“It’s more luck than skill for Doncic’s achievements”
Is it too early to declare Doncic a superstar for the future?
Last year, Luka Doncic was lucky to be annointed rookie of the year (ROY). Competing in what was an extremely weak year of rookies, his nearest rival was Trae Young who garnered only 2 votes out of the possible 100 (meaning Donic received 98 votes).
The chasm was wide, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Doncic was that much better, rather it was the competition that was much worse.
Would the race for ROY have been as wide if he competed in the previous year against Ben Simmons and Donovan Mitchell – certainly not!
Simmons and Mitchell both led extremely successful rookie years. It would have been a very close three horse race if Doncic had to compete with Simmons and Mitchell, with potentially the ROY accolade given another.
Yes, this is all hypothetical, but the point to be made is that Doncic is lucky that his rookie year had weak competition thus allowing him to earn ROY honors easily.
I dare say, in Doncic’s second year in the NBA, he has again been quite lucky.
With no star players in the rebuilding of the Dallas Mavericks, following the departure of the legendary “one legged wonder” Dirk Nowitzki, Doncic is the only option for the Mavericks to build around (Jason Terry was strongly considered to aid in the transition but he rejected the call to come out of retirement).
There are no other players but the young “Lucky” Luka for the Mavericks to lean upon.
Kristap Porzingas, Doncic’s team mate, could have been the rock for the future of the Mav’s but after returning from a year long injury, he probably was not best bet to bear the weight of the organization on his skinny shoulders – too risky. At least, Doncic’s shoulders are slightly broader.
Luck continues to ride with Doncic with a very sympathetic Rick Carlisle, the coach of the Mavericks. Carlisle has structured the team offense to center around Doncic’s strengths, therefore enabling Doncic to break records time and time again.
In an offense aligned to Doncic’s strengths, Porzingas who is a center has been prohibited from playing the low post. That’s right, no low post for Porzingas, no sir-ree.
Even though Porzingas is a competent low post player, he would clog the lane for Doncic if he posted up. So listen up everybody, clear the floor!
We need to allow Doncic to perform his “magic”, the pick and roll, the kick out to the corner for a three, or the floater.
Simple plays for a simple team.
Should more credit therefore be given to Rick Carlisle than Doncic? Maybe? Probably? Should be?
I think it’s a “must be”, and not just a little but a lot!
However, let’s not discredit Doncic too much. He is a great player, but surely his stats are pumped up through fortunate circumstances.
NBA All Star Votes
We now head into the All Star period with voting for the first round closed and counted. Though many were surprised, there were some who were not – namely those who subscribed to the ESP-N clairvoyant free picks mailing list- of the outcome.
Blow the trumpets, we can now declare the outcome of the first round fan voting:
Lucky Luka came out on top with a 1,073,957 and the “Greek Freak” Giannis a close second on 1,073,358.
In the distance behind Luka is the King, the Board Man, and the Bearded one. How is this fair? These are very good players, the King at least should be given the right to lead the West due to his longevity and consistent high level of play. I feel we are taking his achievements for granted.
To further demonstrate how ludicrous this form of voting is: Kyrie Irving has garnered more votes than Kemba Walker? But Irving is “injured” with a sore chip on his shoulder. One that he has carried for many seasons! C’mon man, how can we expect to have Irving to play a head of Walker who is leading the Boston Celtics. Leave Irving out of the voting, give him time to see a psychiatrist to recover.
If the first round votes are any indicator of what’s to come, Lucky Luka will be the captain of the Western Conference for the All Star Game. More accolades for one so young! But does he rightly deserve it?
Will this young man be capable of bearing such high accolades, or will he crash and burn like Linsanity?
Only a good ESPN free pick clairvoyant will know. Leave a Reply, I want to hear your thoughts.