Slovenia, with about 2 million people in central Europe, Doncic was born in Ljubljana, the country's capital. Coincidentally, the city has also "produced" NBA players such as Dragic and retired Nestrovic.
Doncic was born into a sports family, his mother was a track and field hurdler and a dancer, and his father, Sasha Doncic, was a former member of the Slovenian men's national basketball team and a teammate with Dragic.
At the age of 7, Doncic began formal basketball training with his father in a professional basketball club in Slovenia; at the age of 8, he joined the Slovenian league club junior team. In the team, the young Doncic showed a comprehensive technical and basketball IQ that transcended his age. Since then, he has started his career in jumping, rising to the 11-year-old age group at the age of 8 and directly jumping to the 14-year-old age group at the age of 9. At the age of 13, he was already a famous junior basketball elite in Europe, and then Real Madrid, the top team in the Spanish First Division, issued an invitation to join him.
The sports gene, coupled with good tutoring and the influence of professional basketball courts, laid a good foundation for Doncic. At the age of 16, he made his Spanish League debut, becoming the third youngest player in the league's history, following Ricqui Rubio and Repolo.
Doncic continued to prove himself with his performance, and in those years, he won the honor:
MVP of the final four of the 2018 Champions League
2018 Champions League winner
2018 Champions League Regular Season MVP
and the 2017 Men's Basketball European Championship.
In the 2018 draft, Doncic was selected by the Hawks with the third pick in the first round and was immediately sent to the Lone Rangers. The Lone Ranger sent that year's no. 5 show, Trae Young, and a future protected first-round pick to bring Doncic to Dallas. "From a scouting point of view, we made the right choice." Nelson Sr. said they had always been interested in European players because Nowitzki, who led them to great success, came from Europe. The Lone Rangers' scouts are also very professional, and they will only focus on the young players of the big teams, rather than picking the so-called potential stocks in a random way.
The 18-19 season, Doncic's first season in the NBA, but the fourth season of his career, he has mature skills and mentality that do not match his age, but also has a lot to learn. He played 72 games that year for the Lone Ranger, averaging 16.5 shots in 32.3 minutes of playing time, with 21.2 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6 assists. Such match data is enough to illustrate the importance of Doncic's style of play and the role he plays on the field, and with his outstanding performance, Doncic was naturally selected for the Rookie of the Year squad for a while, and was successfully named the Rookie of the Year in the final competition. This year, the Dallas didn't make it to the playoffs, but they won hope.
Entering the league's second season, Doncic ushered in a statistical explosion and a sublimation of the style of play. On January 1, 2020, Doncic scored 35 points, 10 rebounds and 7 assists against the Thunder, and for the 12th time in his career, he scored at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists in a single game, equaling James and becoming the player who cut 30+10+5 before the age of 21. That season, Doncic played in 61 games, averaged 33.6 minutes per game, had 28.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 8.8 assists, and led the Lone Ranger to the playoffs for the first time in four years.
A large part of the reason why Doncic will play well in the NBA comes from his comprehensive offensive ability. For defenders, Doncic doesn't have any invincible skills, but his skills are far above average, especially his unique rhythmic changes that are difficult to control. Doncic's speed is not fast, and many defenders can easily keep up with him, but they are often lost between his emergency stop and start, watching opponents slide past him.
The same is true of interior players, who can't judge Doncic's way of getting down to the basket and are often played between the defense of the forehand and the backhand. Doncic's professional experience in Europe has made Doncic very good at using blocks, and he often hits three-point shots with Harden-style retreat jumpers after his teammates cover, and he can also dribble under the basket, looking for opportunities to pass the ball to teammates on the outside. In short, Doncic can calmly face any situation on the court, and this sunshine boy who looks honest is actually an old ball boy on the court.
Of course, only using data to describe Doncic is still slightly pale, how strong is this fat man? There's probably no team in the league who knows better than the Clippers. In the past two years of playoff Lone Rangers and Clippers, Doncic has proved his extraordinary strength with his consistent supernatural play.
