[high floorParticipant]

Comps are fun. Especially at this stage of the offseason right before the draft. But so many propspects today are unique, especially the upper-echelon, which make it difficult compare against previous players. Marvin Bagley is a great example of this. But this post isn’t about Marvin, it’s about Luka.

This site currently compares Luka Doncic to Hedo Turkoglu & Tony Kukoc. Not terrible….. but I think there is a player much closer to his size & style of play. And that’s Joe Johnson.

Hear me out. Joe Johnson is 6-8, played off the ball (but was ball dominant w/ a high usage) had a plethora of moves in isolation, could pass, was not an explosive leaper or quick-twitch athlete, and prior to his huge 2004-05 season with Phoenix, was a 32% shooter from deep. Not terrible, but aside from concerns about Luka’s ability to create offense against elite wing defenders, & his own man-to-man defense, critics have knocked his outside shot a little as an area he could improve. Some might say Luka has even better court vision (his cross-court hook passes are impressive) and a bit more flash to his game than Joe Johnson.

I see so many similarities in their games. A player with Joe Johnson upside, who is a 7-time all star, would be an awesome get for anyone in the top 3.

[festar35Participant]

100% agree!!! Nice.

[The GoatParticipant]

 Yep, fair comp. Slightly less scoring and slightly more playmaking but Johnson is fairly accurate. The scary thimg is he looks like prime Johnson now before a minute of NBA action and hes what, 19?

[Lotto StudParticipant]

 Not sure if it were you intially, but someone had thrown out that comparison during the Fall, and I rode with that as well.

[kobyzParticipant]

 I sticking with my penny hardway comparison…

[high floorParticipant]

I am a huge Penny Hardaway fan. He was a big reason the NBA became my favorite sport as a kid. 

Penny was quicker, more explosive, and a better defender (pre-injury) than I believe Doncic will be. Now Penny was 22 when he entered the draft. Luka will be 19 this week. Could he become more explosive, quicker & be better defensively? Sure. Anything’s possible……. but I think Penny is an all-time unique player that we may never see again during our lifetimes.

Penny was simply unbelievable

[kobyzParticipant]

 Penny had better athletic gifts but they still very similar in their style of play and uniqueness as players…

[whiteflashParticipant]

 Played pick-up with Penny once. Was awesome. 

[European BasketballerParticipant]

 Doncic is much more like Penny than Joe Johnson.

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

 His size is similar to Johnson. Both are decent but not great overall athletes that rely more on skill and deception than natural athletic gifts. Not sure if he’s quite the shooter Johnson was in his prime but I definitely think his playmaking skills and court vision are probably superior now to Johnson’s at any point in his career. Johnson was never really the type that could function as a primary playmaker and ball-handler the way I believe doncic will be. 

While Johnson’s physical demensions may be closer to doncic, I think his style of play may be closer to Brandon Roy.

 

[EndlessknightParticipant]

I have this feeling he’s going to be a wing version on Dario Saric, just slip the rebound and assist a little differently.

[jrblazeParticipant]

Go back and look at old Peja tape…then look at Doncic Tape. That’s who I see.  

[whiteflashParticipant]

 Admittedly haven’t seen a ton of Doncic, but based off the highlights be doesn’t seem to be near the shooter Peja was, and seems to be better with the ball in his hands as well. 

[jrblazeParticipant]

honestly it’s hard to compare doncic because his game doesn’t remind me of anyone recent. Peja was a sharpshooter, all star, in mvp discussions. Doncic isn’t there yet. I compared Doncic to Peja only because that’s what I believe he can be one day. I’m talking about the fire in the player.  And none of us here have seen that much tape on him to really know what he is at this point. The short youtube hightlights doesn’t give you enough to get a good comparison right now. 

[whiteflashParticipant]

 Gotcha. Yeah, highlights aren’t a great representation of who/what a player really is, and since that’s all I’ve seen I can’t make a comp. Kid can obviously play though, and am interested to see how he translates.

[mowestenParticipant]

 This may sound crazy, but the player I see in Doncic is Larry Bird. He’s a playmaker with size, a big frame, who has the kind of killer mentality that it takes to compete at a high level in the NBA.

Not saying he’ll be as good as Bird, simply that his style of play, size, frame and limitations are similar. To me, the people who are comparring him to Johnson are underrating his playmaking abilities and ability to rebound at a high level. He’ll be a better rebounder as a rookie than Johnson was at his peak IMO.

