Mavs In MVP Survey? 'That (Bleeper) Luka Is Coming'
DALLAS - The NBA continues to search for new and clever ways to celebrate the growing brilliance of Luka Doncic ... and the growing believe that his brilliance will soon be rewarded with hardware.
Day after day in practice ... game after game in arenas ... and pretty soon we'll be able to say "season after season'' ... the No.3 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft continues to electrify teammates, fans and ... foul-mouthed NBA executives..
“If you put a gun to my head and you have to go win a playoff series, I’d say LeBron (James),” an Eastern Conference scout said according to ESPN, in a survey of who's who. “But I’ll tell you what:That mother------ in Dallas is coming. …
"That dude is going to win multiple MVPs.”
Again, this is not a rare prediction; he entered MVP conversation last season in just his second NBA year, and finished fourth in the voting. At age 21, it's almost a natural assumption that Doncic will get better - and will get more votes along with that.
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There are other "newcomer'' candidates who got voters here, including Nikola Jokic and Damian Lillard. But they finished behind Luka in the survey.
So there is LeBron. And there is Giannis Antetokoumpo, who has won back-to-back MVPs in the last two seasons. There seems to be a sentiment among NBA executives that two straight might be enough.
“It’s hard to see Giannis winning three in a row,” a Western Conference scout said. “And I think there’s more of an opportunity for Luka to kind of put on an MVP show and do more on an individual basis.”
Doncic is brilliant individually, no doubt. But his brilliance is also, and maybe mostly, about making teammates better. And while "MVP'' is not his stated goal - “I want to win the championship,'' Luka said. "That’s the goal we entered last year, that’s the goal we’re going to enter this year as a whole group'' - his strong candidacy figures to be a byproduct of his talent for sharing.
He has that in common with LeBron and Giannis, by the way. Which is the biggest reason "that mother------ in Dallas is coming.''
