Luka Doncic Comparisons

[Improviser]

What pro players past or present, can you compare his skill set to? Somehow, something about him reminds me of Nadav Henefeld, if only in the aspect of basketball smarts. Nadav as I recall, seemed to make the right basketball play at the right time and had a high basketball IQ. I am not saying he was Doncic.

 

[superjohn]

What pro players past or present, can you compare his skill set to? Somehow, something about him reminds me of Nadav Henefeld, if only in the aspect of basketball smarts. Nadav as I recall, seemed to make the right basketball play at the right time and had a high basketball IQ. I am not saying he was Doncic.

Most like Magic and Larry but he's so good others will be compared to him.

 

[auror]

Yeah somehow, something about him.

 

[formerlurker]

I agree about the basketball smarts but Nadav was doing it as a 21-22yo college player with pro experience.

Luka is doing things at a much higher level as a 21yo NBA player.

 

[Samoo]

What pro players past or present, can you compare his skill set to? Somehow, something about him reminds me of Nadav Henefeld, if only in the aspect of basketball smarts. Nadav as I recall, seemed to make the right basketball play at the right time and had a high basketball IQ. I am not saying he was Doncic.

A slightly shorter Larry Bird comes to mind, rookie year stats:
LD - 21.2/7.8/6.0
LB - 21.3/10.4/4.5

 

[Chin Diesel]

Doncic is multiple levels more athletic than Dove.

 

[superjohn]

Doncic is multiple levels more athletic than Dove.

It's like comparing Vital to Lebron.

 

[Improviser]

It's like comparing Vital to Lebron.

I know there is no comparison. But, there was one factor that I thought they had somewhat in common as to basketball IQ or understanding a play as it developed.

 

[bazz&boujee]

Most like Magic and Larry but he's so good others will be compared to him.

Nobody better than Bird or Magic will be compared to him

 

[BleedHuskyBlu]

Luka is incredible

 

[I Bleed Blue]

Luka is incredible

Holy crap

 

[Chin Diesel]

Luka is incredible

Well, I guess there is no comparison. At least for one game.

 

[uconnfan68]

Wilt, unofficially, had a quintuple double one night in 1968. They didn’t count blocks and steals then. He had 53 points, 32 rebounds, 24 blocks, 14 assists, and 11 steals. That’s as close as I could get to Luka.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

My friends made fun of me for saying he would be , by far, the best player in his draft class. He’s incredible. Him and Giannis will both be top-10 players by the time they hang ‘em up.

 

[UConnRock]

Bird is probably the best comparison. I try to picture Bird in today’s more open, less physical, 3-point focused game. He would be unstoppable.

 

[Dove]

Doncic is multiple levels more athletic than Dove.

Duh.

I mean, did you put your dumb hat on?

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Luka is a taller, slower, better shooting, worse rebounding version of Russell Westbrook in his prime. Ball dominating stats hog who doesn’t win as often as he should. There are probably 40-50 NBA players who could put up monster numbers every night if they just wanted to fill the box score and winning was secondary. Luka is good enough to be one of the better among them, but it doesn’t mean he should do it. Last year’s conference finals are going to be the high point of Luka’s career unless he tones it down.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I know there is no comparison. But, there was one factor that I thought they had somewhat in common as to basketball IQ or understanding a play as it developed.

What about Luka’s game is high IQ?

He ran off his last #2, Porzingis, whose numbers have ticked up in Washington, while his new #2, Wood, seems to be having his numbers tick down in Dallas. Good luck getting another true star player to join the Luka Vanity Tour.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

My friends made fun of me for saying he would be , by far, the best player in his draft class. He’s incredible. Him and Giannis will both be top-10 players by the time they hang ‘em up.

I don't think you are right about either of them. Giannis may be one of the Top 50 of all time, but not top 10, and his game won't age well because it is dependent on his insane speed and power, which will fade over time. He will still have a great career by the time he hangs it up and he already has a ring and has a shot at one or two more if Middleton can get healthy soon.

Luka will be right up there with Russell Westbrook, Sam Cassell, Dominique Wilkins, Glenn Robinson, Antoine Walker, Gilbert Arenas and Carmelo Anthony as players who wasted the prime of what could have been incredible careers on stats-padding. Like I said above, last year's conference finals are probably Luka's high point unless he tones it way down.

It is worth noting that he only made the conference finals last year because of a rash of injuries or players missing on other teams.

 

[YearoftheHusky]

I don't think you are right about either of them. Giannis may be one of the Top 50 of all time, but not top 10, and his game won't age well because it is dependent on his insane speed and power, which will fade over time. He will still have a great career by the time he hangs it up and he already has a ring and has a shot at one or two more if Middleton can get healthy soon.

Luka will be right up there with Russell Westbrook, Sam Cassell, Dominique Wilkins, Glenn Robinson, Antoine Walker, Gilbert Arenas and Carmelo Anthony as players who wasted the prime of what could have been incredible careers on stats-padding. Like I said above, last year's conference finals are probably Luka's high point unless he tones it way down.

