By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Dirk Nowitzki talked to the local radio station of Dallas “1053-THE-FAN” about Luka Doncic and he explained that it’s his court vision that makes his unique: “Yeah, he’s been here now for a week. He’s scrimmaged every day and works hard. I’m really liking what I’m seeing. He’s incredible with the ball for a big guy. He’s unbelievable in pick and roll play. His court vision is already unbelievable. I couldn’t believe what I saw from a 19/20-year-old. He’s a good shooter when he has time and I think he’s going to be great for us for a long long time.”
Nowitzki was also a teenage phenomenon when he arrived in the NBA and he can understand the transition that Doncic has to endure: “Obviously, I don’t want to put too much pressure on him, either. But coming over from a different country, I went through the same thing 20 years ago. It’s tough. You have to adjust to a lot of things. For me, that took a whole year. That year was really really tough. We’re going to do everything we can to help this kid develop, have fun, and learn, so we can see the best Luka here hopefully in a year to a couple more years. He’s an incredible talent. His court vision and passing for his size at his age is something I’ve never seen in my 20 years.”
According to the German icon, there’s no doubt that the Slovenian boy-wonder is a better player than Nowitzki was at his age: “Oh yeah. I could shoot a little bit but I never had the court vision … the savviness that he brings to the game. Just the way he already reads the pick and roll … all the stuff like Chris Paul and these guys do … He’s going to be fun to watch especially with bigs like DeAndre (Jordan) and Dwight (Powell) rolling to the rim … He’s going to pick defenses apart and it’s going to be fun to watch.”