Are people being too hard on Luka Doncic?
Are people being too hard on Luka Doncic?
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00:00Luka Doncic had his best performance of the young NBA season
00:04after the team admitted he wasn't necessarily
00:06in the best condition coming into the start.
00:09For more, I'm here with our Ben Pickman
00:10and the fantasy exec, Corey Parson.
00:12And guys, Luka's still really, really young
00:14and he's the favorite for MVP at this point.
00:17We're anointing him the face of the league and all that
00:20and he's playing himself into shape a little bit.
00:22So I guess the question is,
00:24are the expectations too high for Doncic,
00:27all things considered, Ben?
00:29What do you think?
00:30I still don't think so.
00:31I mean, I don't think we are really considering
00:33the Dallas Mavericks as a potential NBA Finals contender.
00:37I think we put them a little bit of a tier below
00:39and Luka Doncic, I think, is correctly regarded
00:41as one of the top players and budding stars in the NBA.
00:44You know, he's having a down year statistically right now,
00:47but he's still averaging 26, nine, and seven.
00:49Of course, the 19% shooting from three
00:51is a little bit concerning,
00:52but that is going to improve throughout the year.
00:55Luka is still kind of putting up historic cases
00:57on these triple doubles and he's still starring.
00:59As he plays himself into shape more,
01:01we're going to see those stat lines continue to go up.
01:03And so I think he's justly, you know,
01:05the player you'd want to build your franchise around
01:07if you had to choose either him or Giannis Antetokounmpo.
01:10He's right there for me.
01:11Detractors might say, you know,
01:12you have all these expectations come in in shape
01:15at the same time.
01:16It's a long season.
01:16Who really cares?
01:17I'm sure it'll be fine.
01:18As it progresses, they'll get Porzingis back,
01:20which should help the team.
01:22And that is a good point, Ben,
01:23because I don't think anybody's anointing the Mavericks,
01:26but nevertheless, Corey, we have anointed Luka.
01:29Yeah, and that's why the expectations
01:30are right where they need to be.
01:31And I agree with Ben,
01:32because he's the favorite to win the MVP,
01:34but the Mavericks are nowhere near the favorite
01:36to win the NBA championship.
01:37He's looking like the best player in the league
01:39when he steps up, you know, outside of LeBron James.
01:42When he steps up in his game, when he gets going,
01:44we saw how phenomenal he was in the bubble.
01:46And a lot of this is driven by fans.
01:47Fans love Luka Doncic.
01:49As a guy who watches, you know, basketball
01:52and looks at sports betting and lines,
01:54the Mavericks are always a favorite.
01:56They're always big on the public.
01:57People want to sit down and watch Luka Doncic.
01:59Then you look at that 2018 draft class.
02:02It's looking like it could shape up
02:03to be one of the best draft classes in the NBA history.
02:06And Trey Young is another guy
02:07who's moving up in that draft class as well.
02:09So these expectations for these young stars
02:12is well worth it, it's well-deserved,
02:13but I don't think it's too much for them to handle.
02:15It comes with the game, right?
02:16And in Luka's case, he earned it,
02:18because it felt like Zion was the guy.
02:20They were positioning there, and Luka kind of snatched that.
02:24And we'll see if he relinquishes it or gives it back,
02:27but I don't think a couple weeks of the season
02:30is enough to prove that.