Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Discussion of the league and of our favorite team.
User avatar
Split T
Posts: 25468
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:51 am
Location: Provo, Utah

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Split T »

specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:29 pm
Split T wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:27 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:24 pm
3rdside wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:52 pm
JeremyG wrote:
There were posts that got close to saying that, and the general sentiment among some seemed to be that Ayton was not needed--it's fine if we lose him because Javale (or any other center basically, lol) could just replace him.









By the way, there's a reason Javale has never come close to actually getting 36 mpg. :roll:
I still don’t see where anyone is saying McGee is better than ayton - whereas the crux of your argument, that Ayton is worth the max with all the escalators, is horribly wrong on current performance.

A better argument, really, is - is McGee at $5m better than Ayton at $40M?

I feel like the answer is probably yes.
Uh no.

You could make that value argument for every single player that is cheap.

You know what the real argument is? Do you want to win, or do you want “value” deals?
If my choice is Ayton or McGee, give me Ayton whatever the cost, but if you told me we could get Ayton at 40 mil or McGee at 5 and say Siakim at 30, the latter becomes tempting. It’s all what you do with the extra money.
You’re just not winning with a player of McGees caliber as your starting 5. Spending $5M is a fantasy. It’s not happening if you’re winning . It’s more like $20m or $30m
Didn’t he start a bunch of games for the Lakers when they won the title? You’re not winning if he’s starting and playing 30 minutes, but if you can play him 15 minutes and have a legitimate small ball option to fill the rest you could win.

User avatar
pickle
Posts: 3065
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:10 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by pickle »

I agree that we need to put more pressure on the rim. I mentioned it last season too, neither Booker nor Paul really attacks the rim much compared to other star players at their positions. In fact the two things I wish Booker worked on over the summer were a more consistent 3 point shot and better handles. Someone commented (might have been a podcast rather than someone here) that Booker's handles are more to get to his spots to take his shot rather than to get his defenders to back pedal, and I also notice the same, that he rarely manages to break down mismatches and get to the rim. Having this come from the wing position is great, but if Ayton can do more with his back to the basket, it would also work. We need another option to score and put pressure on the paint.

I guess we will turn most conversations into Ayton this year, oh well.

Back to the game itself, this was one of the least pleasant victories I've watched in recent memory. The first half was such an unmitigated disaster and CP3 felt disengaged. Things obviously improved in the second, but can we maybe just skip directly to the second half effort and not do the first half in the future please?

I liked what Kaminsky and Payton brought to the table. At one point it seemed like Payton was the only one that gave a crap about the deficit. As always happy Mikal and Cam Johnson. Crowder hit timely buckets.

The refs let go of a lot of fairly physical play and I think it contributed directly to several turnovers, to the point where in transition in the second half Booker was no longer attacking but pulled it back when he had built a head of steam. The foul calls were consistent though as we got away with a lot of physicality too so I won't complain about that bit too much.

User avatar
Split T
Posts: 25468
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:51 am
Location: Provo, Utah

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Split T »

I do agree, Ayton could help solve our lack of rim attacks problem. That would be nice.

User avatar
specialsauce
Posts: 7550
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:45 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by specialsauce »

Split T wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:34 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:29 pm
Split T wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:27 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:24 pm
3rdside wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:52 pm

I still don’t see where anyone is saying McGee is better than ayton - whereas the crux of your argument, that Ayton is worth the max with all the escalators, is horribly wrong on current performance.

A better argument, really, is - is McGee at $5m better than Ayton at $40M?

I feel like the answer is probably yes.
Uh no.

You could make that value argument for every single player that is cheap.

You know what the real argument is? Do you want to win, or do you want “value” deals?
If my choice is Ayton or McGee, give me Ayton whatever the cost, but if you told me we could get Ayton at 40 mil or McGee at 5 and say Siakim at 30, the latter becomes tempting. It’s all what you do with the extra money.
You’re just not winning with a player of McGees caliber as your starting 5. Spending $5M is a fantasy. It’s not happening if you’re winning . It’s more like $20m or $30m
Didn’t he start a bunch of games for the Lakers when they won the title? You’re not winning if he’s starting and playing 30 minutes, but if you can play him 15 minutes and have a legitimate small ball option to fill the rest you could win.
Those Lakers had AD. That’s an unfair argument.

