New doncic record

[Somebody]

19.5% 3 point shooting percentage for the season.

No one seems to want to talk about that. Ruins a good story I guess.

Probably because it's up 10% since his first 4 games. Really speaks to how lofty his expectations are that, at 21 years old and averaging 26/9/7 on a .500 team missing it's second best player, people will bring up a cold spell from 3.

He's been a below average 3 point shooter since he came into the league and he usually takes 7 to 9 attempts per game. The percentage rate hasn't really justified the volume to this point in his career. That's absolutely a fair criticism for Luka.

Thing is, he's taking tons of step back 3s. These are possibly the most difficult shots to master in basketball. At the same time, they are unguardable! It's not like Luka is a spot up shooter who's taking uncontested shots. Very few players around the NBA are crafty enough to have the step back 3 in their arsenal. Thankfully, we got one of them in Tatum!

They're not unguardable if he's only a below average three point shooter, though. On the other hand, Tatum is a career 40% 3pt shooter who's currently shooting 43% from 3 this season. He still gets crapped on for "hero ball" when he takes a step back 3 during a game. Imagine this board if he only shot 32% for his career and started out the season at 20% but still launched 8 threes a game? We'd be beside ourselves about his shot selection, no?

No one is doubting that Luka is an otherworldly talent. But he's not above criticism. That's a part of his game he needs to improve.

Imagine this board if he was an ATG passer who created like an MVP-level talent en route to quarterbacking the best team ORTG of all time without relying on small ball lineups.

Absolutely agree with you that Doncic isn't above criticism, but we wouldn't be as upset about his shot selection as we are with Tatum's when he's doing insane on-ball work on a team level with amazing results.

[18isGREATERthan72]

19.5% 3 point shooting percentage for the season.

No one seems to want to talk about that. Ruins a good story I guess.

Probably because it's up 10% since his first 4 games. Really speaks to how lofty his expectations are that, at 21 years old and averaging 26/9/7 on a .500 team missing it's second best player, people will bring up a cold spell from 3.

He's been a below average 3 point shooter since he came into the league and he usually takes 7 to 9 attempts per game. The percentage rate hasn't really justified the volume to this point in his career. That's absolutely a fair criticism for Luka.

Thing is, he's taking tons of step back 3s. These are possibly the most difficult shots to master in basketball. At the same time, they are unguardable! It's not like Luka is a spot up shooter who's taking uncontested shots. Very few players around the NBA are crafty enough to have the step back 3 in their arsenal. Thankfully, we got one of them in Tatum!

They're not unguardable if he's only a below average three point shooter, though. On the other hand, Tatum is a career 40% 3pt shooter who's currently shooting 43% from 3 this season. He still gets crapped on for "hero ball" when he takes a step back 3 during a game. Imagine this board if he only shot 32% for his career and started out the season at 20% but still launched 8 threes a game? We'd be beside ourselves about his shot selection, no?

No one is doubting that Luka is an otherworldly talent. But he's not above criticism. That's a part of his game he needs to improve.

I completely agree with this, but I think the team dynamic of the Mavericks is significantly different than the team dynamic of the Celtics.

If Kemba, Jaylen, and Marcus were injured, I don't think many fans would have an issue with Tatum taking that many 3's even at a lower efficiency.  I think the offensive talent around Tatum is much better than Luka.

I still agree that it's an area of Luka's game that he needs to get better at.

[Kernewek]

19.5% 3 point shooting percentage for the season.

No one seems to want to talk about that. Ruins a good story I guess.

Probably because it's up 10% since his first 4 games. Really speaks to how lofty his expectations are that, at 21 years old and averaging 26/9/7 on a .500 team missing it's second best player, people will bring up a cold spell from 3.

He's been a below average 3 point shooter since he came into the league and he usually takes 7 to 9 attempts per game. The percentage rate hasn't really justified the volume to this point in his career. That's absolutely a fair criticism for Luka.

Thing is, he's taking tons of step back 3s. These are possibly the most difficult shots to master in basketball. At the same time, they are unguardable! It's not like Luka is a spot up shooter who's taking uncontested shots. Very few players around the NBA are crafty enough to have the step back 3 in their arsenal. Thankfully, we got one of them in Tatum!

