All Things Ayton

[JeremyG]

You're only an OG if you remember this.

[AmareIsGod]

You're only an OG if you remember this.

Nobody forgets Cubby. I was SpiveyIsGod in those parts, lol. I'm agnostic in reality.

[Kryptonic]

You're only an OG if you remember this.

Nobody forgets Cubby. I was SpiveyIsGod in those parts, lol. I'm agnostic in reality.

Cubby #1 shitposter of all time

[SunsRIt]

I was Sunsfan the original back in the azcentral days.

[SunsRIt]

You're only an OG if you remember this.

Nobody forgets Cubby. I was SpiveyIsGod in those parts, lol. I'm agnostic in reality.

Cubby #1 shitposter of all time

Literally

[JeremyG]

Thankfully he's mellowed out in recent years haha. The lack of moderation on those old AZCentral boards was crazy. He was literally spamming gruesome photos in every thread at some points.

[Superbone]

I was Sunsfan the original back in the azcentral days.

I've been Superbone since the beginning of those days. Pre Sose starting .net to get away from Cubby in particular.

[Superbone]

Thankfully he's mellowed out in recent years haha. The lack of moderation on those old AZCentral boards was crazy. He was literally spamming gruesome photos in every thread at some points.

The only thing about the guy that I have to be thankful for is that he's the reason for .net and why we're all here together right now.

[specialsauce]

Ayton’s suspension robbed Book and the bubble Suns of a playoff run. You have to imagine what it was like being his teammate then.

Damn.. Drew, you're on a roll.... Honestly, that's something I haven't even thought about for a while. I mean I've thought about the suspension but forget that it technically cost them.

His suspension was when I truly considered he wasn’t going to be THAT guy. Then after the Bubble run I realized had Ayton not been suspended, Suns would have made the playoffs. And that would have meant a lot at that point. He sort of surprised during the Finals run but it was his last ditch moment to secure his bag, his play in the regular season was good to ok.

This is a great point that really hasn't been discussed. At least not in recent years. I vaguely remember it may have come up at the time. Probably even before the bubble. That was 25 games out of a 82 game schedule or over a quarter of them. I know we were all very disappointed at the time. I was going to say even Jeremy but I've been down that road before. Somehow, it was probably a good thing Ayton had accomplished.

Fewer than 82 games that year; because of the covid stoppage, the Suns played 73, and went 34-39. It ended up being basically a third of the season for the suspension, and then he missed another ten games with injuries. Largely a lost season, at least until the bubble.

And the shit head missed a game in the bubble because he missed a mandatory covid test right?

[JeremyG]

Gambo says that he can say 100% that Ayton did not ask for a trade. He may have wanted/hoped for it, but neither he nor his agent ever went to the Suns and said he wanted out.

[BKinSJC]

So when he thanked the GM and the team for “accommodating [his] wishes” in his press conference yesterday, what did he think he was talking about? Did he think he could control that narrative and make it look like it was all up to him when it happened? Or was he just randomly saying words without thinking what their actual meaning was, or how they were likely to be interpreted?

Edit: another possibility, of course, is that Gambo is just full of shit, or that he’s repeating what he was told whether or not it’s factual.

[Flagrant Fowl]

The Golden Rule with Ayton is simple. He always says what he thinks other people expect him to say.

[ShelC]

I said a few pages ago that it could've been a general request of DA to the FO to be given more opportunities or the chance for a larger role here but it ended up as a trade to the Blazers. The FO might've even told him a few months ago they were in talks with a team about a deal (like they did with Mikal and Cam last summer w/BK and KD) and assured him it'd be a place where he'd have a larger role. So in a sense, they did accommodate his wishes for a larger role, it just wasn't with us.

[JeremyG]

Gambo did not know why he said what he said. But I think Shel may have nailed it. They did know it was his wish to have a larger role.

[Cap]

Gambo did not know why he said what he said. But I think Shel may have nailed it. They did know it was his wish to have a larger role.

Or maybe his main audience was Portland fans, so he was telling them he wanted to be in Portland.

[ShelC]

Trigger warning!

Spoiler: show/hide

Not to stir the pot but I'm just glad this is the stuff we don't have to worry about anymore. From Draymond's Instagram:

[JeremyG]

Who hires Igor as head coach but then doesn’t draft Doncic?

It's been the craziest series of head coach hires with regard to Ayton.

When they hired Doncic's national team head coach, I was so scared they were going to draft Luka that I was actually hoping we would get the #2 pick in the lottery, and that Luka would go #1 so we would have to pick Ayton at #2. I wonder if that had happened, how people would have felt about Ayton and what kind of pressure he would have had?

But why hire someone who doesn't even know how to use Ayton if you're drafting Ayton? And then after his first year, they hire a head coach who was criticized for his development/usage of Anthony Davis. Then, they finally hire the perfect head coach for Ayton, who wants to keep him, and then they end up trading him away before he can ever play a game for him.

Incredible.

[Superbone]

Who hires Igor as head coach but then doesn’t draft Doncic?

It's been the craziest series of head coach hires with regard to Ayton.

When they hired Doncic's national team head coach, I was so scared they were going to draft Luka that I was actually hoping we would get the #2 pick in the lottery, and that Luka would go #1 so we would have to pick Ayton at #2. I wonder if that had happened, how people would have felt about Ayton and what kind of pressure he would have had?

But why hire someone who doesn't even know how to use Ayton if you're drafting Ayton? And then after his first year, they hire a head coach who was criticized for his development/usage of Anthony Davis. Then, they finally hire the perfect head coach for Ayton, who wants to keep him, and then they end up trading him away before he can ever play a game for him.

Incredible.

It’s like the whole Suns organization schemed against Ayton from the start. I’m pretty sure they all had it in for him and said “watch this” while they slowly gaslit him across his five seasons.

[Drewsprocket]

Who hires Igor as head coach but then doesn’t draft Doncic?

It's been the craziest series of head coach hires with regard to Ayton.

When they hired Doncic's national team head coach, I was so scared they were going to draft Luka that I was actually hoping we would get the #2 pick in the lottery, and that Luka would go #1 so we would have to pick Ayton at #2. I wonder if that had happened, how people would have felt about Ayton and what kind of pressure he would have had?

But why hire someone who doesn't even know how to use Ayton if you're drafting Ayton? And then after his first year, they hire a head coach who was criticized for his development/usage of Anthony Davis. Then, they finally hire the perfect head coach for Ayton, who wants to keep him, and then they end up trading him away before he can ever play a game for him.

Incredible.

I agree with you there about Igor. Admittedly I was hoping we were drafting Doncic but happy with Ayton. Either way it is what it is. I still have Doncic fomo and hate how he has developed offensively in this league. Doncic should be playing a bit more loose and engaging his teammates.

[Split T]

Igor did help develop Ayton defensively…he was a train wreck on defense when he got here. He was solid by year 2