ATL: DeMarcus Cousins blows out ACL, pg 89

[Ayt]

Phoenix was awful last year. I could see them pushing 30 wins with the additions they've made and with a little growth from their young players. It isn't that Rubio, Saric, and Baynes are world beaters, but they are a hell of a lot better than they've had. Rubio, in particular, is important due to their complete lack of playmakers outside of Booker. Having Oubre and Tyler Johnson all season will also help.

They actually look somewhat like an NBA team on paper.

[Ron Swanson]

I used to defend Booker a lot when people threw out the "empty stats" criticism because I just attributed it to growing pains and development. But nah, this is year 3 now of him doing his best/worst Jerry Stackhouse impression, and the Suns have amazingly even regressed more as his usage and stats go up.

You can blame it on coaching and the franchise being an overall dumpster fire, but Michael Redd was a guy you could still give offensive primacy to, and assuming 82 games of relative health, could be the best player on a 35-40 win team. Booker ain't close to that right now, so calling him a poor man's Redd might even be a slight compliment. That doesn't mean he won't get better and that's what he'll always be, but Ayton's the guy that franchise needs to build around, not Booker.

It's completely bizarre how little Ayton gets talked about.

Got completely overshadowed by Luka and Trae so I somewhat understand it, but yeah, he quietly had one of the best "3rd place" in Rookie of the Year voting seasons in recent memory. His numbers were actually pretty comparable with rookie KAT. The key is if he can extend his range out to 3PT land. If he gets that down, look out. He could be the best scoring big in basketball.

[chonestown]

It's completely bizarre how little Ayton gets talked about.

Dong-itch had all the hype coming in, and though it took awhile, speculators did indeed start casting eyes toward Trae Island. I think Tobes was the first to call it on the kid, but I bought early. Anyway, despite dopey Ringer articles to the contrary [Is KAT Really Not the Greatest Center in the West? No, Simmons Inc, He Is Not But the Gaping Content Monster Must Be Satiated], Ayton already has good spot-up range [and I see no reason why he couldn't hit threes at a better clip than Jo-Hans], gives defense more than a passing concern, and presumably, will become bigger, stronger and better conditioned, which is scary to consider. As always, Phoenix is a dumpster fire, so I look forward to new advances in talent squandering and cultivation of hurt feelings.

[emunney]

I think Ayton has mainly been hurt by the fact that Phoenix did not improve after it drafted him. If they had won even 25 games, they'd be talking about taking The Next Step™ this year and Ayton would be getting stories written about him all summer. And generally the perception that the Suns are doomed throws a shadow over everything that happens in the Purple Palace.

[WeekapaugGroove]

Rubio could be really good for Ayton, I expect it to look similar to the two man game he played with Pek early in his career. Ayton has really good hands and a soft touch both around the rim and from the elbow. Indicators would suggest he should be able to extend out to the 3pt line. The other thing he needs to work on is a little pump fake drive game, something he was never asked to do in college or last season.

Defensively will be the difference if he's just a good player or a great player. He has all the tools he just needs to read quicker. He had a long ways to go but made noticable improvement in that area as the year went on.

The thing I'm not sure he can really develop is it would be great if he had a little more **** you agression in his game but that might just not be his personality.

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[BroncoBuck]

I really like Ayton, but I’ll take that young Grizzlies core 10 times out of 10 over that Suns core. Memphis might have a Thunder esque core.

[BUCKnation]

Ayton was really good in the games against the Bucks. Disclaimer: their whole team was though as they some kind of voodoo magic against us.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I really like Ayton, but I’ll take that young Grizzlies core 10 times out of 10 over that Suns core. Memphis might have a Thunder esque core.

I love JJJ but I'm less sold on Ja. If he doesn't shoot the 3 consistently Im not sure he can be all that great since he's not going to be a positive on D.

He was really helped by this draft class being complete trash. If he was in last year's draft he might not have gone top 10.

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[TD75]

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[jschligs]

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Korver alone brings us up almost a year total. While interesting, I take it with a grain of salt. We've got a good amount of oldies between Korver, Matthews, Hill, Lopez's

[LUKE23]

I don't like average age of roster. Weigh it for minutes played, or in this case for 19-20 season, projected minutes played.

[TD75]

The average age of roster is not the thing you need to take away. It is the form of the distribution. The Bucks have a good number of players above 30.

I am not saying that this is necessarily bad. It depends on the way the roster is handled, as usual. There is some sort of urgency though implied after the contract extensions of this summer.

[buckboy]

T-Mac being in the HoF over Rose is questionable at the very least

T-Mac played in 988 career games.

Rose played in 592 career games.

Think the game difference is quite significant.

McGrady was way better than Rose. Can't believe we're discussing this.

[Antinomy]

T-Mac being in the HoF over Rose is questionable at the very least

T-Mac played in 988 career games.

Rose played in 592 career games.

Think the game difference is quite significant.

McGrady was way better than Rose. Can't believe we're discussing this.

Rose won an MVP at 22 & led his team to a 62-win conference finals appearance. Even through an injury plagued 2012 season, the Bulls went 32-7 with him in the lineup. Arguably one of the most accomplished players ever that age.

T-Mac never made it outta the first round as a rotation player.

Rose’s career was legitimately derailed by injuries yet people love to use that excuse for McGrady even though he had about 7-8 prime years. Rose would’ve had to deal with the Miami superteam. The East was basically open for several years in the mid 00s.

T-Mac is probably the most overrated guy from the 2000s. You even have people saying he was better than Kobe, Pierce, etc. He was a flashy scoring machine but did little much else. He managed to fool everyone.

[ReasonablySober]

MVP*

[ReasonablySober]

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[ClassicJack]

I think this is a huge pickup for the Lakers. Dwight is still a good player when he's out there and the things that he's good at will take a ton of pressure off AD and Bron. If healthy they will be scary good this season.

[buckboy]

T-Mac played in 988 career games.

Rose played in 592 career games.

Think the game difference is quite significant.

McGrady was way better than Rose. Can't believe we're discussing this.

Rose won an MVP at 22 & led his team to a 62-win conference finals appearance. Even through an injury plagued 2012 season, the Bulls went 32-7 with him in the lineup. Arguably one of the most accomplished players ever that age.

T-Mac never made it outta the first round as a rotation player.

Rose’s career was legitimately derailed by injuries yet people love to use that excuse for McGrady even though he had about 7-8 prime years. Rose would’ve had to deal with the Miami superteam. The East was basically open for several years in the mid 00s.

T-Mac is probably the most overrated guy from the 2000s. You even have people saying he was better than Kobe, Pierce, etc. He was a flashy scoring machine but did little much else. He managed to fool everyone.

Again, Rose may have played one season at a similar level to McGrady. McGrady had like 6 seasons as good as Rose's best one.

He was a flashy scoring machine. And what was Rose (for a far shorter period of time)?

[Plossum]

Rose was better. I agree re TMac. People remember his amazing athleticism but he really wasn’t that great a player. He just benefitted from that gunslinger era where it was normal for dudes to score 25 on 22 shots.

Edit: I’ll add both guys are a little overrated. Both amazing athletes who had a lot of rough patches in their games. I think Rose had a bigger impact on the game with how he manipulated defences due to his ability to get into the lane. But then again I’m not sure TMac ever played on a team as good as some of the Bulls teams Rose was on. So it’s tough. Both good but flawed players but I think rose’s peak was better.

[DrWood]

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I mean, I like the data, but if anything was more suitable for a histogram instead of a smooth curve, this is it.