By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
Having already walked the distance from being a European prospect towards becoming an established NBA player with superstar potential, Kristaps Porzingis is a guy equipped with the tools of evaluating the Luka Doncic phenomenon from a wide range of aspects, often overlooked.
“What he’s doing at the top level of Europe, I believe that he should be the No. 1 pick,” says Porzingis about Doncic.
It’s not surprising that he holds him in such great esteem. After all, the “Unicorn” has a first-hand experience of how transcendental the game of the 18-year-old wunderkind of Real Madrid is.
Doncic had probably the best display of his overall career so far in the EuroBasket quarterfinal battle between Slovenia and Latvia. He scored 27 points and got 9 rebounds in a 29 PIR display against KP’s squad, leading his country through a narrow win and onwards to the tourney’s semifinals for the first time ever. Slovenia proceeded to make history by winning the gold of course.
In an interview with SLAM, Porzingis praised the Slovenian point forward, explaining not only why he should be the no. 1 pick in the 2018 Draft but also the reasons why he’ll carry the quality of his game to the NBA too.
Per SLAM:
“SLAM: Luka Doncic blew up over the summer and he’s getting a lot of love as the potential top pick in the 2018 draft. What did you think about his game?
KP: What he’s doing at 18, I’ve never seen a player in Europe do that. He’s one of the leaders for Real Madrid and he’s being very consistent—he’s not playing one game great and then playing the next poorly as most young guys do, as I did myself. He’s being very consistent and that has surprised me the most. What he’s doing at the top level of Europe, I believe that he should be the No. 1 pick.
SLAM: From our perspective in the US, all we’ve really seen from him are clips on Twitter and random games. But as someone who has played against him, you think he’s the real deal?
KP: I do, I do. I’m judging it based on the highest level of playing in Europe, which is very tough to do. Another story is how is it going to translate to the NBA. Guys who are killing it in Europe don’t always come over to the NBA and have success right away.
Myself, for example, I wasn’t a huge star like Luka is right now in Spain. But I came over and it was easy to adapt and translate my game to the NBA. For guards, I think it’s always a little harder. He may need a little bit of time, but based on what he’s doing in Europe, I think there’s no college guy who would be able to do what he’s doing in the EuroLeague at that level right now.”
Photo: FIBA.basketball