All Things Ayton

[iLLmatic]

You know who is hated by way more fans than Deandre Ayton? Devin Booker. Everyone but Suns fans hate that dude. He's had the worst coaches, some of the worst supporting casts etc, he still kept grinding, getting better, year after year. You ever see him crying on TV about how nobody likes him?

Lol, that's completely different than your own team's fans hating you.

He hasn't really done much to deserve love from the Phoenix fan base.

Where's the puke emoji on here?

Taking the team to within two wins of a championship doesn't count I guess.

[Kryptonic]

You know who is hated by way more fans than Deandre Ayton? Devin Booker. Everyone but Suns fans hate that dude. He's had the worst coaches, some of the worst supporting casts etc, he still kept grinding, getting better, year after year. You ever see him crying on TV about how nobody likes him?

Lol, that's completely different than your own team's fans hating you.

He hasn't really done much to deserve love from the Phoenix fan base.

Where's the puke emoji on here?

Taking the team to within two wins of a championship doesn't count I guess.

I think we’d all be happy if that player was still around after that finals but not so much…. We all know he hasn’t risen back to those levels.

[JeremyG]

You all are changing the subject. The point is he has done something to “deserve love from the Phoenix fan base.”

I’ve never seen a hometown, homegrown player hated so much by his own city. It’s crazy. And for those who say it’s not hate, just look at some of his Twitter mentions and Instagram—we’re talking vile, hateful comments that he gets on the regular by Suns fans.

[AmareIsGod]

I think people just want him to play hard consistently. I wish you could acknowledge that he just doesn't bring it often enough and doesn't have enough fire and energy. Fans love a guy that goes hard regularly. When they see an athletic force play soft against smaller inferior players regularly enough, it becomes a problem.

Honest question without you turning it into a question about other Suns players or other players efforts. Does Ayton give you enough of the things I'm questioning? What do you think, objectively, Jeremy? And I'm talking about this most recent season and postseason.

[Cap]

You all are changing the subject. The point is he has done something to “deserve love from the Phoenix fan base.”

I’ve never seen a hometown, homegrown player hated so much by his own city. It’s crazy. And for those who say it’s not hate, just look at some of his Twitter mentions and Instagram—we’re talking vile, hateful comments that he gets on the regular by Suns fans.

I wonder why that’s happening. Maybe the fan base is just a bunch of assholes who arbitrarily picked him to be their whipping boy.

Or maybe he has something to do with it.

Nah.

Ooh, I know — it’s the Deep State!

[Aztec Sunsfan]

Jeremy G, are you aware that, unlike the head coach, there is no way a fan base can be fired?

Go find another scapegoat for your kid, because there is no way you blind squirrel your way into another “I was right” claim like that poll claiming Monty fired.

You are just becoming a punchline with your latest conspiracy theory, please, you are really good to engage with, when you are not aytonizing every discussion. But to each…

[iLLmatic]

You all are changing the subject. The point is he has done something to “deserve love from the Phoenix fan base.”

I’ve never seen a hometown, homegrown player hated so much by his own city. It’s crazy. And for those who say it’s not hate, just look at some of his Twitter mentions and Instagram—we’re talking vile, hateful comments that he gets on the regular by Suns fans.

The fan base has been pretty patient with him. I think a lot of the fans really wanted to like him. He's our 1st pick ever, he has valley ties here, he played ball at u of a, and he's a nice guy.

He's just really inconsistent on the court, he's too soft, I don't know another player that puts up numbers that have very little impact on the game like him, and when he talks he's full of a lot of hot air. Speaking for myself, I've really grown tired of him. I'd love to move on from him. Maybe it'll be good for his career and give him the kick in the ass he needs but he has to be one of the most frustrating players I've had ever had the displeasure of watching.

[Kryptonic]

You all are changing the subject. The point is he has done something to “deserve love from the Phoenix fan base.”

I’ve never seen a hometown, homegrown player hated so much by his own city. It’s crazy. And for those who say it’s not hate, just look at some of his Twitter mentions and Instagram—we’re talking vile, hateful comments that he gets on the regular by Suns fans.

Don’t confuse criticism as hate…. He’s been VERY deserving of the criticism he’s got.

Your boy needs some thicker skin….

[Carno]

His statement is typical DA. At first it sounds like he's hearing the criticism and taking it to heart. But you listen to his actual words and you realize, there's no internal motivation, no drive. He isn't bothered by the fact that he can and should be better. He's bothered that some fans dare to criticize him and expect better of him. He sounds like he wants to stop being criticized, he wants to "change the narrative," not to actually improve.

You all are being way too hard on him. Mori's post, for example, pushes a narrative that isn't reflected in DA's actual words. (Sorry to pick on you, Mori; this is true of most of the responses). This is a short blurb taken from one interview. More fodder for the HAyt-ons, I guess.

