Luka Doncic | Pace and Space

Too Good Too Fast: The Mavericks’ Luka Doncic Problem

June 7, 2021 - by Fox Doucette

Consider a tale of two NBA franchises, one whose fans suffered a seeming eternity of futility packed into just five years or so, the other which suffered hardly at all as their rock bottom coincided with the departure of an old superstar and the arrival of a new hope. Now consider that the Philadelphia 76ers, whose protracted period of being so bad that “putrid” would be overrating them, have a core consisting of Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, and Tobias Harris, solid veterans off the bench in Danny Green and Dwight Howard, and a spot in the second round of the …

Analysis

Why Is Luka Doncic So Good?

August 18, 2020August 18, 2020 - by Fox Doucette

One of the oldest arguments in basketball is, when given a player with eye-popping counting stats, “is that guy actually a great player or does he just get stats from getting a ton of touches?” It came up on Twitter again in regards to Luka Doncic, who had 42 points, seven rebounds, and nine assists in the Mavericks’ Game 1 loss to the Clippers Monday night and yet drew unfavorable comparisons to the Celtics’ Jayson Tatum (who had 32 points and 13 rebounds in the Celtics’ win over the 76ers.) Is Luka better or do they just funnel their offense …

Analysis

America’s Greatest Slovenian: Luka Doncic’s November MVP Case

November 22, 2019 - by Fox Doucette

Luka Doncic is on pace for 17.6 Win Shares while nearly averaging a 30-point triple-double (29.9 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 9.4 assists per game). He has 3.0 Win Shares…on a Dallas Mavericks team that, in total, has nine wins. Do the math. The Mavs, on pace for 49 wins, are getting fully a third of their advanced stat value from a single player, the greatest second-year player since LeBron James on the 2004-05 Cleveland Cavaliers, and Luka is doing this not only with arguably just as bad a supporting cast (news flash: Kristaps Porzingis‘ reputation is greater than his actual …

Analysis

Does Trae Young Really Have a Rookie of the Year Case?

March 5, 2019 - by Fox Doucette

Trae Young has been picking up a ton of Rookie of the Year momentum in the giant kangaroo court that is NBA Twitter. Especially among the hey-look-at-the-highlights crowd, the Barkley and Scott-Hollins Syndrome and “eye test” people, who if you’re reading hi welcome to Pace and Space we don’t do that here, Young is the rallying cry for the backlash against a season of people anointing Luka Doncic as Rookie of the Year and treating the debate as settled. Now granted, there’s some merit to the idea that Young should get the benefit of the doubt if you believe that …

Analysis

Could an All-Euro Roster Compete in the NBA?

January 31, 2019 - by Fox Doucette

The Dallas Mavericks are reportedly moving to acquire Kristaps Porzingis from the Knicks, on the presumed belief that if one transcendent Euro white dude is good, two must be even better. But if one Euro white dude—whether it’s Dirk Nowitzki or Luka Doncic—can be a franchise cornerstone, why not just go whole hog and put a whole roster together of nothing but European white dudes? And what’s more, let’s limit this to white people, since the commonly held refrain around the NBA is that it’s a “black league” and also so this doesn’t just turn into a World Team kind …

Analysis / Is He Any Good

Is Luka Doncic Really an All-Star Candidate?

January 14, 2019 - by Fox Doucette

Dallas Mavericks rookie Luka Doncic is currently second in the fan vote, behind only LeBron James, for the Western Conference All-Star starting forwards. Lukamania has seized the nation, as he has seized the mantle from Goran Dragic as America’s Best Slovenian. But what do NBA fans know? These are the same dingbats who have Derrick Rose second among guards in the same balloting. At least Dwyane Wade‘s vote total in the East is understandable given a lot of fans don’t care about his stats, they just want to see a Farewell Tour stop that involves sharing a court (albeit as …