Doncic is the best prospect on the board. Stop nitpicking.
Luka Doncic is one of the most accomplished NBA Draft prospects ever, having led the best non-NBA team in the world to a championship while snatching the league MVP, championship MVP, and dubbing the name “Wonder Boy” by 19 years of age. He’s put up unprecedented numbers in Liga ACB and EuroLeague for someone his age, thriving while playing among full grown adults rather than college kids.
And, yet, many rumors have Doncic slipping down as far as the No. 4 pick in the 2018 draft. Could it possibly be because he hasn’t worked out for individual teams as he chases his second championship of the year in the ACB Finals? ESPN’s Jonathan Givony tweeted about it sarcastically. But are teams actually penalizing the Slovenian star for chasing a title over prioritizing the draft?
That’s ludicrous, if true.
Doncic is the perfect guard-wing, smart, tall, and lanky enough to read a defense and command an offense. Doncic makes too much sense in today’s NBA.
I’ve written about why the Wonder Boy is so special before. He’s an oversized guard-forward, a shooter, a creator, a ball-handler, a passing savant, and more. He screams modern NBA more than any player left on the board, including the now-expected top pick Deandre Ayton, a 7’ physical impossibility of a teenager.
Please, don’t screw up this up Phoenix Suns or Sacramento Kings. Doncic is your way out from sub-mediocrity.
Luka Doncic is everything the NBA wants in a guard/wing
Everyone is supersized in today’s league. Point guards aren’t 6-foot nothing anymore. They’re Giannis Antetokounmpo’s or Ben Simmons’ roaming the court looking like Mario post-super mushroom. We know this.
Doncic isn’t as large as those two, but at 6’8, he has the size to do more than most at his position. He should have no trouble getting into the paint to finish over defenders or kick out to shooters in the corners.
He’s strong, too: Draft Express lists him at 228 pounds. Maybe he’ll have to drop some of that weight, but he won’t be easy to move around on either side of the ball. He’s light on his feet to cross up defenders, and most importantly, he fits the look (tall and laterally quick) of what elite defenders have today.
Doncic isn’t known for his defense yet, but it’s more than reasonable to think he could be great. The NBA has morphed into a switch-everything league where mobile forwards have thrived. Centers aren’t just guarding centers anymore, they’re stopping wings off the drive and vice versa. With Doncic’s size and mobility, its more than feasible to envision him thriving in the league’s current climate, defending either side of a pick-and-roll.
Players of Doncic’s frame have become a luxury, and in this draft he’s one-of-a-kind. There’s nobody else of his skill level with a comparable build.
True centers are fading
As wings take over as the hot commodity of the league, centers are trending in the opposite direction. Yet they make up the bulk of who’s projected in the high lottery.
We’ve begun to exaggerate the need for a basketball unicorn, and stretched its definition to encompass additional talent. Joe Embiid, Anthony Davis and Antetokounmpo have proven the strength of the fully developed unicorn, but in truth their species are rare. And more importantly, the teams without them are winning.
Of the four teams in the conference in the finals, not one ran its offense through a center. Al Horfordwas a complementary piece in Boston, even with Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward sidelined, Clint Capela caught lobs for the Rockets, Tristan Thompson did that but less for the Cavaliers, and the starting big for the Warriors changed by night. And who thrived? A pair of wings in Boston (Jaylen Brown and Jayston Tatum), LeBron freakin’ James, James Harden, Kevin Durant, and Steph Curry. All ball-handling wings with the exception of Curry, a generational cyborg.
Most of the best talents in this NBA Draft are bigs: Mo Bamba, Jaren Jackson Jr., Wendell Carter, Marving Bagley III, and Ayton. All of those players will find a spot in this league. But how realistic are any of those five to star for a franchise on both ends?
Bamba’s showing promise as a shooter, but it’s far from reality. Jackson Jr. can’t create for himself off the dribble, ditto for Carter. Bagley’s one-on-one-defense was so bad Coach K turned Duke into a zone defense team. Ayton has a chance. He’s shown he can glide on the court and stay in front of smaller guards in moments. But that wasn’t at all consistent either.
So that leads us to the obvious.
Luka Doncic is the 2018 NBA Draft’s best prospect. He should go No. 1.
Not only is Doncic proven by dominating the best competition he possibly can be at 19 years old, he projects to fit the NBA’s high demands from day one. Unlike the next-best prospects available, you don’t have to imagine much with him. He has the receipts.
Don’t overthink this. Don’t underestimate a player because he’s European. Don’t dismiss a player whose highlights don’t look like Russell Westbrook’s. He checks way too many boxes.
Luka Doncic’s name should be the first called on June 21.