I resent this implication that specialsauce has changed a lot since the old days. Far from it. He was an asshole then, and he's an asshole now! (Love ya sauce.)
The stream I'm watching lacks commentary and it's difficult to make out the players unless trying to focus on their jersey number. After the first quarter, Hield #7 is pretty much carrying the team.
Ayton has 6 points in just under 8 minutes. He sealed a defender and bobbled a pass under the rim (and probably got away with a travel) but finished with a strong dunk. He also received a pass at midcourt and took a good 5-6 dribbles to about 12-feet and hit a jumper. Not sure why the Cuban defender kept back peddling. He's looked very pedestrian on the defensive side. One time he waived his hand up in the restricted area when a Cuban player shot a 3.
First thing I see is a highlight of Ayton driving the lane and dunking the ball!
Defense:
Still not great. Lost his man in the paint and should've resulted in a much easier shot, but the Cuban guy dribbled into a bad position and allowed Ayton to recover and contest.
He's not providing much help defense at all.
Offense:
Tried to dribble receive an inbound pass and nearly turned it over. Recovered, dribbled about 5-6 times with the Cuban defender on his hip and eventually put in a successful turn around jumper.
Received an easy alley-oop pass for a dunk, and a dunker spot catch and finish off of a Gordon drive.
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Defense:
Missed a swipe at a pretty poor alley-oop pass that was converted by Cuba.
Looking kinda gassed in transition, holding his shorts at every dead ball. Subbed out around the 6:30 mark with the Bahamas up by 33 points.
Offense:
Nice right handed dribble drive from the wing into a one handed dunk on the reverse side. Kinda tried the move again soon after and the defender cut it off.
Missed an 18-footer after doing that jab step pump fake thing he loves for a couple of seconds.
Full bench in for the Bahamas now so him, Gordon and Hield are likely done.
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With such a wide margin its hard to look at things like defensive and rebounding intensity when you're crushing an outmanned opponent without needing to expend much energy. And I'm going to bet his conditioning is garbage at this point in the summer.
Putting the ball on the floor and driving to the rim is a welcomed sight though.
Just going to have to pray that hes receptive and coachable for Vogel.
Defense:
Still not great. Lost his man in the paint and should've resulted in a much easier shot, but the Cuban guy dribbled into a bad position and allowed Ayton to recover and contest.
He's not providing much help defense at all.
Of course you're not going to mention his excellent lateral movement that resulted in multiple travels.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
He was fairly sleep walky on the defensive side from tip-off. Even when he wasn't putting in an effort to contest jump shots, it didn't result in him chasing rebounds.
Argentina is the only team in this tournament who could possibly compete with the Bahamas NBA trio, so we'll have to see if they'll ever really need him to focus on that end of the court.
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Defense:
Still not great. Lost his man in the paint and should've resulted in a much easier shot, but the Cuban guy dribbled into a bad position and allowed Ayton to recover and contest.
He's not providing much help defense at all.
Of course you're not going to mention his excellent lateral movement that resulted in multiple travels.
I guess?
I didn't notice that happen at all, but there could've been things I missed as the stream was without commentary and I was taking notes.
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What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
Lots of GREAT Ayton highlights. Looked far more fierce than most of all last season.
What is smallball? I play basketball. I'm not a regular big man. I can switch from the center to the guards. The game is evolving. I'd be dominAyton if the WNBA would let me in. - Ayton
I resent this implication that specialsauce has changed a lot since the old days. Far from it. He was an asshole then, and he's an asshole now! (Love ya sauce.)