In the 19-20 season, the Lone Ranger and the Clippers fought six games, and finally lost 2:4, Doncic averaged 31 points and 9.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game, and in the fourth meeting between the two sides, he played 46 minutes, cut 43 points, 17 rebounds and 13 assists, and contributed to the retreat three-point kill, becoming the third player in NBA history to cut a 40+15+10 triple-double in the playoffs. In addition, Doncic's 43+17+13 stats combined were 73, a new high in NBA playoff history.
In addition, the second person of the Lone Rangers, Porzingis, was in a brave state at the time, scoring 23.7 points per game, but due to injuries, he only played three games, which also made countless fans sigh: "If Bo Shen can, the Lone Rangers may cross the Clippers." ”
Of course, the hypothesis is always just a hypothesis, even if Bo Shen is not injured, the strength of the Clippers at that time is above the Lone Ranger.
If Doncic in the 20-year playoffs is just amazing to the world, then Doncic in the 21-year playoffs is definitely a "solutionless" performance, and in my personal opinion, it has definitely reached the top three of the league's combat strength.
Why do I say this, because I am a clippers fan, the first round of seven games have seen the last, Doncic with a super play one-man "DNP" Clippers half a team, with him, Beverly, Zubac, sometimes Rondo can not get the opportunity to play, especially Zubac, is known as Doncic's points boy. In the game, as soon as Doncic took the ball, it gave people the feeling of "this ball is in", and after the game, visiting the Clippers forum, there was a saying circulating in it: "The mention of these three words (Doncic) is scary." ”
Even though the Clippers have the best forward group in the league, Doncic relies on Carlisle's sophisticated tactical system to always face the Clippers' weaker defensive players after blocking and dismantling, so as to perform offensive strikes.
In addition, in addition to his super scoring ability, he also focuses on organizational creation, which is the ball-holding core like James and Harden. His passing and bursts activated outside shooters like Hardaway Jr. and Brunson — two consecutive away games, not because the Clippers didn't play well, but because Doncic and the Lone Ranger played too well on the outside.
In seven playoff games, Doncic averaged 35.7 points per game, becoming the youngest player in NBA history to average more than 35 points per game in a single season in the playoffs. But the Clippers are still better, they play more people, Leonard, George twin stars shine, Morris Jr. also contributes a lot, and the Lone Ranger team Porzingis plays sluggishly. Doncic struggled with two fists and four hands, and was eliminated by the same opponent for two consecutive years.
Although he has not been able to go further, Doncic has gradually moved from excellence to excellence, and there is no place to blame in terms of personal skills.
In the summer, Doncic participated in the Olympic Games with Slovenia, and in the team's 118-100 victory over the Argentine men's basketball team, Doncic made 18 of 29 in the game, including 6 of 14 three points, 48 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks, breaking the single-game scoring record of NBA players in the Olympic Games with 48 points. But in the semi-finals, Slovenia lost a point to France, and Doncic missed the final.
At the start of the new season, Doncic's performance slipped slightly, and his posture did not seem to adjust to the best, and there was even news that he weighed more than 260 pounds (about 118 kilograms) when he reported to pre-season training camp for two consecutive seasons. But Doncic practiced in the form of a race, gradually adjusting his physical condition to the best, and also returning to his best state. In the last 23 games, he has averaged 29.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 9.4 assists per game. Especially in the past 2 years, he has been the first star game, and this year's media vote actually hung up, but Doncic then jumped to 35.4 points, 10.3 rebounds and 9.8 assists in 10 games.
In the four games before the All-Star Game, Doncic averaged 41.5 points per game, gradually regaining last year's fiery performance.
Unfortunately, although Porzingis was sent away, the Dinwiddie in exchange was not the one who could help the Slovenians go further. The drama of the lone hero, Doncic seems to have to bear it longer.