Luka Doncic has already exceeded any Mavericks expectation and dropped every NBA jaw.
Now, just to show off, he’s chasing down the legends of Dallas-Fort Worth sports. Doncic’s looming Rookie of the Year award will put him in rarefied air alongside the only eight local athletes to win corresponding honors. The accolade will also boost his case to be DFW’s all-time best rookie.
The competition: A golfer, a guard, three running backs, a hitter, a closer, a quarterback and, yes, the 19-year-old sensation with all the intimidating looks of an appliances expert at Best Buy.
Every time he steps on the court, the Mavericks’ remarkable rookie seemingly sets some type of record. One night he’s the youngest Mav to score 20 points. Then the youngest player in NBA history with seven 3-pointers in a game. First teenager with a 30-point triple-double, multiple triple-doubles and then, you guessed it, three triple-doubles (all in a 16-day span). With one game remaining before All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, he’s already the youngest to score 1,100 points before the break.
There have been three NBA months this season, and Doncic has been named the Western Conference’s best rookie in all three.
He’s so good, so early, the basketball world can barely cope. Opponents are having trouble containing him. Fans are struggling to compliment him. In this up-tempo society paced by fast food and faster downloads, we’re guilty of being caught up in the pure Lukacy of it all.
Said Mavericks TV analyst Derek Harper, “I don’t think there’s any doubt this kid is going to wind up in the Hall of Fame.” That hyperbole was voiced, mind you, as Doncic was warming up for the 36th game of his NBA career.
Harper isn’t alone. Mavs ratings on Fox Sports Southwest are up a whopping 70 percent, and delirious fans awarded him the third-most All-Star votes, behind only LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo. Doncic will play this weekend in the All-Star Rising Stars Challenge. Silly, really, because Luka’s star has long since risen.
“He’s unbelievable,” two-time reigning MVP Steph Curry said of the Mavs guard last month. “You can tell he’s just experienced in terms of playing high-level basketball. He’s made himself known, for sure. It’s fun to watch in terms of the future of the league.”
In a superlative NBA season offering a record 10 consecutive triple-doubles from Russell Westbrook and James Harden’s staggering version of 30-for-30 (as in points in consecutive games), Doncic refuses to be relegated to the freshman dorm.
While the debate rages on whether he is the NBA’s best all-time teenager – it’s between him, James and Carmelo Anthony – Doncic continues to play with pizzazz, patience and, most of all, production in keeping the Mavs around .500 and within smelling distance of a playoff berth. Against the Rockets Monday in Houston he swished a step-back 3-pointer in Harden’s mug, fired a one-handed bullet pass 30 feet for an assist, and pulled off a continuous behind-the-back-and-between-the-legs dribble that freed him for a fadeaway jumper and prompted exasperated editors to yet again update their Luka highlight reels.
He can shoot, finish, fake, rebound in traffic, pass out of double-teams, see, feel, adapt, absorb and, yes, entertain.
He exudes the composure – and the complaining – of not a 19-year-old, but a 19-year veteran.
He’s from Slowvenia, never in a hurry but comfortably able to get where he wants to go.
He’s the Metroplex’s biggest teen crush since 16-year-old Demi Lovato starred in Disney’s Camp Rock in 2008.
He’s … wait.
Dazzling debut and fawning forecasts notwithstanding, is Doncic indeed in the conversation of best rookies in the history of DFW sports? In a word, absofrigginlutely.
Texas has witnessed impactful introductions by freshmen in recent years, from Kevin Durant averaging 26 points and 11 rebounds in Austin in 2007 to Johnny Manziel passing for 3,000 yards, rushing for 1,000 and winning the Heisman Trophy at Texas A&M in 2012. But this isn’t about state-wide success, nor merely production as a newbie. If first-year splashes were a consideration, difference-makers such as Tyson Chandler (10 points, 10 rebounds in the Mavs’ championship season in 2011), Deion Sanders (a shutdown corner, kick returner and receiver on the Cowboys’ Super Bowl 30 team) and Nolan Ryan (16 wins and his 5,000th career strikeout for the Rangers as a 42-year-old in 1989) would have strong cases.
Alas, this is for DFW rookies, plain and simple.
Doncic is one of our area’s most athletically gifted teens since Allen’s Carly Patterson won three gymnastics medals at the 2004 Olympics in Greece. He averages 21 points, seven rebounds and six assists and will 99.99 percent be knighted as the NBA’s best fresh face come June. Oh, and he won’t be 20 until the last day of this month.
Who could possibly replicate Luka’s resume? There have been numerous impressive introductory seasons.
For the Mavs, Jay Vincent – despite being drafted after Mark Aguirre and Rolando Blackman – finished third in Rookie-of-the-Year voting in 1981 after averaging 21-7-2. Jamal Mashburn put up 19-5-3 in 1993, finishing third behind Chris Webber. Dennis Smith Jr. flashed eye-popping athleticism and was fifth in last year’s balloting. For what it’s worth, Aguirre missed 31 games with an injury, Blackman averaged only 13 points, Harper started only one game in 1983, Sam Perkins was upstaged by two gentlemen named Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1984, Jim Jackson’s contract dispute limited him to 28 games in 1992 and Dirk Nowitzki averaged only 8-3-1 during his lockout-shortened, underwhelming rookie season in 1998.