They're not unguardable if he's only a below average three point shooter, though. On the other hand, Tatum is a career 40% 3pt shooter who's currently shooting 43% from 3 this season. He still gets crapped on for "hero ball" when he takes a step back 3 during a game. Imagine this board if he only shot 32% for his career and started out the season at 20% but still launched 8 threes a game? We'd be beside ourselves about his shot selection, no?

No one is doubting that Luka is an otherworldly talent. But he's not above criticism. That's a part of his game he needs to improve.

Another fun way to play this game is to imagine if Tatum got to the free throw line twice as often as he does now.

Or nearly tripled the number of assists he dishes now.

Or averaged nearly 10 rebounds per game.

Hm. Perhaps not as much fun.

[gift]

Love Doncic's skills, but be cautious with the numbers. We've seen historically high output from guys like Giannis, Harden and Doncic the last couple of seasons. Historical usage rates from guys like Westbrook not long ago. All great players, but I do think the volume of numbers are bit misleading when you put them in historical context. And when attempting to translate to wins, there can be diminishing returns on some of the volume output by single players.

[18isGREATERthan72]

19.5% 3 point shooting percentage for the season.

No one seems to want to talk about that. Ruins a good story I guess.

Probably because it's up 10% since his first 4 games. Really speaks to how lofty his expectations are that, at 21 years old and averaging 26/9/7 on a .500 team missing it's second best player, people will bring up a cold spell from 3.

He's been a below average 3 point shooter since he came into the league and he usually takes 7 to 9 attempts per game. The percentage rate hasn't really justified the volume to this point in his career. That's absolutely a fair criticism for Luka.

Thing is, he's taking tons of step back 3s. These are possibly the most difficult shots to master in basketball. At the same time, they are unguardable! It's not like Luka is a spot up shooter who's taking uncontested shots. Very few players around the NBA are crafty enough to have the step back 3 in their arsenal. Thankfully, we got one of them in Tatum!

They're not unguardable if he's only a below average three point shooter, though. On the other hand, Tatum is a career 40% 3pt shooter who's currently shooting 43% from 3 this season. He still gets crapped on for "hero ball" when he takes a step back 3 during a game. Imagine this board if he only shot 32% for his career and started out the season at 20% but still launched 8 threes a game? We'd be beside ourselves about his shot selection, no?

No one is doubting that Luka is an otherworldly talent. But he's not above criticism. That's a part of his game he needs to improve.

Another fun way to play this game is to imagine if Tatum got to the free throw line twice as often as he does now.

Zero multiplied by 2 is zero.

Glad he finally had a good free throw game last night.

[RJ87]

19.5% 3 point shooting percentage for the season.

No one seems to want to talk about that. Ruins a good story I guess.

Probably because it's up 10% since his first 4 games. Really speaks to how lofty his expectations are that, at 21 years old and averaging 26/9/7 on a .500 team missing it's second best player, people will bring up a cold spell from 3.

He's been a below average 3 point shooter since he came into the league and he usually takes 7 to 9 attempts per game. The percentage rate hasn't really justified the volume to this point in his career. That's absolutely a fair criticism for Luka.

Thing is, he's taking tons of step back 3s. These are possibly the most difficult shots to master in basketball. At the same time, they are unguardable! It's not like Luka is a spot up shooter who's taking uncontested shots. Very few players around the NBA are crafty enough to have the step back 3 in their arsenal. Thankfully, we got one of them in Tatum!

They're not unguardable if he's only a below average three point shooter, though. On the other hand, Tatum is a career 40% 3pt shooter who's currently shooting 43% from 3 this season. He still gets crapped on for "hero ball" when he takes a step back 3 during a game. Imagine this board if he only shot 32% for his career and started out the season at 20% but still launched 8 threes a game? We'd be beside ourselves about his shot selection, no?

No one is doubting that Luka is an otherworldly talent. But he's not above criticism. That's a part of his game he needs to improve.

