Did we crown Luka Doncic prematurely?
After his stellar 2019-20 campaign and even more impressive performances in the 2020 playoffs in Orlando restart bubble, many NBA pundits were ready to hand Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Dončić the torch and proclaimed that he had NEXT. These proclamations may have been a little premature.
Sure, he is posting great individual stats and is a triple-double machine. But the all-time greats always figured out ways to put their teams on their backs and produce W’s along with great individual numbers. The Mavs have been stuck right around the .500 mark all season thus far. And we are almost halfway through the 2020-21 season, with the all-star game being less than two weeks away.
After a huge victory over the red-hot Brooklyn Nets 115-98 Saturday night, the Mavs improved to 16-16 on the season, which currently has them in 9th place in the Western Conference. Leading into the season, multiple analysts on both tv and radio selected Dončić as their projected league MVP or had him in the top three at worst.
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No matter how good his stats are, MVP voters are not giving the award to a player whose team may barely make the playoffs.
Maybe that added pressure and expectation has taken a toll on Dončić and the Mavericks this season. No matter the level of expectation, great players find a way to tune out all the noise and overcome. Dončić is yet to prove he can do this.
Right now, the team’s success is not matching his production. Until Luka shows he can lead this Mavs team and make them a winner, all that talk of MVP awards should be pushed to the backburner.
Another thing we can hold off on is the Larry Bird comparisons. Even Dončić realizes it is too early for folks to be comparing him to Larry Legend. After the Mavs’ victory over the Nets, Rachel Nichols of ESPN asked Dončić about being compared to the Celtics legend.
"“More, more games to go. A long time before you can compare me to Larry Bird. I just want to keep hooping, have fun playing basketball,” Doncic explained."
Many people do not realize what kind of pressure these types of comparisons put on a young player. Dončić turns 22 years old today . The win over the favorites in the Eastern Conference had to be quite the early birthday gift. Dončić knows he can’t get caught up in comparisons, and his play coupled with winning will speak for itself.
Besides, if there is an even more appropriate comparison for Dončić it would be to a current NBA star whom his game resembles more closely than Bird’s.
Watch Nets guard James Harden, especially during his time in Houston. Their overall offensive games, mannerisms, and lack of foot speed are quite similar. Neither guy is known for being fleet of foot, yet somehow both get their shot nearly anytime they want to. Now Luka is not on Harden’s level just yet, but he is working his way towards it.
But that is the real comparison for Dončić, James Harden.
The days of letting players develop and prove what they can do over a few years have gone by the wayside. In this microwave society we live in today, we project too early and praise young players far too often, many times to the detriment of the player.
What Dončić has accomplished so far is awesome, but what separates the good from the great, the great from the legendary is individual plus team success. So, until Dončić leads the Mavs on a deep playoff run, let us hold off on any comparisons to the all-time greats of the NBA.