Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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Superbone
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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ShelC wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 12:25 pm
Not interested in anything Watson has to say. He was a clown then and a clown now. Fox should've been the pick regardless but no one's talking about that for some reason.
That's fine but it still shows meddling from Sarver and that ticks me off to no end. Yes, Jackson was a colossal f up. I can understand it from fans but who did the psychological evaluation? We don't have the ability to get close to the players like the evaluators do. In hindsight, obviously Fox was the pick after Tatum was gone. I remember liking him a lot too! He seemed like a great kid while Jackson had red flags. He hasn't murdered anybody like Worm suggested but he had red flags for sure!
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ShelC
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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I think McD was just as into Jackson as Sarver, so if anything they both overruled Watson especially if/after he pushed hard for Chriss. McD was married to Bledsoe and the idea was that Jackson would be the defensive swing/ball handler Book needed next to him on the perimeter.

I liked Tatum right behind Fox but also thought he and Book would be too similar and somewhat redundant as a 2/3 combo. Talent is talent, but you still need a balanced roster.

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Superbone
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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ShelC wrote:
Sat May 16, 2020 2:02 pm
I think McD was just as into Jackson as Sarver, so if anything they both overruled Watson especially if/after he pushed hard for Chriss. McD was married to Bledsoe and the idea was that Jackson would be the defensive swing/ball handler Book needed next to him on the perimeter.

I liked Tatum right behind Fox but also thought he and Book would be too similar and somewhat redundant as a 2/3 combo. Talent is talent, but you still need a balanced roster.
Yeah, I think having Bledsoe on the roster and the brass still backing him at the time really hurt us picking Fox. Short sighted on management's part.
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

Post by Superbone »

@Wally_West, did you check out the Suns work from home show? I thought it was pretty cool. Neat to see all the coaches kids playing. Monty has a 12 year old son that's already 6 feet tall! And Steve Blake's son doesn't miss. :)
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Mori Chu
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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Bright Side says Ayton should start shooting more 3s:

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2020 ... on-the-nba

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Split T
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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I’m not super into Ayton shooting 3’s. I’d be ok with it as long as it doesn’t take away any of his shots at the rim. His shots inside are always going to return the best value. Unless he somehow becomes a 40% 3pt shooter.

This year he’s taken 47% of his shots inside 3 feet. Another 23% from 3-10 feet. 20% from 10-16 feet and 10% from 16 feet out to 3.

If by shooting 3’s he’s just converting those 16-23 foot shots into 3’s, then I’m ok with it. If he’s giving up paint shots and at the rim shots, I’m not a fan.

Keep in mind, he shot 55% on 2pt shots this year. That converts to about 36-37% on 3’s. He was 70% at the rim. That’s the equivalent of 47% from 3. He’s 34-41% from 10-23 feet. So even shooting just 30% from 3 would add value if he replaced those mid range shots with 3’s.

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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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Danny Ainge Says Jayson Tatum 'Was Never Gonna End Up In Phoenix'

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/2 ... In-Phoenix
“There was a story that came out this week about Jayson going to Phoenix. Jayson was never gonna end up in Phoenix. Even if he didn’t come in for that second workout with us days before the draft in Boston, we were still going to take Jayson Tatum," Ainge told Zach Lowe on The Lowe Post.
Ainge added that he had his eyes on Tatum the entire draft, even when he traded the top pick to the Sixers.

"We had our eyes set on Jayson Tatum. We were very confident that Philly was taking Markelle (Fultz) and that Lonzo (Ball) was going to L.A. We were very confident in that assessment.”
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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Great Ernie Johnson interview of Steve Nash:

https://www.nba.com/video/2020/05/11/nb ... steve-nash
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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Can Ayton at least become consistently dominant in the paint and post before we start campaigning for him to start jacking up 3s? Adding an automatic mid-range shot would be nice too.

I get the math of getting guys to shoot more 3s, but I think we lose sight of a few things:

1. Missing shots makes a difference to intangibles like momentum and rhythm. Missed 3s can also fuel the opponent's fast break ability, versus forcing them to take the ball out of bounds.

