Thespianoid wrote:Question for you all that watched the game, was he just parked in the corner on most possessions again? Did the Suns get the ball in his hands at the high post/elbow a bit for once? Maybe some time as a screener/short roller?
I see he had a productive game in limited minutes in his first game back from the injury, which is always a good sign that the talent is there. There's not much to doubt on that front, but looking long-term I have significant concerns about whether or not your coaching staff/organization actually understand his skillset enough to utilize him to his fullest potential.
I know it's a bit early to be raising these concerns but up until this point, I haven't seen any signs that the Suns will do anything but make him an off-ball floor spacer. That's like making LeBron or Ben Simmons a floor spacer, or Nikola Jokic a screen/rebound/hustle big. Square peg in a round hole.
edit: looked at some play-by-play footage, nice to see Ulis looking for him on his transition rim run/post seals. Otherwise not much to go on
I don't think he was parked in the corner, but he did spend the majority of his time out on the perimeter as usual. Didn't see many high post touches, we played him more at the 3 tonight with a bigger lineup. I did feel like he got into the paint more today though, considering I hadn't seen him do much posting up to take advantage of mismatches this year and he did it a couple times today. It also seemed like he was making more off ball cuts to the basket/to his spots, especially when he was on the weak side. I'd also like to see him get more opportunity to make plays for others, but it's tough right now with how ball dominant Ulis and Booker can be and him just coming back from 2 months off while all the young players have been getting a lot of time together. Defense was solid as usual though, and it seemed like he was crashing the boards harder than I remember.
He's the youngest player in the league and just coming off of an injury though, so I'm sure that what we've seen thus far his rookie year isn't the extent of how he'll be used, especially after we invested the 4th pick in the draft on him.
