Luka Doncic Discussion: Lean Mean Slovenian Extension Machine

At this rate, he'll clear half this list THIS season

 

He makes it look so easy, too.

 

i'd agree except that two years ago luka played basically better than this (34/10/9) and led his team to the finals, but everyone forgot about that because he was injured for half a season. this isn't revenge or improvement...this is just who he is. there was some wishful thinking in the media that that guy was gone because of a calf strain. which is sort of precious in retrospect.

 

Nailed it. This is just who Luka is. People quickly have forgotten that the Mavs Finals team that barely made the play in last year only had one change. No Luka.

You guys just wait until he gets comfortable with the guys he is playing with. Lol. It's going to be epic. He is finally not dealing with a front office moron working against him. He is fully healthy again. If anything, that OKC gamed just fueled him. Ayton is working out really well. But, he still doesn't have chemistry worked out with him yet. This team is also very versatile. Ayton can roll as well as play in the mid and back down to the post. They are just getting started.

These guys will be cooking by the end of the season.

 

I agree. Plus, it is going to be interesting how he and AR learn to play with each other.

 

I'm interested in seeing how the 3 share the ball effectively. I think there are going to be some ugly games along the way and maybe some drama, but if they settle into roles, it could be pretty interesting.

I'd rather have that problem than not enough talent.

 

I'm going to trust Abeer's word here, on Luka's health. He's watched him a lot more than me over his career. I never watched more than a handful of his games, previously, except Playoffs games. He definitely looks like a different guy today, than the he did when he first got here.

We need it too, because last year's Luka, flat ran out of gas against Minnesota. No point in sugar coating it, his 4th quarter numbers against the T-Wolves, were point blank horrible, it was what it was. Look em up.

That was last season though, he looks lean and mean, and in shape to me now. I look forward, to kicking everybody's a** this season, we are just getting started!

 

Luka ran out of gas last year due to missing half the season and actually just resting. Once the Mavs fired Casey Smith Luka's conditioning went down hill. Casey is the best trainer in the NBA. All of a sudden the Mavs started having injuries left and right when he was let go. As far as Luka's health goes, Luka played the entire playoff run to the finals with a calf strain and other minor injuries. He has no problem playing through stuff. I think the reason JJ has been sitting him at times is because it's early in the season. If it were the playoffs Luka would be playing.

Luka has been an iron man through his career. He was never really able to heal the calf strain during the Finals year. So, that's why his new training staff rested him so that he could get fully healed up.

 

Hey man...all I know, is that I like what I see right now. Gimme this version in the playoffs, and I'm good. I require no convincing on the talent level.

 

All true, Luka is having his usual MVP-type season but I wonder if he has another gear or two, because if he's at/near his ceiling, he's not catching Jokic, SGA and Giannis who are all approaching God-tier.

 

he's better than sga and has been. i'm guessing sentimentality aside, milwaukee would have moved giannis for luka, too (i get why they didn't). jokic may end up being the GOAT in some ways.

i'm not sure if luka has another gear, though. his top gear is enough anyway. just have to build the right team around him, like denver did for jokic.

 

I have Giannis and SGA above Luka for now, as they are both more efficient as scorers and they are great/elite defenders. They aren't an offensive engine like Luka though, which potentially makes his ceiling much higher.

To clarify, I'd still pick Luka over those 2 to have on our team solely based on his track record in the playoffs, but I'm not sure if Luka will ever approach 50/40/90, or a TS% of 65% or higher. That kind of offensive efficiency would put him in the Magic/Lebron tier.

 

He has another level. This is regular season Luka. He doesn't bump as much. You'll see him try to make the game as easy as possible. Once the playoffs come around he will routinely take smaller defenders down into the paint and wear them down. He just overall plays more aggressive and talks a lot more trash. He smiles more during the regular season.

He takes and dishes out a lot more contact in the playoffs. He will also start calling out players he wants guarding him. AKA The Rudy Gobert ankle breaker.



You'll see him yelling at players telling them a very colorful and animated version of "you can't guard me" etc. In more recent years he has even started the Larry Bird thing of telling the other team what he is going to do to them when he gets the ball. Just so that they know they can't stop it.

 

AR please stop throwing lobs to Luka - yes I know with Lebron back it's Showtime but throw the lob to anyone but Luka
That dude falling on his knee was a scare!

 

Man, this offense could really be something this league has never seen once they have established some rythm and get to know each other's tendencies and favoriote spots on the court. I hope JJ is up for the challenge, because as briliant as our big three are, the coaching staff has a huge role to play in optimizing this squad and utilizing all this offensive talent to its full potential.