Game Day: Magic (10-12) @ Suns (4-17), Fri 11/30/18

[TOO]

Luka is not taking the league by storm, jesus, he's not putting up LeBron numbers. He's having a good year thus far, but gimme a break. Dallas is a well coached team that has a lot of guys who know how to play.

[Ring_Wanted]

Not disagreeing on what Ayton is doing (or not doing). Just think Doncic is delivering on his considerable hype and is going viral. Nobody is going to give ROY to the double-double big on a bottom feeder, no matter what advanced stats he leads.

[Superbone]

And is also 19.

20.

He’s also leading in every advanced metric.

Not Shaqtin’.

Darren Collison says hi.

[Cap]

Not Shaqtin’.

Darren Collison says hi.

Not his only time featured. By that metric, he’s getting his butt kicked.

[TOO]

Not disagreeing on what Ayton is doing (or not doing). Just think Doncic is delivering on his considerable hype and is going viral. Nobody is going to give ROY to the double-double big on a bottom feeder, no matter what advanced stats he leads.

Thats because he seems to be the only rookie any of the "major" sites or twitter talks about. Bagley has been pretty solid, not a peep about him all year. The internet seems fascinated by Doncic more than any rookie in recent memory. It's not surprising he's playing well, he's been a pro for several years now. He should be playing well.

[Ring_Wanted]

Luka is not taking the league by storm, jesus, he's not putting up LeBron numbers. He's having a good year thus far, but gimme a break. Dallas is a well coached team that has a lot of guys who know how to play.

Don't you see he is all over the place all the time? It's not because of his mom.

Dallas was one of the (very) few teams PHX was projected to have a chance to beat for improvement this year. They are a 50% tean so far from bottom 5 last year. They have not made any other big move other than DeAndre (who of course made all the sense in the world if you added Doncic).

[Ring_Wanted]

Not Shaqtin’.

Darren Collison says hi.

Not his only time featured. By that metric, he’s getting his butt kicked.

Haha loves it. Tree down. We know he can move his feet, though.

[TOO]

Luka is not taking the league by storm, jesus, he's not putting up LeBron numbers. He's having a good year thus far, but gimme a break. Dallas is a well coached team that has a lot of guys who know how to play.

Don't you see he is all over the place all the time? It's not because of his mom.

Dallas was one of the (very) few teams PHX was projected to have a chance to beat for improvement this year. They are a 50% tean so far from bottom 5 last year. They have not made any other big move other than DeAndre (who of course made all the sense in the world if you added Doncic).

see above post.

[Ring_Wanted]

Haha yeah

[JeremyG]

Not disagreeing on what Ayton is doing (or not doing). Just think Doncic is delivering on his considerable hype and is going viral. Nobody is going to give ROY to the double-double big on a bottom feeder, no matter what advanced stats he leads.

Thats because he seems to be the only rookie any of the "major" sites or twitter talks about. Bagley has been pretty solid, not a peep about him all year. The internet seems fascinated by Doncic more than any rookie in recent memory. It's not surprising he's playing well, he's been a pro for several years now. He should be playing well.

Exactly. And thus he probably will not improve much the rest of his career. Ayton, on the other hand, will likely keep improving for years to come. In fact, it is quite possible he could overtake Doncic as the rookie scoring leader just by the end of the season.

[specialsauce]

Tweet deleted?

It had video of a fan yelling at Sarver to sell the team. Sarver actually stopped and engaged with him. Sarver says to him, "Do you have money?"

The best part is when the guy tells Sarver he has $100 to offer and Sarver replies, “If that’s all you got, I feel sorry for you.”

Wow

[INFORMER]

I don't really pay attention to the internet as far as fan reaction/commentary. So I don't know much about the hype Doncic; even if I did, I still wouldn't diminish what he is doing.

I really have no interest in playing the "we should have drafted..." game anymore; it accomplishes nothing. Also, it's gotten completely unnecessary because ultimately the proof is in the pudding. This organization continues to make awful decisions on so many different fronts and time reveals them as such. We had plenty of supporters of the Ariza signing and now they get to enjoy the benefits of such a great move.

We had comments earlier in the season about Doncic not doing anything to make the Mavs better when the Mavs had a terrible record; now they are winning and it's because of the coaching and superior players the Mavericks have, Doncic is just along for the ride. Doncic is scoring 18.5 ppg on 44% FG/38% 3PT but we're talking about him going 2/13 in this game or 5/13 in that game. And then of course there is the thought he won't get any better because he has been playing basketball a long time. That must be an analytics thing that is over my head.

