Deandre Ayton news and discussion

bigfoot · Post #801 » by **bigfoot** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:52 pm

So funny when people are hard on Ayton they're "NOT SUPPORTERS". Nobody can deny Ayton was wishy-washy and inconsistent until his recent string of games. EJ, Chambers, the TNT crew all pointed out problems with Ayton's play because they recognized the Suns fortunes relied heavily on his engagement in the game. It is awesome he is finally showing some of level of consistency since the beginning of April. However, it has only been two weeks now and let's hope he does not revert back to Kid Ayton.

bhawk · Post #802 » by **bhawk** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:54 pm

Saberestar wrote:

Read on Twitter

Right here Gambo! This is a repeat from an earlier post, and the point is that we (I) bash out of love, hope and potential. I was super frusterated with Ayton, but ALWAYS wanted him to turn it around and improve.

YES! I am on record as a basher, and have been extremely frustrated with Ayton over his first 2 seasons. He was the #1 pick in the draft for gods sake, and he simply wasn't taking his job seriously until this year. There was no passion. No heart. He looked young. He played young. It has been an overall rough NBA start for Ayton.

Maybe it is his new addition? Maybe he just needed time? Maybe it is Monte (coaching)? But Ayton is growing up before our eyes and I could not be happier. He is FINALLY playing like the #1 pick and he will be an CORE peice (max?) of our franchise for the next 10+ years. How cool is that?

Again, I bashed Ayton because I am a big fan of his potential and of ALL the PHX Suns #1 picks. I wanted him to get better. Now, he is not a finished product and has room to improve... but super excited with his progress! Keep going DeAndre. We need you.

sasquatchBob · Post #803 » by **sasquatchBob** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 1:58 pm

Saberestar wrote:

Read on Twitter

Still here. He has shown stretches of good play before. If he goes back to his old self come play-off time we're back at square 1 and discussions about his motor will come up again. He's been very good in recent weeks but this time it will take longer time to convince me that those days are behind him.

Edit:
As bhawk said it's bashing out of love because we know what he's capable of. I want him to succeed as much as every other guy on this board.

bigfoot · Post #804 » by **bigfoot** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:00 pm

His April splits are pretty good ... shooting 71.7% from the field on 11.5 attempts will get you 18.6 ppg pretty quick.

MPG 30.4
Shots 8.3-11.5
FG% 71.7 (This is amazing)
3PA 0.0-0.4
3P% 0.0
FTA 2.1-2.9 (still needs to get more attempts)
FT% 73.9
ORB 3.1
DRB 7.1
TRB 10.3
AST 1.1
BLK 1.4
STL 1.3
PF 2.3
TO 1.9
PTS 18.6

sunsbg · Post #805 » by **sunsbg** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:36 pm

16/10 in first season was not bad at all. He had a very solid second year, with early indications he can be a great defender. Had longer and better stretches last season as well. He will surely have a bad stretch at some point, everybody has it. Hopefully people will have more patience this time. It's like having a kid, would you bash him all the time out of love.

Desertfox · Post #806 » by **Desertfox** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 4:57 pm

Just to put everything in perspective at this point in time David Robinson and Tim Duncan where in their senior years of college and Joel Embid was in his "rookie" season.

Post #807 » by **bwgood77** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:46 pm

bigfoot wrote:So funny when people are hard on Ayton they're "NOT SUPPORTERS". Nobody can deny Ayton was wishy-washy and inconsistent until his recent string of games. EJ, Chambers, the TNT crew all pointed out problems with Ayton's play because they recognized the Suns fortunes relied heavily on his engagement in the game. It is awesome he is finally showing some of level of consistency since the beginning of April. However, it has only been two weeks now and let's hope he does not revert back to Kid Ayton.

Just whiners...inconsistencies for a young guy and railing like I've never seen, even by older fans, who have seen players take time to grow time and time again...but mostly younger kids doing the whining and tweeting to him that he sucks, etc.

Post #808 » by **bwgood77** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:51 pm

sunsbg wrote:16/10 in first season was not bad at all. He had a very solid second year, with early indications he can be a great defender. Had longer and better stretches last season as well. He will surely have a bad stretch at some point, everybody has it. Hopefully people will have more patience this time. It's like having a kid, would you bash him all the time out of love.

Yeah, his first year was huge....18/12, highly efficient. Defense was horrible as expected, but most focus on pts/rebs so I get it.

2nd was extremely impressive with leaps on D.

There wasn't a ton of complaining about him outside of super Doncic homers. I did point out his D is what I expected as a rookie, etc,

This year, more efficient than last, a litte inconsistent on D to start, though good, but a lot better on D than even last year the last month....and a lot more aggressive going to the basket on offense after getting used to Paul and Book making some better passes.

He is far more efficient this year despite all the whining about not dunking.

Also, people used to call him out all the time about how he should demand the ball...and I said "like Paul and Booker are going to follow his lead",

but for those who watch, he does raise his hand up and ask for it A LOT and not get it. Mostly when he is wide open. I think he could be averaging what he did last night if he got the ball in all these situations.

