Luka Doncic - performance discussion

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We were all wrong about his scoring most of us thought 20ppg would be his prime he’s doing that in his rookie year
Agreed I think a lot of people (myself included) thought he would be more of a 15-17 PPG type of scorer but it certainly looks like averaging 20 PPG won't be a problem for him. With that said I don't anticipate him ever being a 25+ PPG scorer but that doesn't matter if he can get you 19-22 along with all the assists, rebounds, and running the offense that's all he needs to do.

Dallas still needs to get another big time scorer though because let's face it......Harrison Barnes basically sucks and Wes Matthews really sucks. Neither is a "winning" player. I thought Barnes possibly was going to be a few years ago but he just doesn't have it. He's fine as a role-player but he should not be a Top-3 option. Matthews literally does nothing well besides score and he really doesn't do that all that well these days either.
 
DJ does not let anyone else rebound ("I got it!!! Get out of here!!") so his rebounding numbers might suffer. :).
So, you feel the need to preemptively qualify his rebounding numbers?
even I did not think it would be like this!

(Source ESPN's power rankings: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...pert-panel-ranks-league-30-teams-ahead-week-5):

Don't be deceived by DeAndre Jordan's solid statistics. He has been a major disappointment for the Mavs. He has rubbed teammates the wrong way with what they perceive as selfish play, the most blatant example being when he stole an uncontested rebound from Luka Doncic by putting his forearm in the prized rookie's back and tipping the ball away. Jordan's disinterest in playing help defense has been a big problem as Mavs opponents light up the scoreboard. -- MacMahon
 
even I did not think it would be like this!

(Source ESPN's power rankings: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...pert-panel-ranks-league-30-teams-ahead-week-5):

Don't be deceived by DeAndre Jordan's solid statistics. He has been a major disappointment for the Mavs. He has rubbed teammates the wrong way with what they perceive as selfish play, the most blatant example being when he stole an uncontested rebound from Luka Doncic by putting his forearm in the prized rookie's back and tipping the ball away. Jordan's disinterest in playing help defense has been a big problem as Mavs opponents light up the scoreboard. -- MacMahon
I remember posting the video clip of that and some used it to attack Luka somehow. Lol

DJ has been outperformed in almost all his games this year
 
It’s interesting how Mav’s fans complain about DeAndre Jordan...

Deandre Jordan has a -7.2 defensive field goal percentage for players within 6 ft. Meaning opponents shoot over 7% less with Jordan guarding them. DeAndre Jordan averages 5.7 defensive boxouts a game. If a player gets by the guards DJ averages 1.0 block a game.

By comparison, Doncic has a plus 5.1% defensive field goal percentage for players within 6 ft. And despite playing the 4, Luka chases rebounds and rarely boxes out his man. Luka averages .7 defensive box outs a game. Luka isn’t much help protecting the rim either averaging .3 blocks a game.

In short, DJ is covering Luka’s ass on defense with little help. If Luka were playing the 3 and defending the perimeter than these numbers wouldn’t matter. But he rarely guards on the perimeter in the games I saw and is a defensive sieve whose sole job is to chase rebounds while others box out.
 
I just noticed last week Popovich said about Doncic the same things I've said one year ago while he was playing in Madrid.

“I think his demeanor. He has a pace about him that is never frantic. He’s calm in everything that he does. He understands spatial relationships and understands where everybody is on the court, what’s needed at the time and he’s got courage. He’ll take big shots and do what needs to be done to try to win a basketball game. And he obviously attracts the respect of his teammates. That’s pretty tough for a rookie to do as quickly as he did. All of that makes him one hell of a basketball player and person.”

... For everything else, you got the boxscore.
 
I can picture you there hating on the kids defense all night. Haha
Pretty much. It isn’t hate on Luka BTW. I wanted him originally. But his defense in my mind is atrocious. I originally thought he was a Bogi type defender but he makes Bogi look like a ****ing all-star defender.

If he gets much stronger and can become a decent post defender or if he improves his lateral quickness and can defend on the perimeter he’s a multi year all star. But good lord the kid basically can only guard air at the moment.
 
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