All right, so I put the worry on hold and spent some thought on the comparison between Bogdan and Luka. Euro fans, please correct me if I'm wrong:O_Gardino wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 8:06 amFood for worry!ShelC wrote: ↑Thu Jun 14, 2018 5:37 amIt's maybe not exactly apples to apples, but we had Bodganovic who was doing big things in Europe, putting up numbers, hitting big shots, winning a bunch and he was solid but not spectacular with the Kings. He came over as an older player, more of a SG, and was playing on a bad team but wasn't exactly lighting it up.
I still think Doncic will be great, but it's food for thought.
With all these guys, Bogdonovic included, it's how much they are going to improve. I don't know how to evaluate that except for past precedent and gut feeling.
Bogdan is a fiery competitor and has a solid basketball mind. He's a scorer who can shoot and has good court vision and passing skills. He started his 5 year pro career in EuroLeague at the age of 20. He did not play in Liga ACB at all. As a rookie he hardly played and put up numbers that reminded me of an 18 year old Dragan Bender. For the next 3 years, he was a big part of the rotation, scored a lot, passed well, and shot pretty god from 3. He didn't shoot so well inside the arc. In his 5th and final season, his shooting %s everywhere on the court skyrocketted, and the rest of his game remained consistent. His team won a lot of games during that stretch, and continues to be good without him - it's a good team. That's a good euroleague resume.
What makes Luka stand out is how much impact he's had in his short years (and minutes) on the court.
For the las 3 seasons (ages 16-18), Luka has played in both leagues each season. He plays more games in one year than Bogdan played in 2. Luka's minutes are predictably fewer than the older Bogdan, and we see them rise as he ages. But even at 17 years old and only playing 19 minutes per game, Luka averaged the same assists as Bogdan had in his career best passing season - while turning the ball over half as much. Luka also grabbed more rebounds, scored well, and shot well. Again, this is in far fewer minutes per game and over a much much longer stretch of games. That was before he blew up last season and started dominating. His number this season eclipse Bogdan's career highs in every area except shooting %, and Luka's shooting numbers are just fine. And I want to point out that Luka's per-36 numbers have been fairly consistent over the last 3 years. There's improvement, but the all around game was there even at 16 when he averaged better than 12/7/5 with a steal and a block per 36 in the same professional grownup leagues.
The story surrounding Luka Doncic sounds like hyperbole, but the numbers back it up. He really does play in both leagues at a very young age. He really does win. And he really does have a huge impact all over the box score. Even if his per-36 number drop, they are still good numbers. If they go up, he's a star.
edit: here's the stats
https://www.basketball-reference.com/eu ... vic-1.html
https://www.basketball-reference.com/eu ... cic-1.html