Luka Doncic, Kobe Bryant’s heir in the Lakers?
Can Luka Doncic return to the Lakers his most golden days? Will it become the heir to a throne of Kobe Bryant? The answers depend on him.
Since Luka Doncic He went to the court dressing the uniform of Los Angeles Lakersthe illusion of the team’s followers, as well as the questions about their future.
Can this talented player return his most golden days to the franchise? Will you adapt to play next to LeBron James becoming a “condemned” pair of success? Will it become the heir to a throne on which they sat so much Kobe Bryant How recently, LeBron himself?
Those who ask these questions, obviously are eager for blunt answers without understanding that, to have them, we must let time do their job and show us the reality of the lasting and not of what lasts little.
In modern times, governed by the vertiginous speed that forces us to live in the culture of the ephemeral, it is difficult to draw rigorous conclusions. For this reason, today there is more sensations than certainties.
Perhaps it can be tempting to try to predict the future according to our way of feeling, but in case of doing so, you have to do it accepting an inexorable rule: many times reality does not take hand with the imagination.
To imagine the future, they reach good feelings. However, to draw conclusions you have to be certain. And these arrive over time, not with the hurried vertiginosity of our day.
At the moment the truth goes through the fact that, at 25, Luka is at a crossroads. On the one hand, he has a second chance to keep the keys to a kingdom in which his inhabitants received it with open arms added to the illusion and hope that it is. And on the other, he is facing the possibility of accepting mistakes made, as well as accepting the reality that he knew how to be the referent of a franchise that, for some reason, lost faith in him decided to change course.
Both management and fanatic of the Lakers Come Doncic as the leader who will carry the franchise once LeBron James decide to retire. While this does not happen, he will share a poster with LeBron, although it is clear that it will be a transition period in which the franchise will align with Luka when choosing figures that adapt more to the needs and times of the base than to those of ” The King ”.
Even LeBron himself has realized this: “I am committed to the organization of the Lakers. As a team leader, as one of the team’s captains, it is my job to make everything as fluid as possible for new acquisitions, “he said in his first reaction to the change that shuddered the NBA.
Some games later, he referred to the chemistry he has developed with Luka saying “I am a born receiver and he is a nate field marshal, so we fit perfectly”, a statement that makes clear his conformity that now in more, it will be Luka’s team and not yours.
by Far the Hardest Game I Ever Had to Play !! Still Can’t Believe It !! Always with us! 🙏🙏🙏 #Rip pic.twitter.com/pscnbflain
– Luka Doncic (@Luka7Doncic) January 28, 2020
Do all these statements reach to maintain that Luka will be irremediably who guides the Lakers at the top of the NBA?
Do they also reach to name him heir to legends as Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Kobe Bryant?
Surely not. And if they don’t think they analyze what happened with LeBron Jameswho after reaching the franchise to return the brightness of the past, win a title and, above all things, return the historical prominence to a franchise that had fallen out of favor, still has detractors in the city.
But returning to Luka, it will have to be mentioned only four games played do not reach to name the new sheriff of the town, although the intention of the parties involved is none other than that of turning it into the flag bearer of a new golden dream.
In his current race wearing the purple and gold uniform, his brand is 2-2. He had a good debut against Utah on Crypto.com Arena, added two consecutive losses to Utah and Charlotte (teams that just add 14 wins, the worst mark in the NBA).
But the triumph as a visitor against Denver, a team that shares with Memphis the second best brand (37-20), excites all the fans of the Lakers. That night added 32 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 robberies, and 44.4% of triples. Perhaps a confirmation of his enormous talent. “Luka: It was very good to tell you again,” said the coach JJ Redick in the costume as thanks to the entire squad reacting with applause.
Although if Doncic intends to be the heir of those mentioned legends, especially Kobe Bryant, he must understand that talent and discipline have to go hand in hand with attitude and commitment.
Luka has an attributes arsenal to achieve it, although also defects to correct. He is able to write down at will as Kobe did, but he may not have the ability of that to preach with the example. He is able to load with the weight of being the face of the franchise, although he may have to prove that he wants to be the best on both sides of the court. Defending is not its greatest strength, fundamentally because it does not always undertake to do so, more than for lack of skills.
Those small details are those that separate the great players from the legends.
But we should not be determinants just four games after their debut with the Lakers. In any case, patience is recommended.
Since last January 15, the Lakers won 14 games of 18 played which is the best NBA record since then. In this period, they are first in defensive rating, eighths in offensive rating and third parties in the league in total rating. In addition, they have won victories before Boston Celtics, Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks, the Clippers and Golden State Warriors (2 times).
After the last Saturday at the height of Denver, one tends to think that, in the long term, Luka can achieve the goal of bringing titles to the city and finishing a race in a historic NBA franchise if It is proposed.
It will surely be easy to predict that your talent will continue to shine in the League for many more years. However, becoming the heir of Kobe Bryant, will take more work.
Time will witness its success or its impossibility of reaching the status of legend with the Angelino team.
It depends on him.
