bwgood77 wrote:Saberestar wrote:Too much hate around here, come on...
Ayton has been pretty consistent in too many consecutive games and he played a very bad game tonight...and what? Yeah, he is not as good as Doncic, Captain Obvious, but he is yet a damn good starting C.
Probably as good as an All Star C in the next few years, IDK, but what I know is that Ayton is very good on both sides and we need him as our second option on offense.
The Raptors are one of the best defensive teams in the league. Scottie Barnes, Anunoby and Siakam together...THAT'S CRAZY. Defenders with quick hands are criptonite for Ayton, he needs to improve and accelerate his decision making.
CP3 with 20 points and 12 assists in front of S. Barnes is remarkable, people probably ignore that Barnes is very similar to a young Scottie Pippen...all-around point-forward that is gonna be a nightmare defensively for years to come.
I love that we fought for the win, but we lack depth. We are playing 2 two-way contracts consistent minutes, just think about it.
Yeah, it is amazing he can play a lot of very solid games in a row, putting up better #s in a stretch than most all but the best Cs, and then in one bad game, shooting far worse than ever, but with Ayton, you know that's a huge anomaly to shoot that poorly. That's not the case for anyone else on our team.
Yes, his effort wanes, but so does everyone else's at times, as you often see no one else contribution to the boards often, and many stand around on defense. We need to play with more urgency as a team, but even with that, we are simply missing too much talent to expect to win much.
I think going through this might be good for some of these players, realizing they have to step up and take more responsibilty, in that it will help when we do get healthy.
Key truths in huge print here! I mean seriously, everyone had to know how very small our margin for error was this year. Add to that all the ridiculous front office/ ownership distractions, free agency rumors, and injury issues plaguing us severely and on top of all that being already mentally shook from our demoralizing collapse to the Mavs and we're in total disharmony and chaos. The icing on the cake is the full gravity of understanding by both the players and front office, coaching staff etc that big changes are customary with most every ownership transition!
So basically none of the players or coaches can properly focus on their in game performances or focus in general as they're obviously all distracted by whether or not any of them will still be on the team in the coming months! Even though basketball IS THEIR JOB, the logistics of the coming imminent changes both to the roster and front office has them completely disengaged from the chemistry they worked to establish over such a long period of time. It's just not easy to focus/ invest in your work when you don't know if the new boss plans to fire or replace you! Can't find motivation with all of these uncertainties looming overhead! Book has been able to remain locked in because contractually he's pretty much cemented himself here as a long term fixture.
Sorry to say there's just too many uncertainties, injuries, issues unaddressed with too little time left to legitimately salvage our early in the year lofty postseason goals. Whatever's left will settle once things become restabilized with more this coming summer and into next preseason.
