Not even going to pretend the last two games were the won cause of Maxi Klebier defense, holy crap this is getting ridiculous by Luka maybe Bagley can before Bjelica's contract expires beat him out for the starting PF spot (unless it's given to him/Bjelly traded) it's very doubtful but.
The ONE AND ONLY Luka Doncic discussion thread
- Thread starter VF21
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CelticsFan
Bench
I agree 1000%
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
They weren't looking that hot when 3/4 of their best players were playing at the start of the season though either.
rosa u podne
Bench
MJ won 6 championships by playing great on offense and defense. Also, the team he played for played great defense (and offense). He had Pippen, Rodman, Kukoc maintaining the pressure on opposing offense and defense the whole game long.
CelticsFan
Bench
I agree but they still looked like a playoff team. IMO they would have been in no mans land. Not good enough to win a title and not good enough to get a high pick. It would have been more rewarding seeing GS age right out of the playoffs, instead they will get a chance to reload with a top pick. I also think they will move D’Angelo this season to acquire more young players/assets. Could end up becoming a similar situation to the Spurs
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SLAB
Hall of Famer
Luka has been a professional for a lot of his life and he is playing like it.
Against GS he was a monster last night doing everything well.
I have to admit that we made mistake by passing on him.
Bagley is still a punk teenager in comparison. Fortunately Marvin has skills and will get better.
Against GS he was a monster last night doing everything well.
I have to admit that we made mistake by passing on him.
Bagley is still a punk teenager in comparison. Fortunately Marvin has skills and will get better.
gunks
Hall of Famer
Er......
I was hardcore a Doncic guy predraft. Dunno who you're thinking about with that whack prediction, but it wasn't me.
It is interesting to see some of the posts (or should I say consistent numerous posts) from the Luka Doncic 2018 Pre-Draft thread that went 70+ pages.
I don't think many people here saw these 40/10/10 and 35/10/10 kind of performances coming this early but many posters did think that Luka was going to be special. Some people thought he was going to be great right away. I remember seeing a lengthy post from Rainmaker that absolutely looks like a 100% spot on soothsayer prediction now.
Then there are a few people that were very anti-Luka that just look foolish now. One of them is still posting constantly in this thread just making himself look like an idiot based on the numerous posts he made about Luka before the draft.
And then of course you had BLOB who amongst other things called Luka SOFT and BETA. Blob also had him rated below Ayton, Bagley, AND Bamba. If the guy didn't promote himself as the greatest basketball mind on KingsFans for so long I wouldn't have mentioned him by name but clearly his predictions held up oh so well.
Dime Dropper
All-Star
I am almost certain it was you my friend, although maybe it was before you became a fan. If memory serves, it was in his final Euro game though. Maybe it was sarcasm and went over my head. I'll find the post later, and will humbly admit I got it wrong if it wasn't you
Dime Dropper
All-Star
Blob was probably the worst poster in the history of this forum. I don't like trashing people but man, he was absolutely deluded. He was on my ignore list in the end, but I'm presuming he doesn't post anymore.
gunks
Hall of Famer
I am almost certain it was you my friend, although maybe it was before you became a fan. If memory serves, it was in his final Euro game though. Maybe it was sarcasm and went over my head. I'll find the post later, and will humbly admit I got it wrong if it wasn't you
Deal!
I'll admit I was wishy washy on him at first (as in, maybe preferring Ayton), but by the time draft day came around, I was all in on Luka.
And now that he's been brought up by other posters, you're probably thinking of Blob with the Nocioni comp.
I had Luka as a 20/8/7 guy in his prime I didn’t think he’d be a scorer over here let the haters get to me on that one, boy was I wrong
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
I think his numbers will eventually come down when he finally gets teammates that don’t suck. There’s a bit of Westbrook syndrome going on here where Luka is getting some of his numbers simply because random bad role player B and C is physically incapable of rebounding the ball/passing/generally existing (I’m looking at you Dwight Powell).
SacTownKid
Hall of Famer
You also can't just look at the numbers. Numbers are ridiculously inflated these days. It's almost a joke honestly. It's not a surprise considering fantasy stats are a big money making business however.
FoxOnTheRun
G-League
Our biggest hole for years has been the small forward spot. We finally get a guy that fits the mold and we pass on him because of what? His game or speed might not fit in with Fox? Look, i Iove D'Aaron.. he's a great kid with tons of talent... the thing is he hasn't proven anything yet. He's no star. Not yet anyway. This was a catastrophic mistake by this front office. The only way, and I mean the absolute only way I get over this is if Fox and Bagley become an unstoppable duo that elevated each other's game to all-star levels. If that doesn't happen, well then we can add this to another stupid stupid draft night decision made by this franchise that just can't seem to get the hell out of it's own way. Robinson over Lillard, Freddette over Kawhi and now Bagley over Luka. 
Dime Dropper
All-Star
Deal!
I'll admit I was wishy washy on him at first (as in, maybe preferring Ayton), but by the time draft day came around, I was all in on Luka.
And now that he's been brought up by other posters, you're probably thinking of Blob with the Nocioni comp.
To be fair, later in the same thread...
So I guess it was tongue in cheek. You win this time, my gunky friend.
His ppg will come down but I fully expect him to be at 25/8/8 for the year and a top 5 mvp candidate I didn’t expect that scoring and I was extremely high on him.
