Luka Doncic is setting rare precedent for young European players

The ACB (or Liga Endesa) in Spain is quite familiar with phenomenal young basketball players. The second best professional basketball league in the world has made a name for itself in the last decade, churning out NBA draft prospects to supplement the rise of Spain’s Golden Generation in Olympic basketball.

A 16-year-old Ricky Rubio took the league by storm in 2006, earning Euroleague minutes with Joventut, and then eventually rising to stardom with Barcelona. Then came Nikola Mirotic in 2011, who as an 18-year-old averaged 7.5 points per game as a sixth man for Real Madrid in Euroleague. Kristaps Porzingis famously made his mark in 2015, averaging 11.0 points per game for a surprisingly strong Sevilla team and hinting at the potential that has made him into one of the NBA’s brightest young stars. And in between these young supernovas, guys like Victor Claver, Bismack Biyombo, Mario Hezonja and Lucas Noguiera have wowed enough with their potential in ACB play to warrant first-round draft choices.

This year, there’s another young Spanish talent who is playing a big role in both the ACB and Euroleague. His name is Luka Doncic. He’s a shooting guard from Slovenia and he might be more impressive than all of those previously mentioned names.

READ MORE: LeBron James is picking apart defenses like never before

Doncic first burst onto the scene last year, playing in 55 games for Real Madrid, and averaging 4.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game. A 15-point, 6-rebound, 4-assist effort against Bilbao immediately snagged everyone’s attention. A 16-year-old who could finish, shoot, and run the pick-and-roll at that level? That’s something special, and Real Madrid looked like they’d unearthed another brilliant talent from the Balkans, much like they did with Mirotic.

Doncic continued to show up big in spots for Real. He posted 12 points and 5 boards in a Euroleague loss to CSKA Moscow. He had 12/9/5 three weeks later against Manresa. He torched Bilbao again for 12 points and 6 assists in April. It was clear Doncic was developing, he had a special talent and people began mentioning him on first round draft boards. And with Sergio Rodriguez headed to the Nets, it looked like Real Madrid was going to be asking a lot of Doncic as they neglected to shore up the backup point guard role, instead giving the keys to Doncic behind Sergio Llull.

Through 20 games, that’s been a great decision. Real Madrid is 9-1 at the top of the ACB and, at 7-3 in Euroleague, are in the driver’s seat for a top-4 seed in the playoff. Doncic has risen to the occasion, starting 11 games next to Llull in the backcourt. His averages are up to 7.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, and his shooting splits have all improved, as he’s jumped from 50/37/74 to 51/38/83. Now 17-years-old, Doncic has been a crucial cog in Real Madrid’s early success. Because of his age, Doncic won’t be eligible to make the leap to the NBA until the 2018 NBA Draft.

Doncic is probably a shooting guard at the NBA level, but he has the ball-handling and passing skills to be a ball-dominant guard. Real Madrid loves to get him looks in the pick-and-roll, where he’s comfortable curling off the screen and attacking the basket. He’s best in transition at this point, where he can use his speed and agility to keep defenders on their toes.

Doncic is also comfortable in half-court sets, where he’s shown the ability to make very advanced plays for his age. Doncic isn’t afraid to pull the ball out and reset if he doesn’t get the look he wants, or will fire an early pass if he sees his roll man slip and leave early:

When he gets into the lane, he has a variety of finishing moves, which help him get open looks and finish against length. He uses a variety of head fakes and fake passes to draw the defense out of position, and his footwork is strong enough to get bigs in the air with pseudo post-up moves.

Doncic’s passing out of the pick-and-roll is also superb. Once he’s into the teeth of the defense, he does a solid job of predicting where the open lanes will be as the defense collapses. Combine that with his crisp touch on those passes, and you end up with a lot of pick-and-roll looking like this.

His overall vision is one of his biggest strengths. We’d get excited if a player like Devin Booker or Hezonja was starting to make these looks happen in their second NBA season. Doncic isn’t old enough to vote, and can string passes like this together on back-to-back possessions.

Doncic is averaging 7.2 assists per 40 minutes, which is an outstanding number for a player who isn’t a full-time ball-handler. That would put him about on par with Jawun Evans of Oklahoma State in the NCAA (7.6), and well above primary ball-handlers like Dennis Smith (5.5) and Edmond Sumner (4.9). Doncic’s overall comfort level in making the right reads and correct plays with the ball in his hands is very advanced for his age, and to be doing this against ACB and Euroleague-level defenses is very impressive.

Doncic and Llull compliment each other very well. Real Madrid has the benefit of essentially playing two shooting guards together in their starting lineup, because both players are proficient at initiating the offense and playing off ball. In addition to his playmaking ability, Doncic has bona fide spot-up chops, with excellent mechanics and the understanding of spacing to move well off the ball to set up those looks.

Doncic is shooting 37.8 percent from outside this year, on about 2.3 attempts per game. His mechanics have continued to progress as he gets more comfortable operating off-ball, and this will likely be a big part of his game as he matures into an NBA player.

Defensively, Doncic isn’t as well-polished, and he looks like the 17-year-old he is from a fundamental perspective. But he has an impressive athletic frame, at 6-foot-7 and with a long (but so far unreported) wingspan. Doncic isn’t the most technically sound defender, as he has struggled to contain quicker guards and his effort has wavered at times, but he has spurts of high-level activity, and is very opportunistic in making hustle plays.

He also has the lateral quickness and recovery speed to block shots, posting a healthy block rate of 1.8 and threatening the ability to make game-changing transition chase-downs:

Doncic will presumably continue to improve as a defender as he matures. The biggest thing is he’s playable on that end in Euroleague and ACB, so much so that he’s helped in pushing defensive ace, and former NBA guard, Jeffrey Taylor to the fringes of the rotation. That’s a quality baseline to go with his offensive abilities.

Next: Chris Boucher is Oregon's 2017 NBA draft sleeper

Doncic is simply unlike anyone we’ve ever seen come out of Spain. He’s been tabbed as a potential top overall pick in the 2018 Draft for the last two years, and has done little to dissuade NBA scouts from changing their minds. While guys like Rubio and Porzingis might have had more raw talent than Doncic, the thing setting him apart is his basketball IQ and comfort level. Neither of those two players were as technically sound as Doncic, nor were they as truly effective for their teams at the same age.

Simply put, he looks like he belongs at the ACB and Euroleague level, a major accomplishment and something we’ve really only seen once before in the Euroleague era. Doncic is already looking like a future NBA player, and with another 18 months to develop as a defender and off-the-dribble scorer, he could easily be a future NBA star.