User avatar
Split T
Posts: 25468
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:51 am
Location: Provo, Utah

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Split T »

Is it though? I feel like teams win all the time without real centers. You can always come up with an excuse…the Lakers had AD, the Warriors had KD, the Cavs had Lebron, the Heat had Lebron, etc.

Who were the centers on those teams? McGee started games at C for 3 of those champions. Bogut, Zaza, Thompson, Mozgov, Haslem…those guys all started a lot of games as well.

Sure you have to have other elite talent, but that’s the point, you can afford it if you’re only spending 5 million on your C.

User avatar
pickle
Posts: 3065
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:10 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by pickle »

I agree with what you are saying Split, but I guess in our case, it's not so easy to get truly elite talent with cap space. Siakam is nice, but that he's available means that there are some warts with his game too that he probably isn't going to come in and suddenly fix our issues had we swapped out Ayton for a 5 mil back up.

I don't think it's the end of the world that we didn't max Ayton as long as it didn't impact our chemistry too much, but I also don't think we should consider how to replace him already just because we didn't max him...

User avatar
3rdside
Posts: 1563
Joined: Tue Feb 17, 2015 6:59 pm
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by 3rdside »

specialsauce wrote:
3rdside wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:52 pm
JeremyG wrote:
Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:08 am
I didn't read a single person here say McGee was better than Ayton a month ago.
There were posts that got close to saying that, and the general sentiment among some seemed to be that Ayton was not needed--it's fine if we lose him because Javale (or any other center basically, lol) could just replace him.
Bucktastic365 wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:45 pm
McGee is outperforming Ayton FOR WHAT WE NEED IN OUR SYSTEM.

Ayton on his own is a beast; if a team ran the offense thru him he'd be worthy of the max, but we are a outside team and I am more than happy that they didn't allocate money to Ayton.
We can get comparable value for a fraction of the max. Just my opinion
3rdside wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:01 pm
Nice take FF.

McGee averaged 28 and 11 per 36 in preseason, if you’re looking for a guide to *capable tall players in the Phoenix suns system*, and he’s getting paid $5m.
ShelC wrote:
Tue Oct 12, 2021 2:30 pm
I'm ready to give JaVale a 3 yr extension and roll with him, Stix and Frank!
ShelC wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:39 pm
We got Javale and Stix. It'll be fine. Plus CP and Book can recruit other bigs. No lose situation.
By the way, there's a reason Javale has never come close to actually getting 36 mpg. :roll:
I still don’t see where anyone is saying McGee is better than ayton - whereas the crux of your argument, that Ayton is worth the max with all the escalators, is horribly wrong on current performance.

A better argument, really, is - is McGee at $5m better than Ayton at $40M?

I feel like the answer is probably yes.
Uh no.

You could make that value argument for every single player that is cheap.

You know what the real argument is? Do you want to win, or do you want “value” deals?

You’re not winning the championship with McGee as your starting center.
Deandre was our MVP of the playoffs. This is embarrassing.
specialsauce wrote:
3rdside wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:52 pm
JeremyG wrote:
Flagrant Fowl wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 4:08 am
I didn't read a single person here say McGee was better than Ayton a month ago.
There were posts that got close to saying that, and the general sentiment among some seemed to be that Ayton was not needed--it's fine if we lose him because Javale (or any other center basically, lol) could just replace him.
Bucktastic365 wrote:
Thu Oct 21, 2021 2:45 pm
McGee is outperforming Ayton FOR WHAT WE NEED IN OUR SYSTEM.

Ayton on his own is a beast; if a team ran the offense thru him he'd be worthy of the max, but we are a outside team and I am more than happy that they didn't allocate money to Ayton.
We can get comparable value for a fraction of the max. Just my opinion
3rdside wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 7:01 pm
Nice take FF.

McGee averaged 28 and 11 per 36 in preseason, if you’re looking for a guide to *capable tall players in the Phoenix suns system*, and he’s getting paid $5m.
ShelC wrote:
Tue Oct 12, 2021 2:30 pm
I'm ready to give JaVale a 3 yr extension and roll with him, Stix and Frank!
ShelC wrote:
Mon Oct 18, 2021 12:39 pm
We got Javale and Stix. It'll be fine. Plus CP and Book can recruit other bigs. No lose situation.
By the way, there's a reason Javale has never come close to actually getting 36 mpg. :roll:
I still don’t see where anyone is saying McGee is better than ayton - whereas the crux of your argument, that Ayton is worth the max with all the escalators, is horribly wrong on current performance.

