bwgood77 wrote:Jdiddy701 wrote:bwgood77 wrote:I was looking at his game logs from last year after all these posts blaming him for not being further enough along by now, because it just doesn't add all up.
He had so many 20-25 pt games with 12-21 rebounds last year, especially if you look at his logs from like Jan 16th through the end of Feb. https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/aytonde01/gamelog/2020
I've gone back to watch his points, and highlights from a few.
Talking about him not getting lobs this year when open, or calling for the ball...look at how our offense looked to be running so much better, great lobs thrown to him, him dunking it like 5x here and just getting good looks and passes, and I think when he gets those looks it always sometimes energizes him even more with other things (though that goes for most players except maybe like Bridges and Carter)..
I really have barely seen any good lobs or passes to him this year where he is really in scoring position moving toward the basket. Yeah, we saw that low poor pass to him the other night from Paul, but if he just lobbed it up a little above the basket, Ayton will finish it like he does here.
I remember Ayton putting a stretch of good games during this time. It’s the best he’s played in his young career. I wouldn’t really look into what Rubio was doing different than CP3 though. CP3 has tried to look for Ayton multiple times, Ayton’s confidence is clearly not there. Honestly, every player has looked for Ayton, I feel like a lot are worried he will fumble the pass or end up passing back anyways.
It’s all on Ayton to look like that player in that video. In that game, he’s going against one of the worst teams in the league last year and up against smaller bigs. He does those same moves this season - jab step at the free throw line, fadeaway when he’s on the side of the rim, use his size vs smaller players, the dunks is what is needed from him that he’s not doing this season. There’s a handful of games where he looks really good.. unfortunately there’s a lot more games where he looks terrible. Not sure if he will ever be a consistent player and I feel that way because I don’t think he cares to. That’s the problem.
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That's one of about 15-20 videos that are similar from games last season where he put up 20-25 points and 12-20 boards.
I agree the confidence isn't there on offense, but I think it's because he overthinks things. This is EXACTLY what I saw on defense at AZ...he would kind of freeze, and I would watch closely trying to figure out what it was, because I knew he had the ability to do things I'd seen him do before. I think he has a lot of new voices in his head telling him what to do and it makes him a little more robotic sometimes or he just doesn't flow as much with the offense.
I know I defend him a lot but I was never really a huge fan coming into the draft...but I've watched him extensively. As weird as it may sound, I don't think it's him being lazy or not into it...I truly think he is overthinking things.
Have you ever heard the phrase "Paralysis by analysis"? I think some things are instinctual and other things are not. I never thought watching him in college that his help defense would become instinctual, but I have seen it a lot now, even though he still has lapses.
But I have for sure seen him be instinctual on all sorts of shots, spin moves, fadeaways, hook shots, rebounding put backs, lob dunks, etc.
I've even seen him dribble and drive from the free throw line and put it in a couple times this year. I think he's just adjusting.
The funny thing is I liked him less coming out of college because I wasn't sure he had certain things in him....I wasn't sure how hard he worked or if things could become instinctual, but I have seen him work hard and things I never expected to, become instinctual.
It's not that I don't see his weaknesses, and they are a little concerning, but not in a way to me to where I am not almost certainly sure he will fix the vast majority of them.
I think it does suck though that his year 2 and 3 had COVID derail both seasons (who knows how bad it will impact this season).
I do remember you mentioning those things during draft night about him. His entire career I feel like he freezes a lot, doesn’t matter if it’s offense or defense. This year, it’s really bad on offense. He’s looked the same way in the bubble under Rubio that he does now with CP3. It sucks. It’s frustrating when Ayton has those good games because you question why he doesn’t do it every night (of course players have off nights but he has too many). We all get pissed off when he has bad games because we know he can do better and has all the talent in the world to be one of the best bigs. As I’ve said in the past, he’s in the perfect situation, just frustrating how he’s looked his 3 years.. way too many bad moments.
If he ever gets any type of trade value, I’m 100% sure he’s getting traded. He’s not a James Jones type of guy. Ayton honestly has it so easy in Phoenix, why he can’t play well consistently I will never understand.
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