Luka Doncic: 2018 NBA Draft player profile

Strengths

Passing

Luka Doncic is the best passer in the draft. I don’t think there’s much debate on that. His court vision is outstanding, his overall feel for the game is elite, and his passes are pinpoint on target.

Luka gets doubled hard off this screen and while falling backward manages to put the ball where only his teammate can get it – similar to a skilled quarterback throwing to a heavily covered receiver. On the surface, the pass looks wild and inaccurate, but in actuality, the pass was right on target. He put the ball out of reach from the defender trying to jump the passing lane.

The caption in the tweet sums it up perfectly: “Just another pass in the life of Luka Doncic.”

Basketball IQ

Luka Doncic controls the game. If you’ve ever watched one of Real Madrid’s games or happened to catch an international game featuring the Slovenian national team, you can tell when he’s on the court vs. when he’s on the bench.

This is a good sign when many consider him to be the best player in the draft. You should feel his impact.

His overall feel for the game helps make him a very cerebral player – he reminds me of LeBron James in that sense.

I don’t want anybody thinking I’m comparing Luka Doncic to LeBron James, so let me clarify. Luka’s ability to control the game with a cerebral approach is very reminiscent of LeBron – nothing else is similar between the two players at all.

This play is outstanding. After the screener slips the screen and rolls to the basket, Luka realizes that the defender hedged the screen too hard and fires off a jump pass over both defenders to his wide-open teammate. That’s an NBA pass, but more impressive than the pass itself was his ability to see the play develop. Luka’s a smart, cerebral player and it shines through on that play.

This is just one example of the way Luka Doncic destroys defenses via the pick-and-roll — something you’ll probably see a lot of when he’s in the league.

Shot creation

Luka gets criticized a lot for his athleticism and his handle — both are fair knocks on his game — but neither is as bad as people make them out to be.

While Doncic doesn’t have Russell Westbrook‘s burst, LeBron James’ strength or Kyrie Irving‘s handle, don’t let that fool you into thinking he can’t create for himself off the dribble. He’s actually pretty good at it. Doncic also may not finish above the rim like DeMar DeRozan, but he’s actually a very underrated finisher. He uses a combination of floaters, up-and-unders and even dunks (yes, he can dunk) to finish around the hoop.

Though I love Doncic, he’s not immune to weaknesses. Just like every other NBA Draft prospect, there are holes in his game.