Dallas Mavericks: 2018-19 NBA season preview
By Luke Swiatek
Storyline 1: What is Luka Doncic’s ceiling?
As Dirk Nowitzki’s career slowly comes to an end over the next few years, someone will need to bear the mantle of “franchise player.” The best player on the Dallas Mavericks last year was Harrison Barnes, but he’s not ever going to be the best player on a truly competitive team. Maybe the franchise player will end up being Dennis Smith Jr. or someone not on the team yet, but the smart money is on Luka Doncic.
Doncic has already proven himself in the second-best basketball league in the world, winning a EuroLeague title, the Final Four MVP title to go along with it and even the EuroLeague MVP. He is not a big risk, and he is not an unknown.
His shooting has been questioned, as have his isolation abilities, but he has so many other talents. He’s a crafty ballhandler, skilled passer, decent rebounder, and capable scorer. He’s intensely competitive (sometimes to a fault) and incredibly intelligent. His floor is pre-injury Chandler Parsons, which would still make him at least an average starter.
His ceiling is the question. If he works out a bit more (which is likely to happen) and develops his game further, he could be a longer and stronger version of James Harden. That is to say, a perennial NBA MVP candidate. Harden isn’t the est athlete ever, and he manages to do just fine.
Doncic doesn’t have to come in and dominate right away, though it wouldn’t necessarily be a surprise if he did. What he has to do is show the vision and shiftiness that make him the great player he is, and show that he’s willing and able to start improving his scoring and defense too.
It’s fitting that the best European in NBA history might end up passing the torch to the current best player from Europe. When Doncic retires someday, who knows — we might even be asking whether he or Nowitzki had the better career.