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SINOW LUKA Mavs
SINOW LUKA Mavs

Mavs’ Luka Has ‘One Thing You Can’t Teach'

Opponents Acknowledge: Dallas Mavs Star Luka Doncic Has ‘One Thing You Can’t Teach'

DALLAS - Part of covering the Dallas Mavericks and Luka Doncic, by now, is searching not only for superlatives - Mavs' terrific play-by-play voices Mark Followill and Chuck Cooperstein will tell you that even they frequently run short of those - but also for angles of perspective.

Our buddy "SeeHendo'' (Chris Henderson on Twitter) has just helped us do that.

 In a video interview with SeeHendo on YouTube, Jamal Crawford of the Brooklyn Nets offers an "angle of perspective'' that helps us further understand the Luka Phenomenon.

“Special,'' Crawford said. "Unbelievable. Even some of the great players, the feel he has for the game is uncanny. It’s a feel thing. It’s not something you can actually teach.''

Mavs management, to its credit, recognized this from the start. Remember all of those predictions of coach Rick Carlisle likely clashing with Luka because "that's what Rick does with point guards''? Beyond the fact that the allegation is not entirely true ...it never came true at all here, Carlisle immediately announcing - on 2018 NBA Draft Night - that Luka was his starting point guard.

The keys were handed to Doncic. And there's never really been a clash at all ... just two bright basketball minds working in unison.

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That doesn't mean Rick hasn't been a "teacher''; he is, at his core, exactly that. It just means that what Mavs scouting bosses Donnie Nelson and Tony Ronzone knew about Luka well before he was old enough to drive has come to fruition, from being a 16-year-old signing with Real Madrid to being an 18-year-old EuroLeague MVP to now, at 21, being a first-team All-NBA honoree with a long-time future as a perennial MVP finalist.

"You can teach how to play the game,'' Crawford continued, "what it is supposed to look like, things you’re supposed to do on the court, but his feel you can’t teach. That’s what makes him special. He is one of my favorites to watch.”