Luka, A New Hope
If you squint really hard, you can see a faint twinkle. It’s new, most certainly, and it’s growing. It’s bright but not robust. Like a candle, with each wax and wane you can see it has aspirations of growth. Those who disbelieve will ignore it and point to the daunting strength of its conference as reason for doubt, and those who have hope will live on each flicker and marvel, taking comfort in what the future could bring.
The foundation of the next great Mavs team is hopefully in place. Luka is the centerpiece. I would say he is the turkey at your annual thanksgiving feast, however, as we all know, all thanksgiving food is gross. These Mavs are 2–3 as I type this, and we will most likely lose against Utah, but I don’t particularly care. I am excited. Unruly and snarling, these Dallas Mavericks are all up in your grill (you coward). Your personal space? We respect it but if we didn’t as much, oh buddy we woulda invaded the shit out of it. Although the Mavs wanna be good, they employ Wesley Matthews as the starting shooting guard, so I get how one might be confused. BUT WE WANNA BE GOOD, I PROMISE.
Wonderboy. El Nino Maravilla. The Slovenian Sensation. The Slovenian Socialist Scoundrel. The Slovenian Import.The Slovenian Sensei. The Don. The Leviathan of Ljubljana. The Maestro of Real Madrid. Real Deal Madrid. Puke-a Doncic, because he’s fuckin sick. Swaggy L. Slovenia’s Best Tradable Asset According to the WTO. Luka DonThicc. Da Mean Slovene. The Greatest Fortnite Player of his Generation. Brave Survivor of the Eurozone Crisis. Sambuca Doncic: because he makes defenders look drunk. Melania Trump’s Fellow Countryman (hmm super weird how she’s complicit in a regime that actively hates immigrants yet is one herself???). The Prince of the Former Yugoslavia. These are all nicknames Luka is definitely called, 100%. I would never lie to you and I didn’t make any of these up.
He’s so good, man. He is inarguably the Mavs best player, which is amazing. Last year with DSJ was different. He was the Mavs most exciting player, however Harrison was still their best. Luka is different. Coming into the NBA and being the best player on a team full of seasoned NBA vets, top draft picks and those with salaries north of 18 million dollars is absolutely bonkers. Watching him in person for the first two home games of the season was a delight. The amount of compliments hurled at me while I rocked my Slovenian National Team Luka jersey was so fun. There was a palpable Luka-buzz inside the AAC, an admiration at the talent that will lead the post-Dirk Mavs. He’s so damn good and everyone knows it, especially him. You gotta realllllly believe in your abilities to pass up open threes just to stunt on the defense by shooting a much more heavily contested stepback. He is this good while being criminally underutulized. He is not bringing up the ball enough, and far too often has been relegated to the corner in favor of some set being ran by less talented decision maker. You have Deandre Jordan grabbing the board, turning to look for a ballhandler, and genuinely ignoring Luka an egregious amount. It’s weird and gross, about on the same level as Wes initiating a PnR. Luka is the rare type of player that I am fine with his usage being well above the 30% mark, James Harden level. I get that’s bold because James Harden is an MVP (counterpoint: Luka, also an MVP. Really makes you think) coupled with Luka’s conditioning not being ideal, but I do not care one (1) iota. You can’t tell me you would rather watch Wes Matthews “operate” a pick and roll or run around a few screens, launching as off-balance jumper. I am as big of a masochist as the next guy, but don’t do that to yourself, bud. Give Luka and Dennis all the possessions. Launch Wes to the moon. I’m not sure if there’s any fullproof way to develop a rookie, and I know it’s constantly stressed to not put too much on a young guy, but I wanna run the play where the best player is involved in the offense as much as possible. Him being 19 is kinda irrelevant with the maturity of his play. The turnovers have definitely been an issue but I think that’s more of a chemistry/pressing thing rather than anything too worrisome. The Mavericks are actively crippling their chances of winning by not alotting him more possessions to distribute the ball, BUT I DIGRESS.
Look, the Mavs (probably) aren’t gonna make the playoffs. I may be a bitch, but not a soul has ever labeled me a greedy one. They are no doubt the champions of my dumb baby heart, but the haters say that’s not “reality” so whatever. What the Mavs are gonna be and have been, however, is exciting! They are interesting and there is hope! This is a new feeling and it’s so important. Like the Nuggets are young and exceptional and off to a great start and there is still a scenario where they don’t even make the playoffs, which is insane. The Mavs aren’t nearly as good as the Nuggets. And that’s fine. They aren’t supposed to be yet.
Back to the whole hope schtick.
Luka Doncic holds my emotional stability in his hands and he will for the foreseeable future. I love him dearly, and for the first time in years I feel like we actually have a direction. Like sure, watching Monta and Chandler Parsons (he’s byke btw) was fun as hell (sometimes it did feel like what I imagine literal hell would feel like if it existed) but I never watched them with legitimate hope for a championship in the future. This, this is different. It feels more than that. It’s a start of something,,,,,,yeah, something. I don’t wanna get too longform-y with this thing, but I actually get sick to my stomach again when this dumb team is losing, and I fucking love it.
NO, the title of this piece is not an homage to Star Wars. And NO, your jokes that Luka is the real life version of Jabba the Hut are NOT funny. Frankly they are unbecoming and dissapointing. Be better, reader.