2. Having an automatic mid-range jumper is more valuable for a guy like Ayton than it is to shoot 3s at 30%. Over the course of the game, the 3 ball may have its advantages, but if we're in crunch time, and we just need a basket, I'd rather have Ayton develop an Olajuwon-esque mid-range jumper than have him be mid-90s Barkley launching 3s.
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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INFORMER wrote:
Mon May 18, 2020 11:14 am
Can Ayton at least become consistently dominant in the paint and post before we start campaigning for him to start jacking up 3s? Adding an automatic mid-range shot would be nice too.

I get the math of getting guys to shoot more 3s, but I think we lose sight of a few things:

1. Missing shots makes a difference to intangibles like momentum and rhythm. Missed 3s can also fuel the opponent's fast break ability, versus forcing them to take the ball out of bounds.

2. Having an automatic mid-range jumper is more valuable for a guy like Ayton than it is to shoot 3s at 30%. Over the course of the game, the 3 ball may have its advantages, but if we're in crunch time, and we just need a basket, I'd rather have Ayton develop an Olajuwon-esque mid-range jumper than have him be mid-90s Barkley launching 3s.
I agree with this. Having Ayton out on the perimeter jacking up 3s, even if it's at a semi-decent clip, takes him away from one of his best strengths, which is offensive rebounding. Him becoming great at that and automatic from the midrange makes him super valuable, no matter what the analytics crowd says. Having multiple shooters surrounding him along with sneaky rebounders keeps possessions going and more shot attempts.
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Split T
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

Post by Split T »

INFORMER wrote:
Mon May 18, 2020 11:14 am
Can Ayton at least become consistently dominant in the paint and post before we start campaigning for him to start jacking up 3s? Adding an automatic mid-range shot would be nice too.

I get the math of getting guys to shoot more 3s, but I think we lose sight of a few things:

1. Missing shots makes a difference to intangibles like momentum and rhythm. Missed 3s can also fuel the opponent's fast break ability, versus forcing them to take the ball out of bounds.

2. Having an automatic mid-range jumper is more valuable for a guy like Ayton than it is to shoot 3s at 30%. Over the course of the game, the 3 ball may have its advantages, but if we're in crunch time, and we just need a basket, I'd rather have Ayton develop an Olajuwon-esque mid-range jumper than have him be mid-90s Barkley launching 3s.

I agree with this, in order to have him in the positions we want offensively, he’s not going to be spending a lot of time at the 3 point line. When I think of him shooting 3’s, I see it as a rare occurrence. Maybe just once a game. I don’t ever want him trying to be KAT.

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Mori Chu
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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I concur with the others. I don't want Ayton shooting 3s. Continuing to work on his midrange shot would be nice as a threat so that defenders don't back off him, but not every player in the NBA needs to chuck 3s even in 2020.

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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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Clint Capela for example is a valuable player in his role, but his problems occur when he can't do anything away from the basket, either offensively or defensively to guard on the perimeter.
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ShelC
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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Yea would much rather Ayton become automatic from 16-18 ft ala Amare or TimD with the occasional 3 from the top of the key or wing but it's not make or break for him. If he were smart, he'd be doing nothing but taking 1,000 jumpers a day from the FT line extended during this break, but well...we'll see.

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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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More than anything, to take his game to the next level, Ayton needs to work on drawing fouls inside. We saw a slight uptick in that towards the end of the season, but he needs to consistently get to the line 5-7 times a game.

I care about that much more than shooting 3s.

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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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I would say I want him to be able add all those things, automatic mid-range and be able to put the ball on the floor to the basket and draw fouls.
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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In2ition wrote:
Mon May 18, 2020 1:35 pm
I would say I want him to be able add all those things, automatic mid-range and be able to put the ball on the floor to the basket and draw fouls.
Sure. All of those. And they’re actually all tied together as well; Every one of those skills opens up another one.

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Mori Chu
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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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I want him to spend all summer working on his Dominayton, becoming even more Dominaytonal than his current level of Dominayton.

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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

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All I want is for him to become the next Hakeem; it's not that hard!😇

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Re: Suns News: Week 20 3/9-3/15

Post by Bucktastic365 »

Mori Chu wrote:
Sun May 17, 2020 1:28 pm
Bright Side says Ayton should start shooting more 3s:

https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2020 ... on-the-nba
IMO, Ayton should sprinkle in 3's( I'd say 2/ game), but what I really want to see is him drive for dunks off of his free-throw looks. His shot is so good that most centers will automatically jump at it, leaving MAYBE 2 dribbles to an eventual(hopefully) And-1.

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