Around the League: Week 2 12/28-1/3

[INFORMER]

Actually, Mori, that would be more on par with the Kelly Oubre treatment.

[INFORMER]

The more games the Clippers play, the worse that Luke Kennard extension looks.

[Mori Chu]

The more games the Clippers play, the worse that Luke Kennard extension looks.

Agreed. He looks overmatched out there. I liked him but not at that money.

[Drewsprocket]

What a bust he's turning to be! I bet Mavs fans are shitting all over him and saying he sucks, just like Suns fans do every time Ayton has a few bad games. That's how this works, right?

Lol. Dallas is playing him wrong. He would be better alongside another ballhandler/ playmaker to mix it up on offense. Why the flip everyone wants a James Harden is beyond me.

[INFORMER]

Playing Doncic like that has worked to this point.

[Shabazz]

I’m not super impressed with the roster they built around him. Other than KP, who can’t be counted on, it’s a bunch of role players. Carlisle does a good job maximizing them, but I think that group has a limited ceiling.

[carey]

I don’t think Doncic is quite in shape yet. He looks a step slower than last year to me.

In regards to Mori’s comment I will say I never watch Doncic and think he looks lost out there like I do sometimes watching Ayton. I think his offense is super ugly yet it’s effective. Do you think the same applies to Ayton? I do not.

[Split T]

Ya I think Luka just needs to shake off the rust and get back into shape. I don’t think Mori was fully serious about his comments, but the difference is Luka has played at an all-nba level in the past and this start is clearly not his norm. Ayton’s slow start is unfortunately a believable and even expected result.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Luka is a great talent. I was on the “I Want us to take him but sincerely didn’t think he would be this good, this fast” group. I was a true believer in Bender as well.

But I don’t feel validates neither horrified for how things had turned out. Yes, we are stuck with Ferdinand the bull, but he is not a bust, we just need to develop him from that angle, a David Robinson light is still within reach.

Regarding Luka, he plays with a joy and energy that is no wonder he is the current league darling, but he also is getting a huge Star treatment, Not to be fatalist, but not sure if things would have developed the same way here. Nash became a league darling as well and still was mugged time and time again without all that referee colaboration.

Linsanity comes to my mind, altough Luka it’s of course head, shoulders and hip above Jeremy, but just to ilustrate how easy is to inflate even an average player with referee help. And Luka would not be this good without that much protection.

[O_Gardino]

If y'all think Mavs fans aren't criticizing the offense at great length over Luka's shooting #s, you might be forgetting that they are sports fans. Of course they are over reacting.

[O_Gardino]

Playing Doncic like that has worked to this point.

They don't have a championship, and last season they were the worst team in the NBA in the last 5 minutes.

[Split T]

They also had the most efficient offense in the history of the nba.

[O_Gardino]

By what stat? I'm both curious and skeptical, as I think advanced stats generally don't mean what they appear to mean.

[Split T]

Points per 100 possessions

[Superbone]

Luka is a great talent. I was on the “I Want us to take him but sincerely didn’t think he would be this good, this fast” group. I was a true believer in Bender as well.

But I don’t feel validates neither horrified for how things had turned out. Yes, we are stuck with Ferdinand the bull, but he is not a bust, we just need to develop him from that angle, a David Robinson light is still within reach.

Regarding Luka, he plays with a joy and energy that is no wonder he is the current league darling, but he also is getting a huge Star treatment, Not to be fatalist, but not sure if things would have developed the same way here. Nash became a league darling as well and still was mugged time and time again without all that referee colaboration.

Linsanity comes to my mind, altough Luka it’s of course head, shoulders and hip above Jeremy, but just to ilustrate how easy is to inflate even an average player with referee help. And Luka would not be this good without that much protection.

The whole course of the Suns might have changed had we picked Luka. We probably don't have Monty Williams as our head coach right now. Probably still have Luka's coach, Kokoskov. Maybe McD is still here. I like this current reality and trajectory. Maybe this is the healthy way to look at it. I'm going to try to be more tolerant of Ayton's shortcomings and be happy with what we have.

[O_Gardino]

Points per 100 possessions

Well, I won't try to throw shade at that.

[Mori Chu]

Ya I think Luka just needs to shake off the rust and get back into shape. I don’t think Mori was fully serious about his comments, but the difference is Luka has played at an all-nba level in the past and this start is clearly not his norm. Ayton’s slow start is unfortunately a believable and even expected result.

I was basically trolling. It's clear that Luka is having a much better NBA career than Ayton, but in general I think we should chill out with reactions to a few games at the start of the season. Luka will find his way this year and likely Ayton will, too.

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Luka is a great talent. I was on the “I Want us to take him but sincerely didn’t think he would be this good, this fast” group. I was a true believer in Bender as well.

But I don’t feel validates neither horrified for how things had turned out. Yes, we are stuck with Ferdinand the bull, but he is not a bust, we just need to develop him from that angle, a David Robinson light is still within reach.

Regarding Luka, he plays with a joy and energy that is no wonder he is the current league darling, but he also is getting a huge Star treatment, Not to be fatalist, but not sure if things would have developed the same way here. Nash became a league darling as well and still was mugged time and time again without all that referee colaboration.

Linsanity comes to my mind, altough Luka it’s of course head, shoulders and hip above Jeremy, but just to ilustrate how easy is to inflate even an average player with referee help. And Luka would not be this good without that much protection.

The whole course of the Suns might have changed had we picked Luka. We probably don't have Monty Williams as our head coach right now. Probably still have Luka's coach, Kokoskov. Maybe McD is still here. I like this current reality and trajectory. Maybe this is the healthy way to look at it. I'm going to try to be more tolerant of Ayton's shortcomings and be happy with what we have.

You are onto something big, talking about how different this team’s state would be. Sometimes I speculate that bringing Koskokov was a two step plan to lure Doncic and perhaps Dragic into the team, not a bad idea, it would have been a tremendous pairing. But year one with Coachkokov was so bad in so many fronts that our new FO “consultant” decided to immediately let him go, but anticipate that it would alienate Luka just a mere weeks after arriving. That, paired with the possibility of drafting a generational center (at the time, taking Ayton was the “sure thing to do”, would write our fate that draft day.

So, drafting Luka would have kept Koskokov in place, this probably turning Luka de facto into our new face, but not sure that Booker would have been mature enough to handle it at the moment. Right now, two years later, he is still finding some groove with CP3, but between Monty, CO3 being a childhood idol and two years of humbling losing, Booker have to ve a very different person and player. McD still here, enjoying borrowed time because the Luka show turned us into some relevant topic, would be perhaps the worst outcome, because even with Jones shortcomings, is absolutely clear the difference between a team builder and a NBA2k junkie collecting assets. We have an identity, on less than two years after Jones’ arrival, and that included a lot of house cleaning.

[ShelC]

[Superbone]

Mmm hmm. It was only a matter of time.