 

[Dazzling Dunks and Basketball BloopersParticipant]

Doncic has some of birds characteristics as far as passing ability and feel for the game but the way he will be utilized and his game will translate to the next level will be far different than bird. Aside from the fact that he won’t be nearly as good a rebounder or as efficient a shooter as bird, he is a guy that needs to have the ball in his hands to impact the game. That’s not necessarily a knock on him, as most players do. One of the most amazing qualities about birds game was that he could dominate the game without controlling the ball. While he could certainly score one on one against just about anyone if need be, he was a guy that you didn’t necessarily have to run your offense through for him to impact the game. For a guy that wasn’t necessarily quick, he had an uncanny ability to just get to ball or find the open spot in the defense. He might have literally been the best I’ve ever seen at making reads and moving without the ball. I just don’t see that in doncic, but than again I’m not sure there will ever be another player quite like bird. Actually, to be honest, if you take athleticism out of the equation, I still maintain that bird is the best pure basketball player who ever lived.

[Dog_ShammdogParticipant]

My comp has always been Chris Mullin and I am yet to see anybody else make that comparison. They’re both smoth, cerebral, high IQ players with legit playmaking ability. Mullin was more of a scorer than playmaker, but their physicality, athleticism, court savvy, and offensive versatility remind me of each other. I think Doncic isn’t quite the shooter that Mullin was yet, but their ball handling, play making, creativity and ability to play in a system remind me of each other. 

[brodiejayParticipant]

What I find interesting is that ALL these comparisons have validity. I think that really illustrates how unique Doncic is.

I think his game has elements of all these guys mentioned. He’s not as quick as Penny. He’s not (yet) the shooter Bird or Mullin were. He’s more of a floor general and passer than Johnson was at the same stage in their respective development.

Another couple of names I’ll add are Toni Kukoc and a guy I haven’t seen mentioned but I think is pretty accurate- Manu Ginobili.

He’s obviously bigger and stronger than Manu, but I think he’s got the same shifty, crafty moves in traffic that allow Manu to be such a potent playmaker, finisher, and all-around offensive talent. While neither have that Vince Carter vertical dunking explosiveness…. both Doncic and Manu  (especially when he was younger) have great lift off one foot in a straight line to the rim. They’re both really elusive and intelligent at reading defenses and finding the best way to score or facilitate a basket for team mates.

I see a lot of Kukoc in Doncic too. Kukoc was such a great, versatile player with decent athleticism but great court vision and a really crafty, intelligent, all-around offensive game.

[eyefortalentParticipant]

 Hawyard in terms of height and body size and similar athleticism and Lonzo Ball in terms of passing and court vision.

[Kwame33Participant]

 I’ve always likened him to a bit more dynamic Hedo Turkoglu due to his playmaking, shooting, and proficiency in PnR’s but I definitely can see the ISO Joe comp. Doncic game has a lot of flavor so it’s hard to pin just one person he plays like. Totally disagree with the Kukoc comp tho that’s a head scratcher to me.

[2quick4uParticipant]

it is understandable that Doncic gets compared to players like J.Johnson or G.Hayward; 6’8 versatile players that can score, shoot and pass while having some PG skills and with similar athleticism, but Doncic’s reality is way far from that.

Minimizing Doncic to that framework is like missing the whole thing about him.

whether people like or not, Luka is the european version of player that fits the prototype of big PG’s or point-forwards with not only a unique skills set and winning mentality, but with a unique IQ, feel and vision-passing ability, which is what really separates these players from the rest and what makes him so special, so he fits a mold that very few players in history have been able to fill, players like "Magic", Lebron or Larry Bird.

but at the same time, all these players including Doncic, have very different "individual games" due to their different conditions, so even though these players shares those "basic atributes" that places them apart from the rest, they cannot be compared with each other beyond those "intangibles" traits.

that being said, again, just like you can’t compare Doncic with Lebron or Magic because their physical conditions and skill sets are different, you cannot compare him with players like Joe Johnson or Hayward because then you’re missing the most important trait in Doncic’s game and what makes him so special, which are those "intangibles" that puts him in the same mold than the legends mentioned and that players like J.Johnson never even dreamed to have.

Doncic has been a game changer and a winner at every level and always with an overwhelming precocity; at 16 he won the under-18 spanish national championship being also the MVP of the competition and with a memorable game in the finals; he also debuted in the ACB (1st league Spain) breaking record after record; with 18 he won the eurobasket with a tiny country like Slovenia and was chosen in the all tournament team, beating Spain in semi-finals, a team loaded of NBA players; with 19 he’s won the Euro-league with Real Madrid and was named MVP of the competition and right now he’s playing the finals of the ACB league and seems they’ll win and will be again the MVP.

what i’m trying to say is that Doncic is not just "another" 6’8 versatile player that can do a little bit of everything, no. Doncic is a rare player not only for european standarts but for the whole space and time in history, a player with some conditions that have rarely been seen.

To compare him with someone is very difficult as mentioned above; his 1×1 game has some Harden and some J.Johnson  similarities if you like, but his IQ, passing-vision, rebounding and motor are very Bird like.

I guess that if you mixed all that it could give you something like a modern version of early 70’s John Havlicek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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