2023-24 Season Discussion and Speculation 3 - Post Free Agency Discussion

[bwgood77]

Am I the only one who thinks the ‘DA wants more touches’ talk is not true. I don’t think he’s built that way and can’t see him wanting that. He lacks confidence so why would he want the ball more?

In FIBA basketball, I can see it since he’s taller and stronger than most players but definitely not in the NBA. I can’t see it translating to wins, unless all of a sudden he starts to consistently go to the free throw line which I don’t remember him getting to the line last game.


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No, you are not the only person. I think getting him some consistent touches throughout the game may help, but I have never heard him say or indicate or heard anything official about more touches. If anything in past interviews before this last season he mentioned focusing on his role and prior to that mentioned focusing on defense. HIs best season was when he got the fewest touches, even on defense, but they may have come more consistently throughout the game, whereas recently he may get more overall but it often is a bunch of Ayton touches to start the game and sometimes he even has a bunch of quick rebounds too...but then they often never or barely look for him again.

But I don't think he cares as much about touches as everyone speculates.

The more touches thing is defininitely pure speculation and hasn't come from him or reliable sources. Most talking heads like Shaq just say it's good to get him more touches to keep him involved in the game. They don't talk about complaining or anything.

[bwgood77]

I don't really understand all this talk about what option he is...who cares? What does that have to do with anything? If anything if he is higher on the pecking order it's a good thing to get more offensive reps, not a bad thing. I agree about not reading a ton into it because of the competition, but also there is almost purely talk about offense when the biggest area that he lacked in this past season was defense. That is what we need from him this coming season. It should happen if he plays consistently with quality starters instead of 2nd/3rd stringers and all sorts of revolving lineups from injuries, trades, etc, and also with a new defensive focused coach.

[bigfoot]

LOL I guess Vince Marotta was calling this a possible "ReincarnAyton".

They should definitely use that if he turns things around this year.

Or we could be in line for the same AggravAyton plays.

[Slim Charless]

We need to grab Tyty Washington. OKC’s just released him outright. Nice sized point guard with outstanding athletic skills who's still very young. Cut Ish or whoever but grab this kid Jones!!

[Jdiddy701]

I saw a stat that said Eric Bledsoe is the highest PPG average as Devin Booker’s teammate. This stat kinda blew my mind. It makes you wonder how lethal Book will be next year with a full season with KD and Bradley Beal. Could he win MVP next year?


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[sunsbg]

I saw a stat that said Eric Bledsoe is the highest PPG average as Devin Booker’s teammate. This stat kinda blew my mind. It makes you wonder how lethal Book will be next year with a full season with KD and Bradley Beal. Could he win MVP next year?


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Won't have best stats of all players, but if Suns are head and shoulders above all other teams than why not.

[LV-Suns]

We need to grab Tyty Washington. OKC’s just released him outright. Nice sized point guard with outstanding athletic skills who's still very young. Cut Ish or whoever but grab this kid Jones!!

We still have another 2 way spot open, but I don’t see Jones signing a raw prospect with no Gleague team.

[Slim Charless]

We need to grab Tyty Washington. OKC’s just released him outright. Nice sized point guard with outstanding athletic skills who's still very young. Cut Ish or whoever but grab this kid Jones!!

We still have another 2 way spot open, but I don’t see Jones signing a raw prospect with no Gleague team.

I think Tyty has stand alone value this season. We ***should*** be able to blow a number of teams away this yr and that will give someone like Tyty time.

More importantly, we really need a true point for the future. Tyty is a former lotto pick from a major school. He's got talent. If we still had CP3, he'd be the perfect tutor. That said, I think it's a great grab.

[Bogyo]

Will Bahamas play with US sometime? I'd love to see that, and I don't even care about the result. It would be a game where we could have a bit more definitive takeaways, not just the steamy-crystal-ball "whatifwhattranslatesornotwellmaybebutnotsure" type thing

[Saberestar]

We need to grab Tyty Washington. OKC’s just released him outright. Nice sized point guard with outstanding athletic skills who's still very young. Cut Ish or whoever but grab this kid Jones!!

