Luka Doncic evaluation
Posted: Fri May 25, 2018 1:22 am
Hello to everybody!
I was invited to this forum by some key members. They told me that here is a lack of European guys that know well Luka Doncic. Well, I should be one of them
I'm from Slovenia, Luka's homeland. I know Luka since he was 11 (I was 15 at that time). At that age he came to our elementary school with his school's basketball club. When he stepped of the floor, I immediately knew that he is special. He was far better than other guys. I'm also a huge fan of Olimpija (Dragic, Baynes, Danny Green, Bertans, Udrih etc. played here), his fist club. At the age of 13 he moved to Real Madrid. As a fan, I was mad at him and I was sure that there is no way that he can prove himself there. No non-Spanish player (except Mirotic, I think) didn't mage to come out from Madrid's junior squad to their first team. But Luka succeeded and I realized that he made a right move when he moved out of Slovenia.
Why would Luka be a perfect fit? Well, I will be honest - when I saw Ayton, I just thought: "that boy would fit perfectly to Suns". I still think so, but if you can have Doncic on 1 and Capela on 5, you just have to take it. If Suns have room for a quality free agent center, Doncic is better solution, because there is no PG on free agents market that would fit to Suns. You will see, his leadership is amazing and he is born winner. Also, don't look just for his stats. He is absolutely better 3pt shooter then it looks, but he takes a lot of difficult shots. Real Madrid has quite slow squad (Doncic is not slow, but other players), and (IMO) bad coach. They often run out of time in attack and Luka or Sergio Llulll (he was named as Euroleague MVP last year, but then he injured) have to shoot in last seconds. In that element, Luka is really great, much better then Llul. Luka is extremely good passer, but slightly inexperienced, so he make a turnover sometimes, and proficient rebounder. In last few months he improved his defense, which is now quite good, but was bad at the start of the season. If I hear someone that he is slow or nonathletic, I think that she/he doesn't watch him a lot. He can dunk over a center, without a problem. He uses his body very well, his legs are long and with fewer steps he can cross over opponent's defense. Luka has a potential in that area for sure, but guys, he is 19, give him time to fulfill it. I also know that sometimes he looks slow, but this is just a consequence of his biggest advantage - basketball IQ. He won't penetrate under the rim, if he knows that there won't be a solution to finish an attack. But on the other hand, he can do that, usually efficiently.
I'm a huge fan of Booker and I really think that he needs a crafty guy like Doncic on PG position. And they could also swap positions in the game. I can imagine that it would be very hard to defend these to guys together. But for a winning combination, they would need a center who can rebound, plays defense and so on. Capela would be perfect fit, Ayton too for sure, but you can't have him and Doncic. Len is to bad, Chandler is to old. Jordan, Kanter or even Nurkic and Favours could be options too.
Another important thing is a coach. I suggest that you watch matches from Eurobasket 2017. Doncic played for Slovenian NT and they took the trophy, lead by Kokoskov (as you all probably know). Maybe you are not fully aware of that success, but that was a miracle. Span, Serbia, Latvia, France, Russia... they all had much better rosters in theory. Dragic played for NT for some years, and Slovenia wasn't even close to the trophy, so he wasn't a key. But Luka... He just makes teammates better. He scores, he assists, he rebounds, he scores buzzer beaters... His impact is amazing. He puts the team on a higher level, his leadership is marvelous. I know that a lot of you are in doubts, but he will prove you're wrong as he come to NBA. To Suns or any other team. Kokoskov knows Luka, Luka knows him, they are in nonstop contact. In NT, we didn't have attackingly the best centers, but we took the trophy, so Igor just knows how to play a game with good guards.
From Lukas perspective, there is no question - Phoenix is perfect team for him. Here is a lot of talent, good and known coach, Dragic (he is a good friend of Luka) can also help him with some city and organisation issues... On the other hand, Kings are one of the worst options. But they have Vlade Divac on GM, I'm sure that he is aware of Luka's potential and will probably pick him.
So, if you ask me, Ayton is a great player and the safest pick for Phoenix. Majority of fans will be satisfied, there won't be any pressure on GM since it is expected event, but Luka is a winning ticket. His will (and ability) to win is just unique and Phoenix Suns, the worst team from last year, needs that.
Sorry for a long post. I just summed up my writings on the other Suns' forum, so I hope it's not too confusing.
I am open to any questions about Luka
PS: I don't know what is a culture about topics here. If you think that I shouldn't open new one, I apologize for that, but I wasn't sure where to write it.