Imagine this board if he was an ATG passer who created like an MVP-level talent en route to quarterbacking the best team ORTG of all time without relying on small ball lineups.

Absolutely agree with you that Doncic isn't above criticism, but we wouldn't be as upset about his shot selection as we are with Tatum's when he's doing insane on-ball work on a team level with amazing results.

Oye. If Tatum came out and put up historic offensive numbers while relying on a guy like Porzingis to cover his defensive issues en route to a 7th seed, this board would be... something. To be fair, I don't think it's a Tatum thing per say. If Luka himself was on this team, people would still pick him apart. That's what folks do here. Eat our young.

Like I said, I'm not knocking Luka. The kid is special offensively. His age suggests he can improve greatly. His 3 point shooting is just one area where he can grow from a shot selection standpoint and an efficiency standpoint. I don't know what that's a controversial observation.

[Kernewek]

19.5% 3 point shooting percentage for the season.

No one seems to want to talk about that. Ruins a good story I guess.

Probably because it's up 10% since his first 4 games. Really speaks to how lofty his expectations are that, at 21 years old and averaging 26/9/7 on a .500 team missing it's second best player, people will bring up a cold spell from 3.

He's been a below average 3 point shooter since he came into the league and he usually takes 7 to 9 attempts per game. The percentage rate hasn't really justified the volume to this point in his career. That's absolutely a fair criticism for Luka.

Thing is, he's taking tons of step back 3s. These are possibly the most difficult shots to master in basketball. At the same time, they are unguardable! It's not like Luka is a spot up shooter who's taking uncontested shots. Very few players around the NBA are crafty enough to have the step back 3 in their arsenal. Thankfully, we got one of them in Tatum!

They're not unguardable if he's only a below average three point shooter, though. On the other hand, Tatum is a career 40% 3pt shooter who's currently shooting 43% from 3 this season. He still gets crapped on for "hero ball" when he takes a step back 3 during a game. Imagine this board if he only shot 32% for his career and started out the season at 20% but still launched 8 threes a game? We'd be beside ourselves about his shot selection, no?

No one is doubting that Luka is an otherworldly talent. But he's not above criticism. That's a part of his game he needs to improve.

Another fun way to play this game is to imagine if Tatum got to the free throw line twice as often as he does now.

Zero multiplied by 2 is zero.

Glad he finally had a good free throw game last night.

  Can't be too hard on him yet the season's still early.

[libermaniac]

He's pretty darn good, but he's no Payton Pritchard! 

[gouki88]

He's pretty darn good, but he's no Payton Pritchard! 

Mavs could’ve had PP and rolled out the greatest back-court in the NBA!

[Moranis]

The fact that he is great doesn't surprise me, the fact that he is this great this early does.  I thought it was going to take him a couple of seasons for the game to "slow down" to the point it has for him.  He is just so smooth, so poised, and quite frankly just so good.  I thought his body would need to catch up to his mind before he was like this, but he hasn't needed the athleticism, strength, etc.  That is what surprises me.  Not his IQ, everyone knew he would have that, but his less than stellar physical tools just haven't hampered him at all. 

[Somebody]

19.5% 3 point shooting percentage for the season.

No one seems to want to talk about that. Ruins a good story I guess.

Probably because it's up 10% since his first 4 games. Really speaks to how lofty his expectations are that, at 21 years old and averaging 26/9/7 on a .500 team missing it's second best player, people will bring up a cold spell from 3.

He's been a below average 3 point shooter since he came into the league and he usually takes 7 to 9 attempts per game. The percentage rate hasn't really justified the volume to this point in his career. That's absolutely a fair criticism for Luka.

Thing is, he's taking tons of step back 3s. These are possibly the most difficult shots to master in basketball. At the same time, they are unguardable! It's not like Luka is a spot up shooter who's taking uncontested shots. Very few players around the NBA are crafty enough to have the step back 3 in their arsenal. Thankfully, we got one of them in Tatum!

