IQ test for y’all. And a chance to bet on who will be the NBA’s Rookie of the Year.
But first, some background and some stories …
There is a saying in certain NBA writer circles that occasionally throws the less intelligent hoops writers for a loop: “That guy is MENSA material.” Today, it applies to Dallas Mavericks draft pick Luka Doncic.
MENSA, for those who do not know, is a non-profit organization open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardized, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Depending on which test you take, the mimimum score is anywhere from 131 to 148.
Somewhere out there is an IQ score for Doncic, the Slovenian sensation who has spent the past six years with Real Madrid in Spain. He speaks fluent Slovenian, Serbian, Spanish and English, and he just became the youngest player ever to win Euroleague MVP honors, along with the Euroleague Final Four MVP award, and the ACB (Spanish League) MVP.
He was discovered when he was 12, he signed professionally at age 13, and the Mavericks traded up to No. 3 on Thursday night to grab him, giving up the draft rights to Tre Young along with a future first-round pick.
He will be playing for Rick Carlisle, who is MENSA material himself. When he is not coaching basketball or playing the piano, his hobbies include the studying the mathematical properties of phi, putting together Japanese jigsaw puzzles and debating the gravitational properties of grey matter vs. black holes with advanced physics doctoral candidates.
OK, that second sentence in the previous paragraph is not exactly true.
But I am sure you get the point, even if your IQ is closer to the Richter scale than it is to the Cattell standard.
So you put Doncic and Carlisle together with Mark Cuban, who knows a thing or two about making money and being a high-profile political and social influencer, and team them with Dennis Smith Jr., whose off-the-charts athleticism more than makes up for Doncic’s lack of it, along with Harrison Barnes and Jaylen Brunson and the Baby Antetokoumnpo, and we have the making of what should be a very exciting Dallas Mavericks team. And, oh yeah, they will have Dirk Nowitzki on the roster for the next decade or so, because the guy just won’t stop playing basketball.
With the futures odds on Dallas winning the 2019 NBA championship currently sitting at 300-1, perhaps now is the time to hope that Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry get injures, James Harden ruptures an Achilles and LeBron James decides that Philadelphia or New York is a better LZ than Los Angeles. If any or all of the above happen between now and next March … well, there is an expression for this that is the calling card of the New York State Lottery: “Hey, you never know.”
I know this: There is a heavy hitter from Europe who I speak to on a regular basis who has seen Doncic play in person dozens and dozens of times. He has spoken with him privately, he was in the house(s) in Helsinki and Istanbul last summer when Slovenia pulled off the biggest Eurobasket upset in 30 years by winning the gold medal, and he summed up the 19-year old thusly: “He is a genius.”
Well, genius is a world that is thrown around rather loosely in the NBA.
A sizeable contingent of the Philadelphia media still uses that word when referencing Sam Hinkie. Before his management debacle with the Knicks, Phil Jackson had that word as part of his basketball legacy. Stan Van Gundy had that title going for him, too, until he learned that Tom Gores had a better genius idea: Bring in Ed Stefanski, fire 99 percent of the front office and coaching staff, and try things a different way.
But when you are throwing around the names of high IQ players, guys like Nowitzki, Larry Bird, Manu Ginobili and LeBron come to mind.
The Mavs did not have a chance to measure Doncic’s IQ, because Doncic was not in the United States prior to the draft, instead playing out the remainder of the ACB season, where he picked up yet another MVP award.
The deal with Hawks was finalized at the exact moment that Phoenix was selecting Deandre Ayton with the No. 1 pick. Dallas got him in exchange for the No. 5 pick (Tre Jones) and a future first-rounder after Mavs general manager Donnie Nelson withdrew his insistence that Atlanta take the No. 33 pick, giving up a future first-rounder instead as the centerpiece of his package.
Doncic will not be the most athletically gifted specimen to grace the NBA, but Dennis Smith Jr. sort of takes care of that for the Mavs, and coach Rick Carlisle can plug Doncic in at the 2, 3 or 4 spots depending on situational needs against different opponents. The Mavs still need a big man, but those can be found in free agency at relative bargain prices.
Doncic’s personal history is intriguing. He is the son of a former pro basketball player and the owner of a beauty salon, and his parents split up several years ago after he had been discovered by Real Madrid at age 12 and moved to Spain at age 13. During the summers, he would vacation with his mom in spots such as the Canary Islands and Ibiza, but his relationship with his father was repaired last summer when Slovenia competed in Eurobasket and the dad called the games for Slovenian TV, jumping out of his press row seat as his son made spectacular play after spectacular play, lining up alongside Goran Dragic and Anthony Randolph (yes, the American) while being coached by Igor Kokoskov, who is now with the Phoenix Suns.
With Real Madrid, his teammates included Randolph and fellow Americans Chasson Randle, Trey Thompkins, Jeffrey Taylor, Jaycee Carroll, Mexican center Gustavo Ayon, Cleveland Cavaliers and Raptors 905 alumnus Walter Tavares, along with Spanish national team stalwarts Sergio Llull, Rudy Fernandez and Felipe Reyes.
Doncic will not be competing in the Las Vegas Summer League, but may attend as a spectator. He had planned to represent his homeland in World Cup qualifying matches June 28 against Spain and July 1 against Montenegro, then compete in two more qualification games in September, but the Slovenian federation announced Monday that Doncic would sit out to rest. Truth be told, the last thing the Mavs need is to have their newest prized possession competing against an assemblage of brutes and NBA wannabees in Vegas or Llubljana, one of whom might just want to make a name for himself by being “the guy who took out Doncic.”
One of my top sources in Europe described Doncic as “a born leader,” and right now he is being listed as the favorite to win Rookie of the Year at +225 by BetDSI.com. Ayton is second at +300, and Young is third at +500.
Doncic averaged 12.5 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists in ACB games; and 16.0 pts, 4.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists in Euroleague action. For his rookie NBA season, the over/under on points is 14.5 and the over/under on assists is 3.5.
Place your bets.