It is worth noting that he only made the conference finals last year because of a rash of injuries or players missing on other teams.

You lost me way before, but certainly when you put Sam Cassell and Luka in the same conversation.

 

[BleedHuskyBlu]

I don't think you are right about either of them. Giannis may be one of the Top 50 of all time, but not top 10, and his game won't age well because it is dependent on his insane speed and power, which will fade over time. He will still have a great career by the time he hangs it up and he already has a ring and has a shot at one or two more if Middleton can get healthy soon.

Luka will be right up there with Russell Westbrook, Sam Cassell, Dominique Wilkins, Glenn Robinson, Antoine Walker, Gilbert Arenas and Carmelo Anthony as players who wasted the prime of what could have been incredible careers on stats-padding. Like I said above, last year's conference finals are probably Luka's high point unless he tones it way down.

It is worth noting that he only made the conference finals last year because of a rash of injuries or players missing on other teams.

I’m glad you posted these asinine comments on Luka. Now I can remember your username and make sure to disregard any future garbage you spout!

 

[elmcityboy]

i actually kind of agree with @nelsonmuntz. luka is better than a lot of the players nelson mentioned (i actually think the earlier larry bird comp someone posted is pretty accurate) but he is the victim of the "helio-centric" modern nba mindset and it's going to be really hard to build a winning team around him with the way dallas has shot itself in the foot the last few years.

that being said, he is a special player and a great nba character. the "i'm tired -- i'm going to have a recovery beer" line from last night will live forever.

 

[Palatine]

Wilt, unofficially, had a quintuple double one night in 1968. They didn’t count blocks and steals then. He had 53 points, 32 rebounds, 24 blocks, 14 assists, and 11 steals. That’s as close as I could get to Luka.

Which is why I consider wilt to the NBA GOAT.

 

[gtcam]

Bird is probably the best comparison. I try to picture Bird in today’s more open, less physical, 3-point focused game. He would be unstoppable.

Bird played defense - Luka plays centerfield D to avoid fouling. I always watch him on D and just laugh at his total lack of effort - He's an offensive machine for sure but that's half of the game. He doesn't come close to Larry Bird as far as overall game.

 

[Kenny11]

He's a bigger and better version of James Harden

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You lost me way before, but certainly when you put Sam Cassell and Luka in the same conversation.

Check out Cassell from 1999 to 2004. That was an era where defenders could basically punch players and get away with it, and he still put up big numbers. Put any of the guys on my list with the referee protection, faster tempo, and analytics driven offenses of today, and you can add several points to their shooting percentage and PPG. NBA teams are averaging 18 more points per game than they did 20 years ago.

You put Larry Bird from his prime on the court now, and he could easily average 35 ppg for a season if he wanted to. He would be unstoppable with his outside shooting in a modern offense.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Bird played defense - Luka plays centerfield D to avoid fouling. I always watch him on D and just laugh at his total lack of effort - He's an offensive machine for sure but that's half of the game. He doesn't come close to Larry Bird as far as overall game.

Bird won three championships. Luka may have played in his last conference finals. Bird would be more like Luka if he froze out McHale and then forced the Celtics to trade McHale because McHale was interfering with Bird's game.

Luka forced his team to trade a 20ppg 7+ foot player in that player's prime because Luka wanted more shots. That is where the argument of Luka as one of the all time greats ends.

 

[CardiacAndre7]

Check out Cassell from 1999 to 2004. That was an era where defenders could basically punch players and get away with it, and he still put up big numbers. Put any of the guys on my list with the referee protection, faster tempo, and analytics driven offenses of today, and you can add several points to their shooting percentage and PPG. NBA teams are averaging 18 more points per game than they did 20 years ago.

You put Larry Bird from his prime on the court now, and he could easily average 35 ppg for a season if he wanted to. He would be unstoppable with his outside shooting in a modern offense.

Cassell’s career high in a season was 19.8 ppg. Luka is averaging 33.6 ppg this season. They aren’t comparable.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Anyone that knows anything about hoops should be marveling at the spectacular season the Joker is having. THAT is a high IQ basketball player.

Jamal Murray is maybe 70% of the player he was pre-injury, but between him and Porter Jr. back, and Gordon having a great year, the Joker may have the best team in the West. He just has to figure out a way to get past Malone's bad coaching and he could be playing for the NBA title.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Cassell’s career high in a season was 19.8 ppg. Luka is averaging 33.6 ppg this season. They aren’t comparable.

STRAW MAN ALERT.

I used Cassell as one of several examples of players that were more stat focused than win focused, and I pointed out that he was a pretty good player in his prime. I didn't say he was better than Luka. One place that Cassell will dominate Luka is number of NBA Titles. Cassell has 2. Luka will never win one unless it is some end of career, role player title like his coach got.

But since you brought it up, there are probably 50 players in the NBA that could average 30 ppg if they had the ball for 20 seconds of every possession and their coach focused the entire offense solely on them. Jason Kidd is designing Dallas' offense like an offense he wished he had when he was in his prime, where he could do whatever he wanted and the rest of the team was just there to bail him out when he got in trouble.