I'm not sure what you all expected him to say. Was he supposed to list all of his failings and provide detailed action plans to mitigate each failing?

Personally, I found his demeanor changed from previous interviews. There was none of his normal bravado, and he appeared subdued and reflective. In any case, he is at least acknowledging the criticism, and states how it is motivating him to work on his game. Seems like a positive to me.

While I see and acknowledge his deficiencies, I remain hopeful that he can mature and improve.

[Split T]

I think he’s a good guy and a frustrating basketball player. I do feel bad that he gets a lot of hate, but it’s basketball hate, not real hate. Ya some people don’t know the difference and cross the line, but DA can’t pay attention to that.

Maybe realizing most fans are disappointed in him will be a wake up call. The truth is almost all of us would immediately jump back to loving him if he played like he’s capable of on a consistent basis. Which is to say, none of us actually hate him, we just don’t like how he plays basketball.

[virtual9mm]

I think that folks are justifiably frustrated with him. I also think that they are cognitively biased against the guy. I don't see anything that he says that is worthy of ridicule this time. But we've all seen him say one thing and do another, so our expectations are that it would happen again. But cognitive filters do tend to get over-applied. Let's see.

[Split T]

I didn’t watch the full video, but I didn’t have a problem with the quotes I read. I just think there’s nothing Ayton can do to change peoples minds except show it on the court. He has a history of not walking the talk.

[Carno]

No doubt. He isn't going to change the narrative until he proves it on the court. However, let's at least acknowledge when he does something positive rather than diminish every demonstrated positive with an exhaustive list of everything negative.

[JeremyG]

I think people just want him to play hard consistently. I wish you could acknowledge that he just doesn't bring it often enough and doesn't have enough fire and energy. Fans love a guy that goes hard regularly. When they see an athletic force play soft against smaller inferior players regularly enough, it becomes a problem.

Honest question without you turning it into a question about other Suns players or other players efforts. Does Ayton give you enough of the things I'm questioning? What do you think, objectively, Jeremy? And I'm talking about this most recent season and postseason.

In the regular season, yes it was enough for me. In the postseason, he did most games, but there were probably about 3 games where he didn't.

For the times in both the regular season and the postseason where he didn't "bring it," though, I think it's fair to ask whether his relationship with the coach had something to do with it.

[JeremyG]

The truth is almost all of us would immediately jump back to loving him if he played like he’s capable of on a consistent basis.

Yeah, that's the only part of this upcoming season that I'm not looking forward to--everybody jumping back on the bandwagon and acting like they've always loved and supported him.

[JeremyG]

Jeremy G, are you aware that, unlike the head coach, there is no way a fan base can be fired?

Go find another scapegoat for your kid, because there is no way you blind squirrel your way into another “I was right” claim like that poll claiming Monty fired.

You are just becoming a punchline with your latest conspiracy theory, please, you are really good to engage with, when you are not aytonizing every discussion. But to each…

Lol, you still don't get it. The thread was not based on what I thought about DA. It was due to the fact that I knew Monty was on the hot seat, was on the verge of losing his team, and was likely to end the season in another flameout due to abysmal playoff coaching (along with a new owner coming in)--and nobody else seemed to recognize it or acknowledge it at the time.

[JeremyG]

https://arizonasports.com/category/podc ... Show+Audio

"And for Deandre, it's gonna be different, because we're gonna have a coach who relishes the opportunity to work with big guys, but truly understands their value, in the scheme of things, defensively and offensively."--James Jones

Wow. That's all I have to say, is wow. And nobody believed me.

Jones continued: "I think last year, Deandre set more screens than anyone else in the league. That's a guy putting his body on the line and sacrificing for his team. And all players want touches. This game pays people who score. So in order to be considered one of the best you have to fill the box score. I think a lot of times people forget that Deandre's an 18 and 10 player. That's not something that is easily done in this league. I don't think he gets a lot of credit for that."

[JeremyG]

[Superbone]

Yeah, that's the only part of this upcoming season that I'm not looking forward to--everybody jumping back on the bandwagon and acting like they've always loved and supported him.

See, this is the part you don't get. It's not about unconditional love and support in basketball. In family, yes. But this is basketball. We want the best for our team. We know what Ayton is capable of. We want him to live up to his capabilities. It's not about jumping off and back on the bandwagon. Of course every single one of us wants Ayton to be great.

[Split T]

The truth is almost all of us would immediately jump back to loving him if he played like he’s capable of on a consistent basis.

Yeah, that's the only part of this upcoming season that I'm not looking forward to--everybody jumping back on the bandwagon and acting like they've always loved and supported him.

None of us are going to do that..you can stop worrying.

We’ll love it if he plays well, but no one’s pretending they loved him the whole time