Saberestar wrote:Booker is already an elite scorer in the league. He scores a high volume with great efficiency (0.62 TS%). That's the biggest skill that a player can have and that's what the great players usually can do. Durant, Curry, Harden, LeBron... all of them are first and foremost high volume efficient scorers.
The next step for Booker is improving his defense, but I think it's not a difficult task because he can get there with the effort that he showed in the first part of the season and better defensive players/system around him. Curry and Harden are mediocre defenders...he just need to get to that level. It is an small step and he is only 23, so there is a good chance that it's attainable.
Ayton is (for now) a traditional C, and you know that those are not really important in the current NBA anymore. He is showing an improvement in his second season, and I love what I have seen from him in rebounding and overall defense...but that's not as important as being able to create shots for himself or his teammates . And this is what he is lacking for now and we don't know if he will be able to do it in the future.
Ayton needs to improve a lot his ball handling skills and his 3p shot. And awareness on both sides (but he is already better than last season). He is already a very good C, so there is a good chance that he improves in all of that.
Is he better than Whiteside or Drummond? For now he is not. He is as good as them at most, but not better. And you know that these two players are not winning a lot of games for their teams. Their value is relatively low around the league and people really don't care about their great numbers and production on rebounds, blocks and points around the rim.
Ayton is just 21, so is possible that he will be a more complete player than Drummond or Whiteside and I hope so... but I don't take improvements for granted. Never. I want to see him dribbling the ball, creating shots and scoring from three by myself... not just imagine it. That's why at the moment I value Booker over him even at his salary.
Warning: there's a long-ish post ahead (for RealGM standards, anyway), so just scroll down to the next if you don't feel like reading a few hundred words.I have to disagree with your perception of Booker and his credentials compared to the league's best players. The one thing that guys like Durant, Lebron or Kawhi (the 3 guys most teams would pick if they had to fight for a ring right away) have in common is that they are all big wings who can do plenty of things on offense, beyond being great scorers. They're also able to put their teams on their backs, usually on both ends (well, unless Lebron goes back to coasting on D, like he's often done the past few years). Then you have Curry and Harden, who both operate as PGs and have very distinct abilities (Curry's shooting, Harden's knack for provoking fouls and getting to the rim) that they've been able to exploit like no one else, giving them immense gravity in the process and opening things up for their teammates. Booker is none of those. Booker is a very efficient scorer at the SG spot who cares very little about defense and who can't make his teammates that much better. He's Zach Lavine, he's Bradley Beal. As of right now, he's a type of player that is not conducive to winning.
Apart from that, I honestly think you're judging DB and DA with different standards. When talking about Ayton you say you don't take improvement for granted, ever, and that you want to watch and not imagine, despite the fact that we've seen him improve so much defensively in under a year, and that it was the first thing required of him as a pro: to become a better defender. Yet when it comes to Booker, you point to the fact that he's still young (though not as much as Ayton) and you say that him becoming a better defender is attainable, that it's just a small step and that it's not difficult, even though he hasn't improved one bit defensively, he's already in his 5th season as a pro (against Ayton's 2nd), and he doesn't possess the motor and he hasn't shown the awareness to become a respectable defender. It doesn't seem too fair.
As for the premise of traditional centers being outdated, it's part of a bigger debate, but I fully disagree with it, as I do with the idea that Ayton needs to improve his ballhandling (the number of succesful, ballhandling Cs in this league is very close to zero). Rim runners like Capela or Harrell are effective and key parts of their teams, as long as they bring enough defense. An incredibly limited guy like Gobert who can only score on some pnr action, lobs and putbacks, is also a very effective center due to his length and his fantastic defense. 3-point shooting centers like Marc Gasol or Brook Lopez are utterly important pieces for their teams (the current champions and the top team in the league), but again, they're even more important for the defense they bring. There is not a "modern center" offensive archetype that's proven to be the only one that leads to winning. It's the defense that matters the most at the 5 spot (like it's always been), and how you surround all of your players with guys that complement their games. It's only the back-to-the-basket center that's been replaced, and Ayton's not that. He prefers to face up from the mid-range or to roll to the basket, and that's perfectly fine. He also has plenty of time to add a 3-point shot like we've seen with guys like Gasol (who never shot threes until his age 32 season, 9th year in the league), Horford (29yo, 9th year), Lopez (28, 9th year), Vucevic (27, 7th), Dedmon (28, 5th) and so many others, including the Suns own Aron Baynes. Ayton is as capable from the mid range and the FT line as any of them were when they came into the league (actually better than most of them) and he's so, so young still. Being able to shoot threes and be considered a "modern 5" is not a matter of
if for him, it's just matter of
when: exactly when he's asked and allowed to do so by the Suns' coaching staff.