I'm enjoying Luka's rookie season and I'll leave it at that. So far I would say he is the ROY.

Ayton has very good numbers. Personally, I would like to see him be more impactful, but that's just me. Analytics say he is awesome, so I guess I have nothing to worry about it.

[gosuns]

I don't really pay attention to the internet as far as fan reaction/commentary. So I don't know much about the hype Doncic; even if I did, I still wouldn't diminish what he is doing.

I really have no interest in playing the "we should have drafted..." game anymore; it accomplishes nothing. Also, it's gotten completely unnecessary because ultimately the proof is in the pudding. This organization continues to make awful decisions on so many different fronts and time reveals them as such. We had plenty of supporters of the Ariza signing and now they get to enjoy the benefits of such a great move.

We had comments earlier in the season about Doncic not doing anything to make the Mavs better when the Mavs had a terrible record; now they are winning and it's because of the coaching and superior players the Mavericks have, Doncic is just along for the ride. Doncic is scoring 18.5 ppg on 44% FG/38% 3PT but we're talking about him going 2/13 in this game or 5/13 in that game. And then of course there is the thought he won't get any better because he has been playing basketball a long time. That must be an analytics thing that is over my head.

I'm enjoying Luka's rookie season and I'll leave it at that. So far I would say he is the ROY.

Ayton has very good numbers. Personally, I would like to see him be more impactful, but that's just me. Analytics say he is awesome, so I guess I have nothing to worry about it.

You are spot on. I have nothing against De Andre. He has been very good and will be even better in the future. I think it will be tougher to win with him, because of the way you have to play to use his strengths. In today’s NBA the Center spot has become more of a defensive specialist role, good rebounder role. For De Andre this means tough matchups every night. Luca‘s skillset just fits today’s NBA better right now. He is a complete Basketball player at 19 years old.

[ShelC]

Also doesn't help that we drafted a 7-1 offensive monster but only get him 10 shots a night.

Going by social media, you wouldn't even know Ayton got drafted. All the talk is around Doncic, Trae Young and now Jaren Jackson Jr. He had 36 the other night and NBA twitter lost its collective mind. I don't have anything against JJJ, but he's averaging 14/5 and 2 blocks (skewed because he had 7 in a game last week against the Knicks). People have started comparing him to Sheed and KG, which is hilarious.

Ayton is a lot like Duncan. I think a lot of people, including us, take him for granted because he's kind of vanilla and boring. He's got a slower, more deliberate, veteran game that's efficient and understated. I don't care if he wins ROY, I just want us to use him more.

[SDC]

im enjoying luka s signature step back jumpers and 12 foot floaters...

[SDC]

the lack of a pg is a disaster in 4 different ways

its making igor look bad. i bet in the igor system, the pg is the most important position.

its making ayton underutilized. like all centers, ayton is dependent on other players getting him the ball and getting him easy baskets. a total disaster on that front.

its becoming clear that phx is the worst case scenario for mikal

and its making booker a less effective player ( by playing out of position, and fatiguing him with ball handling duties)

[ShelC]

Numbers 3 and 4 are valid. Our PG situation hurts everyone, namely Bridges and Ariza, who need to be set up for their shots. Booker doing more at point takes away from his strength as a scorer.

Regarding Igor, I don't know if the motion/DHO offense is a product of not have a PG and needing to rely on everyone to pass and make plays for each other. If we had a ball dominant PG - be in Kemba or Chris Paul - would we still be running this offense?

The PG situation isnt making Ayton underutilized. If anything, it should be giving him more chances because we don't have a PG to run the offense from the outsisde. It'd be simpler/more effective playing inside-out thru our franchise offensive-minded center. It'd open things up for shooters like Bridges, Ariza, Booker and allow cutters like TJ and Jackson to move without the ball. You don't need an All-Star PG to throw an entry pass. This falls squarely on Igor IMO.

[SDC]

point booker has failed.

id like to see phx run the offense thru ayton. and surround him with four shooters. he s good enough of a passer so it could work. enuf with running the offense thru booker. theres no evidence of it working during his entire suns tenure.

even if point ayton falls short, it will improve his chances of winning ROTY

[SDC]

i bet mikal will be getting good looks off aytons assists

[SDC]

maybe igor relies on dribble handoff plays and motion offense because he doesnt have a pg?