We still have another 2 way spot open, but I don’t see Jones signing a raw prospect with no Gleague team.

I think Tyty has stand alone value this season. We ***should*** be able to blow a number of teams away this yr and that will give someone like Tyty time.

More importantly, we really need a true point for the future. Tyty is a former lotto pick from a major school. He's got talent. If we still had CP3, he'd be the perfect tutor. That said, I think it's a great grab.

He was selected #29 by the Thunder and now is waived. I would be OK with getting him on a two-way contract bit on the 15-man roster.

[Bogyo]

We still have another 2 way spot open, but I don’t see Jones signing a raw prospect with no Gleague team.

I think Tyty has stand alone value this season. We ***should*** be able to blow a number of teams away this yr and that will give someone like Tyty time.

More importantly, we really need a true point for the future. Tyty is a former lotto pick from a major school. He's got talent. If we still had CP3, he'd be the perfect tutor. That said, I think it's a great grab.

He was selected #29 by the Thunder and now is waived. I would be OK with getting him on a two-way contract bit on the 15-man roster.

Yep - and a lightly correlated topic: OKC's pick should be ripe for picking for the next 1-2 years as they have like 30 for the next 5 years... if you are an NBA exec and you have something to trade you call them and ask for picks, see what happens.

[Frank Lee]

I don't really understand all this talk about what option he is...who cares? What does that have to do with anything? If anything if he is higher on the pecking order it's a good thing to get more offensive reps, not a bad thing. I agree about not reading a ton into it because of the competition, but also there is almost purely talk about offense when the biggest area that he lacked in this past season was defense. That is what we need from him this coming season. It should happen if he plays consistently with quality starters instead of 2nd/3rd stringers and all sorts of revolving lineups from injuries, trades, etc, and also with a new defensive focused coach.

Yup
We’ll see soon how this offense meshes, but i have to believe DA will get his chances if open. The 1-4 option may come into play on end of the game plays…but otherwise regular game time, im guessing the open man shoots.

Also Im past hoping for DA to be more physical and taking it to the hoop, as his mid range game is very effective. He is what he is. We all know where he needs to improve… intensity. Perhaps the most aggravating thing a fan can identity. So he is still the resident King of Potential, which is crazy to say about a 18/10 dude.

Get your mind right DA and ball

Watch on YouTube

[Slim Charless]

I think Tyty has stand alone value this season. We ***should*** be able to blow a number of teams away this yr and that will give someone like Tyty time.

More importantly, we really need a true point for the future. Tyty is a former lotto pick from a major school. He's got talent. If we still had CP3, he'd be the perfect tutor. That said, I think it's a great grab.

He was selected #29 by the Thunder and now is waived. I would be OK with getting him on a two-way contract bit on the 15-man roster.

Yep - and a lightly correlated topic: OKC's pick should be ripe for picking for the next 1-2 years as they have like 30 for the next 5 years... if you are an NBA exec and you have something to trade you call them and ask for picks, see what happens.

OKC will be having to move those picks and soon. Players too. They're my Ayton team. I think Chet might be better at the 4 to start out. They'll maybe be needing a true center.

Whoever makes a real trade for a real player with them will clean up as they have to get rid of those picks. They literally cannot use them as they have soooo many young guys.

I personally think we can re coup all if our KD/Beal picks from OKC with an Ayton trade.

[darealjuice]

DA will definitely be the fourth option in the sense that he'll be the fourth most relied upon scorer in the starting lineup and he won't be expected to create much on his own. We know for sure he's wanted to be more involved on offense in the past, whether that's just getting more touches or actually having a playmaker role is anyone's guess. With 3 high volume scorers on the perimeter now and no traditional point guard to spread the offense around, it wouldn't be surprising for him to get "frozen out" even more frequently than previous years though. He's always going to be first or second read running pick and roll, and that's where he'll probably be used most.

