CATO: Welcome back to these parts, Seth! It really does feel, sometimes, like The Athletic is this giant continent populated by advanced societies with wildly different cultures and interests, and everyone has set up in their own regions. I’ve been enjoying much of your national NBA work from afar, but it’s our pleasure to host you in this Dallas basketball territory once again.
When we last spoke, you wrote this about Luka Doncic: “Mavs fans would love for me to say … he’s going to play at or near All-NBA level for the foreseeable future. Unfortunately, he’s not the style of player who lends himself to that kind of analysis.” You saw some sustainable metrics but also some that might regress. What you said was completely reasonable when you wrote it in early November! But now that we’re dealing with a 45-game sample size of a 20-year-old playing at a near-MVP level, I imagine it’s a little easier to express incredulity at how good he’s been this year…