Our biggest hole for years has been the small forward spot. We finally get a guy that fits the mold and we pass on him because of what? His game or speed might not fit in with Fox? Look, i Iove D'Aaron.. he's a great kid with tons of talent... the thing is he hasn't proven anything yet. He's no star. Not yet anyway. This was a catastrophic mistake by this front office. The only way, and I mean the absolute only way I get over this is if Fox and Bagley become an unstoppable duo that elevated each other's game to all-star levels. If that doesn't happen, well then we can add this to another stupid stupid draft night decision made by this franchise that just can't seem to get the hell out of it's own way. Robinson over Lillard, Freddette over Kawhi and now Bagley over Luka.
The other ones aren’t close to big misses like Luka yes Lillard/Boogie would’ve probably made us contenders. But Lillard and Kawhi aren’t generational players like Luka is which is a big miss
gunks
Hall of Famer
Ahahaha! We were both right! I totally forgot that I posted that. Definitely sarcasm (as evidenced by SLAB liking said post) .
Funny that my one wise-arse anti Luka post got stuck in your craw, compared to my numerous posts praising him/calling for him to be the pick.
Good detective work btw! Alls well that ends well, buddy!
kind of hate to say it but I’m now dumbfounded by what Vlade didn’t see in Luka. I was fine wth the Bagley pick, he said all the right things about Sacramento, obviously loads of potential and so on. I warmed up equally to both as our pick, still what prompted his fellow countryman and probably the GM with the most access to Luka justify his decision.
I’ve heard discussions that not a great fit with Fox, too many guards all ready with Hield and and a comparable player in Bogdan, I’ve even considered that Luka’s group made it clear that Sacramento was not a place he wanted to be. I also somewhat jokingly suggested that Mrs Divac told Vlade that Luka’s attractive mom best stay clear of the Kings or trouble for Vlade.
Anyways, currently I don’t get it.
I’ve heard discussions that not a great fit with Fox, too many guards all ready with Hield and and a comparable player in Bogdan, I’ve even considered that Luka’s group made it clear that Sacramento was not a place he wanted to be. I also somewhat jokingly suggested that Mrs Divac told Vlade that Luka’s attractive mom best stay clear of the Kings or trouble for Vlade.
Anyways, currently I don’t get it.
The Effort Police
Starter
Dude took a victory lap the moment we took Bagley and bragged that we'd come around on his opinion.
Yeah, no.
macadocious
Starter
VF will probably delete this, but I wonder if there is any leftover animosity from what Vlade dealt with in regards to Drazen Petrovich and slovenia when it comes to Doncic. Not him personally, but just all that baggage. Because it seemed like the biggest no brainer pick in the history of picks. I for one thought Vlade knew something we didn't in regards to him being hurt, or an butthead, or something that other people didn't see.
It looks now like he was just flat out wrong.
It looks now like he was just flat out wrong.
macadocious
Starter
dammit, I forgot about Lukas mom. We're missing out there too.
What's Mrs. Coach Bagley look like?
Well, I would encourage you to watch the 30-For-30 documentary "Once Brothers" and see if you think Vlade has any Drazen baggage.
This is sortof the point though. If you get a guy who can dominate offensively to that extent -- a guy who can go on runs where he's basically carrying the entire offense -- it allows you to put other players on your roster who do nothing but rebound or knock down open three pointers with their feet set without hurting the overall team performance. There's no such thing as a perfect player who is exceptional at everything. If a player has exceptional skill in one part of the game though, you can probably cover for their weaknesses when you fill out the roster.
LPKingsFan
All-Star
yeah, it was interesting that the teams that presumably would have the most insider knowledge of Doncic—the Suns, who at the time had just hired his coach, and the Kings, with their numerous connections to the former Yugoslavia and European hoops—both passed. So I wondered the same.
gunks
Hall of Famer
I think he may have bought into the "high floor/low ceiling" stuff surrounding Luka before the draft.
Even a lot of us Luka fans thought his ceiling would be in the 20/8/8ish level (see Joshua's post above, and I was in the same boat). I don't think anyone had him pegged at the obscene 30/10/10 (and I do think these numbers will drop once he has an actual team around him) he's at now.
Vlade rolled the dice, thinking Bagley had the higher ceiling, despite being a riskier pick. His entire tenure as GM has been full of gambles. He's won some, he's lost some. It's a real bummer he lost on this one though.
What was dumb to a lot of us on draft day is now looking 1000 times worse as Luka puts together an MVP season at age 20.
Bagley's high ceiling hasn't gone anywhere, he can still develop into a 25/12 big. But for a lot of us who wanted Luka in the first place, that's still just a consolation prize, and there's no guarantee it will ever even happen.
rosa u podne
Bench
That was not my point. My point was that MJ was good both on defense and offense, and he did have a great supporting cast. Pippen and Kukoc were not 3 & D players, they both were creators on offense, and Pippen was one of the all-time greats on defense alone. MJ did not start winning in PO before he was surrounded by such players. The year when MJ and Pippen both retired, Kukoc was injured first half of season. Bulls were terrible, they hardly won a game. When Kukoc came back, Bulls started winning most of the games all of sudden. The point is, that team was strong even without Jordan. It never happened that a team won multiple championships with only one star. Also, it never happened that a team won multiple championships without playing good defense. You downplayed defense part when compared bad boys to MJ led Chicago, and I responded that Chicago was great on defense too.
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