A better argument, really, is - is McGee at $5m better than Ayton at $40M?

I feel like the answer is probably yes.
Uh no.

You could make that value argument for every single player that is cheap.

You know what the real argument is? Do you want to win, or do you want “value” deals?

You’re not winning the championship with McGee as your starting center.

Deandre was our MVP of the playoffs. This is embarrassing.
I’d say what’s embarrassing is ayton hasn’t really improved - at least statistically - since he joined the league.

So unless things change pretty quickly then he’s no max player, playoff performance or otherwise.

If he’s no max player and you’re paying him the max then you are, by definition, allocating resources inefficiently … which means, also by definition, you can and should allocate resources more efficiently elsewhere.

The only exception to the above is if you have an unlimited budget, which we don’t.

User avatar
Nodack
Posts: 8517
Joined: Tue Oct 21, 2014 6:50 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Nodack »

I think Ayton is doing fine. He seems more physical to me this year on offense around the rim. He’s dunked the ball plenty. Is he a top max guy with all the bonuses? I don’t think he is yet. I think he is at the almost max with no bonuses level at this moment in time. Do I think he could become that guy? I do. I have seen improvement in his game. Do we pay him the ultra max based on his potential or do we wait until he does or doesn’t reach that goal and risk losing him?

McGee has been awesome to watch. He is that aggressive Center that likes to take it hard to the rim and we obviously have been craving that with all of Aytons finesse. Is he better than Ayton? He is different than Ayton. They both are giant guys who defend well and have different offensive styles but are effective. I am happy we have both on the same team as of right now. McGee is great at the P&R and Paul is a great P&R guard. We went from a few lobs a game to almost completely overdoing this year with McGee and Ayton. There have been some hits and misses but, it’s clear the lob is going to be a big part of our offense this year and I think it’s great. I don’t care who is better.

And Frank the Tank comes through again! Nobody gets more crap than him from people. He has a lot of pride and made a statement. Stix’s face said it all.

I think it’s time for Booker to get his act together. He has been in a funk. He has shown some flashes.

Shamet? Man, I was ready for him to kick ass from seeing him in the preseason. He seems to have not found his shot yet.

Bridges and Cam have been buddies since the start and seem to be almost clones of each other to me in their playing. Cam a slightly better shooter. Bridges a slightly better defender.

Peyton has been just ok so far for me. Shows some flashes of greatness and then does a bonehead move and turns it over.

Speaking of turnovers…. Wtf is with all the turnovers early?

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Indy »

specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:29 pm
Split T wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:27 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:24 pm
3rdside wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:52 pm
JeremyG wrote:
There were posts that got close to saying that, and the general sentiment among some seemed to be that Ayton was not needed--it's fine if we lose him because Javale (or any other center basically, lol) could just replace him.









By the way, there's a reason Javale has never come close to actually getting 36 mpg. :roll:
I still don’t see where anyone is saying McGee is better than ayton - whereas the crux of your argument, that Ayton is worth the max with all the escalators, is horribly wrong on current performance.

A better argument, really, is - is McGee at $5m better than Ayton at $40M?

I feel like the answer is probably yes.
Uh no.

You could make that value argument for every single player that is cheap.

You know what the real argument is? Do you want to win, or do you want “value” deals?
If my choice is Ayton or McGee, give me Ayton whatever the cost, but if you told me we could get Ayton at 40 mil or McGee at 5 and say Siakim at 30, the latter becomes tempting. It’s all what you do with the extra money.
You’re just not winning with a player of McGees caliber as your starting 5. Spending $5M is a fantasy. It’s not happening if you’re winning . It’s more like $20m or $30m
McGee started more games as center during the Warriors last championship run than anyone else on the team. Next closes was Zaza. It isn't about the one guy--it is about the team you build and you can't build a championship if your 4th best player is paid 40M.