They're not unguardable if he's only a below average three point shooter, though. On the other hand, Tatum is a career 40% 3pt shooter who's currently shooting 43% from 3 this season. He still gets crapped on for "hero ball" when he takes a step back 3 during a game. Imagine this board if he only shot 32% for his career and started out the season at 20% but still launched 8 threes a game? We'd be beside ourselves about his shot selection, no?

No one is doubting that Luka is an otherworldly talent. But he's not above criticism. That's a part of his game he needs to improve.

Imagine this board if he was an ATG passer who created like an MVP-level talent en route to quarterbacking the best team ORTG of all time without relying on small ball lineups.

Absolutely agree with you that Doncic isn't above criticism, but we wouldn't be as upset about his shot selection as we are with Tatum's when he's doing insane on-ball work on a team level with amazing results.

Oye. If Tatum came out and put up historic offensive numbers while relying on a guy like Porzingis to cover his defensive issues en route to a 7th seed, this board would be... something. To be fair, I don't think it's a Tatum thing per say. If Luka himself was on this team, people would still pick him apart. That's what folks do here. Eat our young.

Like I said, I'm not knocking Luka. The kid is special offensively. His age suggests he can improve greatly. His 3 point shooting is just one area where he can grow from a shot selection standpoint and an efficiency standpoint. I don't know what that's a controversial observation.

I disagree. I think there's a lot of Tatum love here - you know he's not getting picked apart when people are comparing him to ATGs like Durant and LeBron to defend him from criticisms about his shot selection when he's closer to Paul Pierce/Paul George talent wise. We wouldn't pick apart Doncic because most of the guys criticising Tatum's shot selection right now would realise that they're picking nits when Doncic can quarterback elite offences in spite of his spotty shot selection and the Tatum lovers would romanticise Doncic like he's the next LeBron or MJ (he's on track to becoming an offensive GOAT candidate, but he doesn't play defence like those two).

And that's not controversial at all, I just think what's happening to Tatum won't apply to a world-class talent like Doncic.

[Somebody]

Love Doncic's skills, but be cautious with the numbers. We've seen historically high output from guys like Giannis, Harden and Doncic the last couple of seasons. Historical usage rates from guys like Westbrook not long ago. All great players, but I do think the volume of numbers are bit misleading when you put them in historical context. And when attempting to translate to wins, there can be diminishing returns on some of the volume output by single players.

Adjust for pace and offensive load.

[action781]

Don’t think I’ve ever seen nor read of a player being this dominant offensively at this age.

Derrick Rose's 3rd season MVP comes to mind.  While Rose's numbers don't quite compare on the surface, gotta be mindful of the historical context of the league then and the league now like gift mentioned.  Only 1 player averaged more than 27ppg in Rose's MVP season (Lebron, Carmelo, Wade, Kobe all missing that mark) while 8 players bested that last season. 

Doncic dominates in a completely different way than Rose though.  Rose did with overwhelming athleticism while Doncic does with shooting and craftiness.  Rose also had slightly more help on his team.  I like the comparison to Magic that a poster mentioned.

[Who]

Love Doncic's skills, but be cautious with the numbers. We've seen historically high output from guys like Giannis, Harden and Doncic the last couple of seasons. Historical usage rates from guys like Westbrook not long ago. All great players, but I do think the volume of numbers are bit misleading when you put them in historical context. And when attempting to translate to wins, there can be diminishing returns on some of the volume output by single players.

Adjust for pace and offensive load.

How do you adjust for offensive load?

[Somebody]

Love Doncic's skills, but be cautious with the numbers. We've seen historically high output from guys like Giannis, Harden and Doncic the last couple of seasons. Historical usage rates from guys like Westbrook not long ago. All great players, but I do think the volume of numbers are bit misleading when you put them in historical context. And when attempting to translate to wins, there can be diminishing returns on some of the volume output by single players.

Adjust for pace and offensive load.

How do you adjust for offensive load?

Oh yeah I forgot that the metric is behind a paywall . I guess the eye test and a look at the box score stats (USG% for an idea of how many possessions a player finishes and stuff like assists/AST%/TOV% for an idea of his non-shooting load, tracking data like "touches" from the NBA site help quite a bit as well) to somewhat guesstimate a player's offensive load is the best we can do for now.