Game Day: Mavericks (11-6) @ Suns (8-9), Fri 11/29/19

[LazarusLong]

I don't think anybody predicted Doncic would be this good, this early.
Still early in the season, but the numbers are impressive.

[Split T]

I of course badly wanted us to draft Luka, but as last season went on, I became content with Ayton over Luka. Ayton was extremely efficient, often shooting 7-9 or 11-14 or other gaudy numbers. Luka scored more and had more highlights, but he seemed out of control and inefficient. And Luka wasn't passing as much as I had thought he would, instead often opting to score himself. I figured that having Luka here would disrupt our offense and might take the ball out of Booker's hands. So Ayton, plus the offseason addition of my bae Rubio, seemed like a better roster construction to me than having Luka here crowding out our star Booker.

But it has been really hard seeing the huge leap Luka has taken this season. Now he's clearly the better player and may even be destined to be an all-time great. Ayton, it's quite unlikely that one will be able to say the same. That stings a lot. We had the #1 pick and could have taken him. We had his Euro coach for Pete's sake. And we pass him up to take a "pretty good" big from the local university. Talk about letting location crowd your thinking. Would any other GM in the league have done that?

Well the teams holding the 1st 3 picks all passed on Luka, so I’d say yes, other GM’s would have done the same.

[Nodack]

Great point.

[Superbone]

I of course badly wanted us to draft Luka, but as last season went on, I became content with Ayton over Luka. Ayton was extremely efficient, often shooting 7-9 or 11-14 or other gaudy numbers. Luka scored more and had more highlights, but he seemed out of control and inefficient. And Luka wasn't passing as much as I had thought he would, instead often opting to score himself. I figured that having Luka here would disrupt our offense and might take the ball out of Booker's hands. So Ayton, plus the offseason addition of my bae Rubio, seemed like a better roster construction to me than having Luka here crowding out our star Booker.

But it has been really hard seeing the huge leap Luka has taken this season. Now he's clearly the better player and may even be destined to be an all-time great. Ayton, it's quite unlikely that one will be able to say the same. That stings a lot. We had the #1 pick and could have taken him. We had his Euro coach for Pete's sake. And we pass him up to take a "pretty good" big from the local university. Talk about letting location crowd your thinking. Would any other GM in the league have done that?

Well the teams holding the 1st 3 picks all passed on Luka, so I’d say yes, other GM’s would have done the same.

I said the same thing in the correct thread.