Re: Suns News: 2019 Off-Season
Posted: Sat Aug 10, 2019 11:50 pm
Tough start to the season other than the Grizzlies. We had better win opening night against the Kings.
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What is Diallo’s underrated skill? How about the area of his game that requires the most improvement — aka the aspect for which teammates will need to most compensate?
He’s unbelievably efficient on those little one-handed push shots from 5-10 feet away from the basket. I would say that might be his best offensive skill at this point. He has really nice touch on those shots, and he knows how to take his time and hit them over taller defenders. Even though he’s a pretty good shot-blocker, Diallo doesn’t necessarily have the greatest leaping ability around the basket. He makes up for that by using his long arms and dropping in those little shots when teams least expect it. He can hit them from around the free-throw line or on the baseline. It’s his overall defensive awareness. When Cheick is playing well, he’s really fun to watch. He brings a ton of energy to the floor, and he encourages everybody else to run the way he does. But when his defense is bad, it’s really bad. He gets lost in pick-and-roll when teams bring him out to the perimeter, he has trouble predicting what ballhandlers will do when they come at him and he gets in foul trouble often because of those mental mistakes.
It sounds like Diallo has a terrific personality. How do you envision him fitting in Phoenix’s locker room, which includes a lot of young players mixed with high-character veterans?
Everybody in the Pelicans locker room loved Diallo. He’s one of the nicest guys you will ever meet and he’s always in a good mood. What they loved about him the most was the fact that he always put the work in to improve and he always took the job seriously — even if he gets a little goofy at times. It’s always good to have a guy like that on the bench that brings positive energy to the locker room and enjoys putting a smile on the face of all his teammates. I expect him to become a fan favorite pretty early in his Suns career, and it’ll only be a matter of time before they start throwing up the “Wakanda Forever” sign (from the movie Black Panther) like Diallo does after all his dunks.
Sure. But every GM in the league would trade any of their last 5 first round picks for him. He is as much of a sure superstar as you can get in the draft. And nearly every center in the league ate up Ayton last year. I hope he takes the kind of leap he needs to this summer and shows why he should be a #1 pick instead of a guy that couldn't compete for 1st or 2nd place rookie of the year honors.
I remember a couple of seasons when we would iso him at 15 feet and ask him to create. Turnover or missed shot every time. But I 100% believe that the Suns weren't developing him. We just fire our training staff and didn't bother to replace them. That's our commitment to player development.Split T wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 8:27 amHe said the suns told him each summer to go expand his game, he’d come back and they’d just want him to set screens and rebound.In2ition wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2019 6:57 amMcDonough strikes again. He started with the same coaching staff as TJ and Devin. I guess they would be further along too? Sounds like someone who is trying to find a scapeGOAT for his shortcomings as an NBA player. Although, in his defense I thought it was a mistake to being in Chandler. It could have stunted his growth. His biggest weakness was his terrible hands though. Is he blaming the Suns for not being able to catch?
Some of that is probably because the suns didn’t think he improved enough to showcase anything else in his game, but it doesn’t sound like the suns played much of an active role in his development process. The article says he is working out 5 days a week with the hawks development staff this summer. Sounds like he was mostly on his own in Phoenix.
I never liked the Len pick and never thought he was much more than a decent backup, but it does seem that we mishandled him. He shot 41% from 3 after the all star break last year on over 4 attempts per game. We should have developed him into a modern 5 that could space the floor.
We wanted him to be Rudy Gobert, Atlanta is developing him more into a Marc Gasol.