Dallas Mavericks youngster Luka Doncic is one of the most hyped European prospects to ever come to the NBA, and Portland Trail Blazers star C.J. McCollum never doubted his ability to play in the league.
C.J. McCollum believes that skills and basketball IQ translate everywhere, and the Mavs' rookie is no exception.
Told you he was nice š¤·š½āāļø skills / IQ translate everywhere when youāre given ample opportunity to showcase and play through mistakes https://t.co/CDOOgKkE5e
ā CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) October 26, 2018
Some felt that Luka Doncic wouldn't be successful in the NBA game against more athletic and stronger competition. They felt that the 19-year-old Slovenian would struggle to adapt to the speed of the game and wouldn't be able to pull off some of his offensive moves against better defenders. That doesn't seem to be the case thus far, and C.J. McCollum made sure everyone notices.
Doncic is scoring 19.0 points per gameĀ for the Mavs, and while he is not shooting it at a great percentage (42.2), he has definitely shown he's capable of playing in the NBA. He's also hauling in 6.5 rebounds and dishing out 3.8 assists on a nightly basis. He can do a little bit of everything and his high basketball IQ is helping him keep up on defense.
Doncic is a multi-faceted player and he's showing a variety of skills early on this year. There have been a number of European busts in the NBA and many people lumped Doncic in with that group. Andrea Bargnani, Darko Milicic, and Frederic Weis all come to mind (sidenote: they all played for the Knicks at one time or another).
But Doncic doesn't look like he's going to be a bust. It looks like the Mavs have a player they can build around and Doncic can be the player that Dirk Nowitzki passes the torch to when he eventually decides to retire.
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