For the Rangers, 19-year-old catcher Pudge Rodriguez threw out base-stealers from his knees but finished only fourth in AL Rookie-of-the-Year voting in 1991. Pitcher Yu Darvish, at age 25, won 16 games and was an All-Star in 2012, but finished only third in that balloting. David Clyde was a fascinating rookie novelty act in 1973, but after winning his first Major League start – just 20 days removed from high school – the 18-year-old pitcher finished the season 4-8.
The Cowboys have never had an NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, though the void is misleading because the award wasn’t initiated until 1967. The honor in 1964 likely would have gone to cornerback Mel Renfro, who had seven interceptions and led the league in both punt and kickoff returns. In 1981, undrafted free agent cornerback Everson Walls set a franchise record that still stands – 11 interceptions – but finished second in the voting to future Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor. The lack of an award in 1965 also most certainly cost rookie receiver Bob Hayes, who led the NFL with 12 touchdown receptions and a gaudy 22 yards-per-catch average. Michael Irvin had a modest debut season of 654 yards receiving and five touchdowns in 1988, and the following season beleaguered rookie quarterback Troy Aikman threw twice as many interceptions as touchdowns.
The Stars, likewise, have not enjoyed a NHL Rookie of the Year since arriving from Minnesota, but that could change this year with 19-year-old defenseman Miro Heiskanen. The rookie from Finland was selected to this year’s All-Star Game, joining goalie Mike Smith (2007) and defenseman John Klingberg (2015) as the only Stars to be so rewarded.
Since it will be a shocking upset if Doncic doesn’t win NBA Rookie of the Year, a serious contender for Best Rookie in DFW Sports History must have been similarly honored. The elite eight candidates:
Cowboys running backs Calvin Hill, Tony Dorsett and Emmitt Smith, and quarterback Dak Prescott.
Rangers first baseman Mike Hargrove and closer Neftali Feliz.
Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd.
Golfer Jordan Spieth.
In 1969, Hill led the Cowboys with 942 yards and eight touchdowns. Smith produced similar numbers – 937 yards and 11 scores – in helping Dallas to a six-game improvement in 1990. Hargrove was a shocking success as the Rangers’ 25th-round draft choice in 1974, hitting .323 but lacking pop to the tune of only 28 extra-base hits. Kidd won co-rookie honors with Grant Hill in 1995 by averaging 12-5-8 on a team that improved by 23 wins. While Kidd matched Doncic’s intangibles, the current Mavs rookie is demonstrably more polished as a shooter, scorer and all-around offensive player.
Which brings us to the Top Five Rookies in DFW Sports History:
5, Jordan Spieth – The 19-year-old Jesuit Prep product caused a local buzz by winning PGA Rookie of the Year in 2013. He became the fourth-youngest player ever and the first teen since 1931 to capture a regular tour stop, and finished 10th on the money list. He did that with just one tournament victory, however, with his real arrival not coming until 2015 when he won The Masters, U.S. Open and Player of the Year.
4, Luka Doncic – With his inaugural season only at the All-Star break, there’s plenty of time for him to move up. Doing that, though, will require team success in the form of a playoff berth.
3, Dak Prescott – The eighth quarterback selected in the 2016 NFL Draft, the 23-year-old’s ridiculously efficient season earned him Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was shockingly calm, cool and accurate, throwing for 3,600 yards, 23 touchdowns and only four interceptions in leading the Cowboys to a 13-3 record and NFC East championship. As many skeptics predicted at the time, it was indeed too good to be true.
2, Neftali Feliz – The 22-year-old Dominican was handed the Rangers’ closer job when Frank Francisco suffered in the 2010 season’s first month, and promptly produced one of the most dominant pitching seasons in franchise history. Complimenting 103-mph fastballs with knee-buckling, 77-mph curves, Feliz struck out 71 and walked only 18 in recording a rookie-record 40 saves and winning AL Rookie of the Year. With fans flocking to Arlington to see the phenom flamethrower, he made the All-Star team, struck out franchise nemesis Alex Rodriguez to clinch the Rangers’ first American League Championship, and saved the club’s first World Series game victory in Game 3 over the San Francisco Giants. In the 2011 World Series, well … two strikes on David Freese happened. Feliz never recovered.
1, Tony Dorsett – The anticipation amplifying the Cowboys’ 1977 season was palpable after they pulled off a blockbuster trade to draft the 23-year-old Heisman Trophy winner and leading rusher in the history of college football. Despite starting only four games because of Tom Landry’s hesitancy to trust rookies, Dorsett rushed for 1,007 yards and 12 touchdowns, including a glorious 84-yard scoring sprint through the Philadelphia Eagles that trumpeted his legitimacy as a unique weapon. With the addition of the speedy NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, the Cowboys went 12-2 and – thanks in part to Dorsett’s early touchdown run – beat the Denver Broncos to win Super Bowl 12. Dorsett ultimately rushed for 12,000 yards and 72 touchdowns in Dallas en route to the Hall of Fame, justifying both the trade and the hype.