User avatar
specialsauce
Posts: 7550
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:45 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by specialsauce »

Indy wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:38 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:29 pm
Split T wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:27 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:24 pm
3rdside wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 5:52 pm

I still don’t see where anyone is saying McGee is better than ayton - whereas the crux of your argument, that Ayton is worth the max with all the escalators, is horribly wrong on current performance.

A better argument, really, is - is McGee at $5m better than Ayton at $40M?

I feel like the answer is probably yes.
Uh no.

You could make that value argument for every single player that is cheap.

You know what the real argument is? Do you want to win, or do you want “value” deals?
If my choice is Ayton or McGee, give me Ayton whatever the cost, but if you told me we could get Ayton at 40 mil or McGee at 5 and say Siakim at 30, the latter becomes tempting. It’s all what you do with the extra money.
You’re just not winning with a player of McGees caliber as your starting 5. Spending $5M is a fantasy. It’s not happening if you’re winning . It’s more like $20m or $30m
McGee started more games as center during the Warriors last championship run than anyone else on the team. Next closes was Zaza. It isn't about the one guy--it is about the team you build and you can't build a championship if your 4th best player is paid 40M.
Everyone likes to use the Warriors as an example like it’s so easy to just follow their model. They were an absolute dynasty and an exception. Mcgee barely played.

Our identity is not our offense. The Warriors dynasty was. Our identity and the reason we got so far last year was our defense. DA is our most important defensive player, and he opens up our offensive game plan as well.

DA is our second most valuable player.

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Indy »

specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:42 pm
Indy wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:38 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:29 pm
Split T wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:27 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:24 pm

Uh no.

You could make that value argument for every single player that is cheap.

You know what the real argument is? Do you want to win, or do you want “value” deals?
If my choice is Ayton or McGee, give me Ayton whatever the cost, but if you told me we could get Ayton at 40 mil or McGee at 5 and say Siakim at 30, the latter becomes tempting. It’s all what you do with the extra money.
You’re just not winning with a player of McGees caliber as your starting 5. Spending $5M is a fantasy. It’s not happening if you’re winning . It’s more like $20m or $30m
McGee started more games as center during the Warriors last championship run than anyone else on the team. Next closes was Zaza. It isn't about the one guy--it is about the team you build and you can't build a championship if your 4th best player is paid 40M.
Everyone likes to use the Warriors as an example like it’s so easy to just follow their model. They were an absolute dynasty and an exception. Mcgee barely played.

Our identity is not our offense. The Warriors dynasty was. Our identity and the reason we got so far last year was our defense. DA is our most important defensive player, and he opens up our offensive game plan as well.

DA is our second most valuable player.
I get the argument for him being 3rd over Mikal, but how do you argue he is more valuable than Paul or Booker?

User avatar
specialsauce
Posts: 7550
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 8:45 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by specialsauce »

Indy wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:10 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:42 pm
Indy wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:38 pm
specialsauce wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:29 pm
Split T wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 7:27 pm


If my choice is Ayton or McGee, give me Ayton whatever the cost, but if you told me we could get Ayton at 40 mil or McGee at 5 and say Siakim at 30, the latter becomes tempting. It’s all what you do with the extra money.
You’re just not winning with a player of McGees caliber as your starting 5. Spending $5M is a fantasy. It’s not happening if you’re winning . It’s more like $20m or $30m
McGee started more games as center during the Warriors last championship run than anyone else on the team. Next closes was Zaza. It isn't about the one guy--it is about the team you build and you can't build a championship if your 4th best player is paid 40M.
Everyone likes to use the Warriors as an example like it’s so easy to just follow their model. They were an absolute dynasty and an exception. Mcgee barely played.

Our identity is not our offense. The Warriors dynasty was. Our identity and the reason we got so far last year was our defense. DA is our most important defensive player, and he opens up our offensive game plan as well.

DA is our second most valuable player.
I get the argument for him being 3rd over Mikal, but how do you argue he is more valuable than Paul or Booker?
Sorry I meant for future

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Indy »

I would agree his ceiling is the 2nd highest. Not sure he has shown an ability to get there.

