Doncic
I feel the same, I think the hype is better than the player. One thing I like about Ainge is that he does not always fall for the Euro hype that other teams fall prey too. I think he can play in the league, I just don't see a burgeoning star that others do.
I wonder if I searched back threads if the same guys who like Luka liked Bender, Hezonja and Darko?
You wouldn’t find me shilling for Darko, because that was before my CB days. I don’t think I hated Hezonja, but of players who went 6-10, I know you’d find posts from me advocating Winslow and Cauley-Stein much more. I liked Bender a lot, but said I’d only pick him at #3 on the condition he stayed in Europe for 1-2 more seasons because he wasn’t physically ready for the NBA, and Brown was my preferred pick over Murray, ultimately.
You would find posts for me wanting Porzingis, Giannis, and Saric, so my Euroscouting isn’t terrible.
The thing with Doncic that makes him both better and more scoutable is that unlike other Euro prospects, he actually plays with the adults. He’ll have two full years as a top player in Euroleague, so we know what he can do against much better competition (be dominant). While his fellow draft classmates were participating in junior international tournaments last year, he was helping to lead his country to their first ever Eurobasket championship. We could watch him go for 27-9 against a Latvia team led by Porzingis. We could watch him be the best player on the court going for 11, 12, and 8 against a Spain team with both Gasols and Rubio. We’ve seen him on the court against not just fringe NBA players, but top-tier NBA players, and he hasn’t looked the slightest bit out of place. At 18.
And the key thing that I said above is “we have
seen” it. It’s not just highlight videos. All of his games are broadcast live on the internet. Many of the people on this board who are excited about Doncic aren’t going just off stats and highlights, but off of watching complete games. I’ve watched about 10 myself. I was high in Giannis, but it was off some YouTube videos, scouting reports, and his freakish measurements. I was right to like him, but there was a lot of luck involved in being correct on that. Many of us have seen more of Doncic than we have any other top player in this draft, because there are more games to have seen.