennis Johnson of the 90's? It would be a winning decision by both teams and maybe a bit of "what if" musing on if you flipped the two in the draft order. There's an argument there for Malone, even if most everyone would say Larry. Yes, the Rockets should have taken Jordan, but do you really hear many people talking about what a mistake it was to take Hakeem?
The fact of the matter is that it is way too early to declare winners and losers in this year's draft when all the players involved have all looked like absolute studs to varying degrees. I mean, I could say that Larry Bird was a better defender (and athlete for that matter) than Luka will probably ever be but for all we know Luka spends all offseason shedding baby fat and comes back next year exhibiting elite lateral quickness and becomes an all-NBA defender.
I realize that "let's hold on a sec" isn't a popular opinion in this era of hot takes and social media but we need to remember that Reke once looked like the second coming, Omri looked like an all-star to start his career, Emika Okafor beat Dwight Howard for Rookie of the Year, and De'Aaron Fox is now possibly the best player to come out of his draft class despite being left off of the all-rookie teams last season in favor of Dennis Smith Jr, a prospect that everyone posting in this thread seems to hate for some reason. Normal basketball players take time to develop and they tend to develop at their own pace.
I realize that "let's hold on a sec" isn't a popular opinion in this era of hot takes and social media but we need to remember that Reke once looked like the second coming, Omri looked like an all-star to start his career, Emika Okafor beat Dwight Howard for Rookie of the Year, and De'Aaron Fox is now possibly the best player to come out of his draft class despite being left off of the all-rookie teams last season in favor of Dennis Smith Jr, a prospect that everyone posting in this thread seems to hate for some reason. Normal basketball players take time to develop and they tend to develop at their own pace.
Of Doncic's rise and second-guessing last June's lottery pick, Fox said this weekend, "[Fans and media] talk about it. It's whatever. There are always gonna be 'what if?' scenarios in everything. Like the Chris Paul-to-LA [Lakers] trade. I vividly remember that. Or Steph was almost traded to Milwaukee. It's what if, what if, what if. I don't really care about what if scenarios. Marvin's been great."
https://www.si.com/nba/2019/02/19/d...ngs-surprise-season-buddy-hield-marvin-bagley
https://www.si.com/nba/2019/02/19/d...ngs-surprise-season-buddy-hield-marvin-bagley
Trae Young is making the stretch run of the 1st lap of this rookie marathon race rather interesting. The way Trae has been playing as of late, he may end up the best rookie after year 1.
I think it was @Gary that was the KF member most on board the Trae Young bandwagon. Trae is beginning to look an awful lot like the player he was in college last season. He very well could end up being Steph Curry with a lot more speed.
I think it was @Gary that was the KF member most on board the Trae Young bandwagon. Trae is beginning to look an awful lot like the player he was in college last season. He very well could end up being Steph Curry with a lot more speed.
I think I was part of that group.. I loved Trae as a prospect and even though we should entertain the idea of drafting Young and trading Fox....I got a lot of backlash for it lol. Trae is truly a special offensive player. If he becomes Oklahoma Trae, then he's going to compete as the face of PGs in the NBA 5 years from now with Doncic, Simmons, and Fox(like Young, long ways to go but a ton of potential).
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