User avatar
Split T
Posts: 25468
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:51 am
Location: Provo, Utah

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Split T »

pickle wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:16 pm
I agree with what you are saying Split, but I guess in our case, it's not so easy to get truly elite talent with cap space. Siakam is nice, but that he's available means that there are some warts with his game too that he probably isn't going to come in and suddenly fix our issues had we swapped out Ayton for a 5 mil back up.

I don't think it's the end of the world that we didn't max Ayton as long as it didn't impact our chemistry too much, but I also don't think we should consider how to replace him already just because we didn't max him...
You’re right, it’s not just as simple as don’t pay Ayton and you can build a super team with the savings. And perhaps I got a bit carried away, my plan isn’t necessarily to replace Ayton. I still think the most likely scenario is we keep him around and I’m on board with that. My argument was mostly just that you don’t exactly have to spend a ton of money on a C. As long as your spending big money on top tier talent, I don’t think position matters all that much.

So forget about the suns or any specific team. I think you could win a championship with a starting player at the level of Javale at any position…assuming you have the right talent elsewhere. That’s really my point.

User avatar
Superbone
Posts: 33490
Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2014 11:44 am
Location: San Diego, CA (Phoenix Native)

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Superbone »

I just hope we can pay him fair market value and move on.
"Be Legendary."

User avatar
JeremyG
Posts: 7209
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:16 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by JeremyG »

Superbone wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 10:19 am
I just hope we can pay him fair market value and move on.
Jones can't do that as long as he's under Sarver, who undervalues Ayton.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.

User avatar
JeremyG
Posts: 7209
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:16 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by JeremyG »

Indy wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:35 am
I would agree his ceiling is the 2nd highest. Not sure he has shown an ability to get there.
I would say his current level of play makes him 2nd highest, once Paul declines/leaves/retires.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.

User avatar
Indy
Posts: 19339
Joined: Sat Aug 16, 2014 9:21 pm
Contact:

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by Indy »

JeremyG wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 2:43 pm
Indy wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:35 am
I would agree his ceiling is the 2nd highest. Not sure he has shown an ability to get there.
I would say his current level of play makes him 2nd highest, once Paul declines/leaves/retires.
Highest ceiling, or highest current level of play? I am confused because the first part says current, but the 2nd part says once CP3 starts sucking.

User avatar
JeremyG
Posts: 7209
Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2018 3:16 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by JeremyG »

Indy wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 3:00 pm
JeremyG wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 2:43 pm
Indy wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 7:35 am
I would agree his ceiling is the 2nd highest. Not sure he has shown an ability to get there.
I would say his current level of play makes him 2nd highest, once Paul declines/leaves/retires.
Highest ceiling, or highest current level of play? I am confused because the first part says current, but the 2nd part says once CP3 starts sucking.
I meant that if you remove CP3, his current level of play is 2nd highest on the team. And even if he doesn't reach his ceiling, if he maintains his current level of play, he will likely be our 2nd best player 2 years from now when CP3 could be either gone or a greatly diminished player.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.

User avatar
pickle
Posts: 3065
Joined: Wed Jul 02, 2014 7:10 pm

Re: Game Day: Pelicans (1-6) @ Suns (2-3), Tues 02/11/21

Post by pickle »

Split T wrote:
Thu Nov 04, 2021 8:50 am
pickle wrote:
Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:16 pm
I agree with what you are saying Split, but I guess in our case, it's not so easy to get truly elite talent with cap space. Siakam is nice, but that he's available means that there are some warts with his game too that he probably isn't going to come in and suddenly fix our issues had we swapped out Ayton for a 5 mil back up.

I don't think it's the end of the world that we didn't max Ayton as long as it didn't impact our chemistry too much, but I also don't think we should consider how to replace him already just because we didn't max him...
You’re right, it’s not just as simple as don’t pay Ayton and you can build a super team with the savings. And perhaps I got a bit carried away, my plan isn’t necessarily to replace Ayton. I still think the most likely scenario is we keep him around and I’m on board with that. My argument was mostly just that you don’t exactly have to spend a ton of money on a C. As long as your spending big money on top tier talent, I don’t think position matters all that much.

So forget about the suns or any specific team. I think you could win a championship with a starting player at the level of Javale at any position…assuming you have the right talent elsewhere. That’s really my point.
Fully agree with your point. Good to have a rational conversation about this stuff every once in a while.

Post Reply