RedIndian wrote:sunsbg wrote:RedIndian wrote:Are you not worried about how passive Ayton has continually been looking ever since that brief 5 game decent stretch he had? It's just very very frustrating. Every now and again he does some nice things - that pass to the Bridges cut was beautiful and he's shown that every now and again.
But all those good moments are dominated by vast stretches of passive play. He now rarely does any sort of self-creation in the post, barely gets any and1s, frequently fumbles passes, brings the ball down low and gets stripped, is passive in receiving passes at the top of the key which leads to turnovers. Even his FT shooting looks lazy with a flat shot. The 3-ball is also something that rarely makes an appearance, and when he does shoot it, it's mostly very flat a'la Bender.
At this juncture, his offensive production is limited to putbacks and anything that Paul and Booker serve to him on a plate. He'll show a couple of nice midrange jumpers now and then, but even those are fairly limited.
Now I get that Ayton in some ways is a victim of the team's success in that Monty & Co. deem it more important to share the ball and get good shots as opposed to force-feeding Ayton, but Ayton needs to realize quickly that this league waits for nobody. The team has gotten good quickly and isn't going to have the patience to spoon feed him. Either he works his butt off and improves his offensive skills the way Bridges has, or this FO will deem him dispensable and use him in a trade in the not too distant future.
I was going to reply with something like in the bolded part, but I see you get it on your own. It's obvious part of the so called regression is because of what he's been asked to do.
What has Mikal, who's two years older, improved so much on offense than Ayton ? Being spoon fed on cuts just like Ayton. He had two drives trying to create something in this game and turned it over. In the meantime Ayton had a nice drive putting the ball behind his back, nice turnaround jumper. Mikal is scoring less than Ayton for the season and somehow he's improved drastically, while Ayton has regressed. Personally, I don't see any one of them being more likely to lay an egg in the playoffs than the other. The love for Bridges and hate for Ayton on this board is amusing.
Relative to their starting positions from when they entered the league, Bridges has progressed far more on offense than Ayton has. To suggest otherwise is completely disingenuous.
Rookie Bridges had a hitch in his shot, and was very diffident with the ball in his hands. Over the last 2 years, we've seen him:
- correct the hitch in his shot, to the point he is almost automatic from the corner. Just an excellent 3-point shooter now. 42% on solid volume
- become an exceptional finisher in transition, almost as good as Booker
- become an outstanding cutter - this isn't spoon feeding - this is HIM creating those opportunities
- become far more confident handling the ball, attacking closeouts and showing flashes of a mid-range game as well
Ayton has progressed significantly on defense since his rookie season - I'm one of Ayton's biggest cheerleaders on that end.
But to ignore the fact that he's remained stagnant on offense is fairly strange. You can acknowledge that without "hating" on him. I see almost no progression on any of Ayton's offensive weaknesses from year 1. He still can't put the ball on the floor, he still struggles finishing through contact, he still doesn't get to the FT line (numbers are in fact lower than year 1), his 3-point shot has still not developed. Saying that is hardly hating on him.
Bridges shot was fine as a rookie and the hitch came the first half last year which was strange he had tried to change it. He has improved on cutting and creating his own shot, and his 3 ptr has become elite.
Ayton has improved on offense as well, though it takes time with the chemistry on lobs, he has finally mostly gotten that down except the bad passes that get knocked away or are uncatchable.
But, recently I have seen him turn around, face up for a shot, back guys down, drive from the free throw line, turn around for fadeways, and get to the line more. His efficiency has drastically improved from last year too.
HIs scoring is down simply to fewer shots, in part with more scorers but also because of a lot more defensive attention so he smartly doesn't force up shots against 2-3 defenders and finds the open guy.
Obviously if he took as many shots as last year, he would have more points than last year since his efficiency has improved so much.
Now Bridges may have improved more, primarily because his shot is so much better, but Ayton may have added more overall to his game. Now he doesn't do a lot of the newer stuff often, and some of it is more recent, but Bridges doesn't create his own shot often either. He was already a great cutter last year...so Bridges occasionally creates and improved his 3 pt shot.
Bridges looked as if he added more early. Ayton has shown a little more lately...in my opinion.
