Luka Doncic of the Dallas Mavericks is a phenomenal player, and some would argue he is currently the best player in the NBA.
He is averaging 33.7 points, which is leading the league, 8.8 rebounds, and 8.8 assists per game this season, and he has carried a substandard roster to a 24-22 record and the fifth spot in the Western Conference.
Doncic is amazing, perhaps the second coming of Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird, and he is clutch to boot.
But as amazing as he has been over the last few years, there are still two facets of the game in which he has lots of room for improvement.
If Doncic ever becomes above-average in these two areas, hope may be the best shot the rest of the league would have in containing him, because it may already be at that point.
1. 3-Point Shooting
For all of his shooting skill, Doncic is at just 34.8 percent from 3-point range this season, and his high-water mark so far in his career has been 35.3 percent, which was what he shot last season.
He is such a 3-point shooting threat in crunch time and otherwise so super-skilled that it is hard to fathom why he is merely a mediocre 3-point shooter overall.
“BANG! BANG!” pic.twitter.com/dNRJ31RcxV
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 23, 2020
There is no reason why Doncic shouldn’t be shooting at least 40 percent from that distance, if not now then soon.
2. Free Throw Shooting
Doncic is making just 73.3 percent of his foul shots this season, which is below the league average.
If he doesn’t improve this facet of his game and get to above 80 percent, opposing teams will be happy to foul him in crunch time and possibly watch him make just one of two free throws each time he goes to the line.