Post #809 » by **bwgood77** » Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:53 pm

Desertfox wrote:Just to put everything in perspective at this point in time David Robinson and Tim Duncan where in their senior years of college and Joel Embid was in his "rookie" season.

Yeah, people ignore this. Very very very few bigs are even close to what he is at this age...most still really raw, or even those guys dominating much much lesser college competition.

Saberestar · Post #810 » by **Saberestar** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:15 pm

Read on Twitter

Bogyo · Post #811 » by **Bogyo** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 1:57 pm

Is there any report on his hurt shoulder? I don't want to say the i word, I don't want to jinx it. But I hope he is OK, if not let him rest and fully heal, he could aggrevate it against Embiid easily. Not worth the risk.

RunDogGun · Post #812 » by **RunDogGun** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:04 pm

Bogyo wrote:Is there any report on his hurt shoulder? I don't want to say the i word, I don't want to jinx it. But I hope he is OK, if not let him rest and fully heal, he could aggrevate it against Embiid easily. Not worth the risk.

It was quite concerning, especially since our other bigs have forgotten how to play basketball. Are we going to start Craig against Embid?

sunsbg · Post #813 » by **sunsbg** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:32 pm

RunDogGun wrote:
Bogyo wrote:Is there any report on his hurt shoulder? I don't want to say the i word, I don't want to jinx it. But I hope he is OK, if not let him rest and fully heal, he could aggrevate it against Embiid easily. Not worth the risk.

It was quite concerning, especially since our other bigs have forgotten how to play basketball. Are we going to start Craig against Embid?

He was holding his shoulder exactly the same in another game, maybe even previous game against Bucks, but continued to play like in this one. Hopefully he's OK.

Cam Johnson defended Giannis on a few plays and did well. Maybe they should put him on Embiid as well. jk

Fo-Real · Post #814 » by **Fo-Real** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:40 pm

Bogyo wrote:Is there any report on his hurt shoulder? I don't want to say the i word, I don't want to jinx it. But I hope he is OK, if not let him rest and fully heal, he could aggrevate it against Embiid easily. Not worth the risk.

I think he gets stingers. For those who don't know what it is, some people, when you get jostled hard and your body and neck kinda goes opposite directions, or shoulder gets hit funny, you get what feels like a HOT ASS SPRING going off and reverberating in your shoulder and pouring down your arm.They hurt like hell but the sensation subsides as time goes on. As time goes, it ebbs to ache and a little weaknesses. Playing football, they were a problem for me, I still have shoulder issues.

Saberestar · Post #815 » by **Saberestar** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:40 pm

Read on Twitter

RunDogGun · Post #816 » by **RunDogGun** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:41 pm

sunsbg wrote:
RunDogGun wrote:
Bogyo wrote:Is there any report on his hurt shoulder? I don't want to say the i word, I don't want to jinx it. But I hope he is OK, if not let him rest and fully heal, he could aggrevate it against Embiid easily. Not worth the risk.

It was quite concerning, especially since our other bigs have forgotten how to play basketball. Are we going to start Craig against Embid?

He was holding his shoulder exactly the same in another game, maybe even previous game against Bucks, but continued to play like in this one. Hopefully he's OK.

Cam Johnson defended Giannis on a few plays and did well. Maybe they should put him on Embiid as well. jk

The scary part is Cam might have to, since our other bigs forgot how to play basketball.

Fo-Real · Post #817 » by **Fo-Real** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 2:44 pm

RunDogGun wrote:
sunsbg wrote:
RunDogGun wrote:
It was quite concerning, especially since our other bigs have forgotten how to play basketball. Are we going to start Craig against Embid?

He was holding his shoulder exactly the same in another game, maybe even previous game against Bucks, but continued to play like in this one. Hopefully he's OK.

Cam Johnson defended Giannis on a few plays and did well. Maybe they should put him on Embiid as well. jk

The scary part is Cam might have to, since our other bigs forgot how to play basketball.

I know things can change in a heart beat but Saric played pretty good defense on him last they met.

collidingNeurons · Post #818 » by **collidingNeurons** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:53 pm

I still get critical of Ayton at times but a glad he is playing with more focus and intensity, those were always my main gripes about him and his inability to catch the ball at times which has also improved lately it seems

sunsbg · Post #819 » by **sunsbg** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:55 pm

collidingNeurons wrote:I still get critical of Ayton at times but a glad he is playing with more focus and intensity, those were always my main cripes about him and his inability to catch the ball at times which has also improved lately it seems

Catching a ball improves when you get it more often.

NapoleonII · Post #820 » by **NapoleonII** » Tue Apr 20, 2021 4:31 pm

Is it crazy to think that I don't see us being this successful this soon, atop the Western conference, if we drafted Luka?

There's a lot of what-ifs and unknown variables in that statement, but its ringing true to me. Yes Luka would be a cornerstone, untouchable player and CP3 probably only has 1-2 more years left but a hypothetical Luka/Booker/Bridges + Capela or whomever wouldn't be getting it done or thriving like this group is.

Another controversial/homer statement:

Is Ayton's ceiling higher than Luka's?