[Saberestar]

DA will definitely be the fourth option in the sense that he'll be the fourth most relied upon scorer in the starting lineup and he won't be expected to create much on his own. We know for sure he's wanted to be more involved on offense in the past, whether that's just getting more touches or actually having a playmaker role is anyone's guess. With 3 high volume scorers on the perimeter now and no traditional point guard to spread the offense around, it wouldn't be surprising for him to get "frozen out" even more frequently than previous years though. He's always going to be first or second read running pick and roll, and that's where he'll probably be used most.

So do you expect KD, Book and Beal to play on all 82 games? Not happening and you know it. For a good amount of games Ayton is gonna be the 3rd or even the 2nd option on offense.

Elite contenders can't ever have too many talented players. We are gonna need all the help available to win a championship.

[bwgood77]

Since "options" seem to be so important, I think there will often be times where Ayton has to be 2nd or 3rd with revolving lineups but likely more important, injuries. But yes, in the starting lineup, 4th on the pecking order since you have 3 of the league leading or near leading scorers in the NBA in recent years. Heck, he may be 5th if Gordon is in there with the top 4.

But scoring should be easier for everyone. He may take it more to the hoop, but those expecting or wanting him to do that all the time every year, that isn't his game. He will shoot more, like many other effective bigs in the past have. You can go down a list. He isn't Shaq or Amare and never will be. But he still scores at a very high % despite all that and on decent volume.

Yet he also always has more dunks than many of the top Cs like Jokic, Embiid, Towns and many others. Most of those with more dunks can't shoot, like Gobert and Capela, so due to lack of versatility at all on offense, they have to rely a lot more on dunking.

But again, defense is the more important thing. Offense obviously shouldn't be a problem on this team, so constant focus on his offense is weird, given people also argue he is the 4th option and we have 3 elite scorers ahead of him.

Defense from him is far more important, and he likely will be a very efficient offensive option anyway if he is largely the same player he's been in the past. He won't self create much or be a guy you throw to to come up with the last shot, but that won't be necessary and we don't do that anyway.

[darealjuice]

DA will definitely be the fourth option in the sense that he'll be the fourth most relied upon scorer in the starting lineup and he won't be expected to create much on his own. We know for sure he's wanted to be more involved on offense in the past, whether that's just getting more touches or actually having a playmaker role is anyone's guess. With 3 high volume scorers on the perimeter now and no traditional point guard to spread the offense around, it wouldn't be surprising for him to get "frozen out" even more frequently than previous years though. He's always going to be first or second read running pick and roll, and that's where he'll probably be used most.

So do you expect KD, Book and Beal to play on all 82 games? Not happening and you know it. For a good amount of games Ayton is gonna be the 3rd or even the 2nd option on offense.

Elite contenders can't ever have too many talented players. We are gonna need all the help available to win a championship.

No, and Ayton's not going to play 82 games either. The point is that he's probably not getting any more touches than last year with more scorers and less distributors.

I still think his salary would be better spread across multiple players, but if he plays up to his potential then the Suns are very strong contenders. We'll need his defense more than his offense though.

[Jdiddy701]

Didn’t get to watch Bahamas game today. Saw a few clips. Good to see the Bahamas move on. Did anyone get to see it? Thoughts??


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[SlovenianDragon]

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2023/8/19/23838632/deandre-ayton-problem-solving-shines-bahamas-win-uruguay-advances-fiba-americas-final-phoenix-suns

[Saberestar]

Didn’t get to watch Bahamas game today. Saw a few clips. Good to see the Bahamas move on. Did anyone get to see it? Thoughts??


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I couldn't watch the game but I have seen the 10 minutes highlights.

It seems that the game was an easy one and Hield was the best player on the court.

Ayton was +26 and ended with 8 points, 9 rebounds and 2 steals in 23 minutes.

They play the most important game tonight against Argentina. It's all or nothing. If they win their Olympics dreams would be alive yet.