I was invited to this forum by some key members. They told me that here is a lack of European guys that know well Luka Doncic. Well, I should be one of them
I'm from Slovenia, Luka's homeland. I know Luka since he was 11 (I was 15 at that time). At that age he came to our elementary school with his school's basketball club. When he stepped of the floor, I immediately knew that he is special. He was far better than other guys. I'm also a huge fan of Olimpija (Dragic, Baynes, Danny Green, Bertans, Udrih etc. played here), his fist club. At the age of 13 he moved to Real Madrid. As a fan, I was mad at him and I was sure that there is no way that he can prove himself there. No non-Spanish player (except Mirotic, I think) didn't mage to come out from Madrid's junior squad to their first team. But Luka succeeded and I realized that he made a right move when he moved out of Slovenia.
Why would Luka be a perfect fit? Well, I will be honest - when I saw Ayton, I just thought: "that boy would fit perfectly to Suns". I still think so, but if you can have Doncic on 1 and Capela on 5, you just have to take it. If Suns have room for a quality free agent center, Doncic is better solution, because there is no PG on free agents market that would fit to Suns. You will see, his leadership is amazing and he is born winner. Also, don't look just for his stats. He is absolutely better 3pt shooter then it looks, but he takes a lot of difficult shots. Real Madrid has quite slow squad (Doncic is not slow, but other players), and (IMO) bad coach. They often run out of time in attack and Luka or Sergio Llulll (he was named as Euroleague MVP last year, but then he injured) have to shoot in last seconds. In that element, Luka is really great, much better then Llul. Luka is extremely good passer, but slightly inexperienced, so he make a turnover sometimes, and proficient rebounder. In last few months he improved his defense, which is now quite good, but was bad at the start of the season. If I hear someone that he is slow or nonathletic, I think that she/he doesn't watch him a lot. He can dunk over a center, without a problem. He uses his body very well, his legs are long and with fewer steps he can cross over opponent's defense. Luka has a potential in that area for sure, but guys, he is 19, give him time to fulfill it. I also know that sometimes he looks slow, but this is just a consequence of his biggest advantage - basketball IQ. He won't penetrate under the rim, if he knows that there won't be a solution to finish an attack. But on the other hand, he can do that, usually efficiently.
I'm a huge fan of Booker and I really think that he needs a crafty guy like Doncic on PG position. And they could also swap positions in the game. I can imagine that it would be very hard to defend these to guys together. But for a winning combination, they would need a center who can rebound, plays defense and so on. Capela would be perfect fit, Ayton too for sure, but you can't have him and Doncic. Len is to bad, Chandler is to old. Jordan, Kanter or even Nurkic and Favours could be options too.
Another important thing is a coach. I suggest that you watch matches from Eurobasket 2017. Doncic played for Slovenian NT and they took the trophy, lead by Kokoskov (as you all probably know). Maybe you are not fully aware of that success, but that was a miracle. Span, Serbia, Latvia, France, Russia... they all had much better rosters in theory. Dragic played for NT for some years, and Slovenia wasn't even close to the trophy, so he wasn't a key. But Luka... He just makes teammates better. He scores, he assists, he rebounds, he scores buzzer beaters... His impact is amazing. He puts the team on a higher level, his leadership is marvelous. I know that a lot of you are in doubts, but he will prove you're wrong as he come to NBA. To Suns or any other team. Kokoskov knows Luka, Luka knows him, they are in nonstop contact. In NT, we didn't have attackingly the best centers, but we took the trophy, so Igor just knows how to play a game with good guards.
From Lukas perspective, there is no question - Phoenix is perfect team for him. Here is a lot of talent, good and known coach, Dragic (he is a good friend of Luka) can also help him with some city and organisation issues... On the other hand, Kings are one of the worst options. But they have Vlade Divac on GM, I'm sure that he is aware of Luka's potential and will probably pick him.
So, if you ask me, Ayton is a great player and the safest pick for Phoenix. Majority of fans will be satisfied, there won't be any pressure on GM since it is expected event, but Luka is a winning ticket. His will (and ability) to win is just unique and Phoenix Suns, the worst team from last year, needs that.
Sorry for a long post. I just summed up my writings on the other Suns' forum, so I hope it's not too confusing.
I am open to any questions about Luka
PS: I don't know what is a culture about topics here. If you think that I shouldn't open new one, I apologize for that, but I wasn't sure where to write it.
