Suns @ Grizzlies Sunday game thread 1-26-20

[Mainstreet]

Booker finishes with 36 points and 5 assists. Oubre with 27 points and 9 rebounds.

Oubre was the victim of bad officiating down the stretch.

 

[TJ]

Oubre. Smfh....

 

[TJ]

Ayton's offensive game has regressed significantly from last season. It must be coaching.

False.

 

[GoldGloveschmidt]

Booker finishes with 36 points and 5 assists. Oubre with 27 points and 9 rebounds.

Oubre was the victim of bad officiating down the stretch.

Oubre was the victim of tunnel vision, being a ball hog, and low basketball IQ.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Booker finishes with 36 points and 5 assists. Oubre with 27 points and 9 rebounds.

Oubre was the victim of bad officiating down the stretch.

Man you gotta play through calls. You start getting calls when you’ve earned them. The griz just flat out beat us.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Oubre was the victim of tunnel vision, being a ball hog, and low basketball IQ.

Agree. Down the stretch he had a couple boneheaded plays. But that’s oubre. Live with the crazy positives and die by them too if books the only other reliable offensive weapon.

 

[TJ]

Oubre was the victim of tunnel vision, being a ball hog, and low basketball IQ.

Agree with this. Not digging Oubre’s game.
He’s become a blackhole on offense

 

[Mainstreet]

Man you gotta play through calls. You start getting calls when you’ve earned them. The griz just flat out beat us.

Oubre did play through the calls but those are points lost. I think a lot of fans miss he is trying to carry the team along with Booker.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

False.

His “historic” or “transcendent” (whichever word was the soup du hour) shooting efficiency is meh (down .585 to .531) this year. He’s actually shooting fewer FTs this year than last (down 2.7 to 2.4, but making 2.0 for both seasons) and his assist numbers are the same. Looks a lot like regression.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Agree with this. Not digging Oubre’s game.
He’s become a blackhole on offense

“Becoming?” That’s who he’s always been.

 

[Mainstreet]

His “historic” or “transcendent” (whichever word was the soup du hour) shooting efficiency is meh (down .585 to .531) this year. He’s actually shooting fewer FTs this year than last (down 2.7 to 2.4, but making 2.0 for both seasons) and his assist numbers are the same. Looks a lot like regression.

Ayton's stats are generally up this season.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Ayton's stats are generally up this season.

I literally just showed you the stats that are down. Shooting percentage & FT attempts. One that was once touted as his strength, but isn’t any longer. One that was already poor for a stud center getting worse.

his scoring is up a point in much worse efficiency. He’s up 0.1 assists/game. And he’s up 0.4 offensive rebounds.

remember, the statement was his offensive game has regressed. And statistically it has.

 

[Mainstreet]

Here are Ayton's stats. Pick and choose as one likes.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/aytonde01.html

https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4278129/deandre-ayton

 

[GoldGloveschmidt]

I literally just showed you the stats that are down. Shooting percentage & FT attempts. One that was once touted as his strength, but isn’t any longer. One that was already poor for a stud center getting worse.

his scoring is up a point in much worse efficiency. He’s up 0.1 assists/game. And he’s up 0.4 offensive rebounds.

remember, the statement was his offensive game has regressed. And statistically it has.

And we don't even need stats to tell us that catching the ball, pivoting, shooting, and (often) missing is not good offense.

He is afraid to put the ball on the floor and drive, I'm wondering if something they're coaching him on is messing him up mentally. He does not look comfortable.

 

[elindholm]

And we don't even need stats to tell us that catching the ball, pivoting, shooting, and (often) missing is not good offense.

He is afraid to put the ball on the floor and drive, I'm wondering if something they're coaching him on is messing him up mentally. He does not look comfortable.

The Suns need a few games where he's the #1 option in crunch time, Booker or no, sink or swim. He gets the ball down the stretch and his first instinct is to get rid of it. He has to learn how to be a threat at the ends of games.

 

[Absolute Zero]

Suns looked out of sync today, timing was off. It wasn't just Ayton.

 

[GatorAZ]

Any word as to the level of effect on Rubio? He seemed by far the most affected.

Seeing as he just had a daughter I could see it having an affect on him. He’s also probably coming back down to earth since averaging career highs in points and assists.

 

[JerkFace]

Oubre is who he is. There is a reason that Washington was willing to let him go last year. With that being said, Oubre’s value extends off the court. I could argue that he is the most important Suns player in the locker room and has been integral in changing the culture and enjoyment of the game for his teammates.

 

[Sunstroke]

Tough loss on an absolute heart breaking day for the Sports World.
Suns played hard, competitive for 4 quarters just like the 'Mamba'
did every day of his 20 year career. I thought Ayton played very well
tho' his stat line might not tell the whole story.

Thoughts and prayers to the Bryant family.

 

[Absolute Zero]

Oubre is who he is. There is a reason that Washington was willing to let him go last year. With that being said, Oubre’s value extends off the court. I could argue that he is the most important Suns player in the locker room and has been integral in changing the culture and enjoyment of the game for his teammates.

I hear ya. Did you seen everyone run to him when he went down out of bounds?
Ayton even ran over from the sideline.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Here are Ayton's stats. Pick and choose as one likes.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/aytonde01.html

https://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/4278129/deandre-ayton

Uh yeah I got those stats from basketball reference. So . . . yeah, 2019-20 season = offensive regression.

 

[BC867]

And we don't even need stats to tell us that catching the ball, pivoting, shooting, and (often) missing is not good offense.

He is afraid to put the ball on the floor and drive, I'm wondering if something they're coaching him on is messing him up mentally. He does not look comfortable.

I was hoping that Mark Bryant would finally give the Suns a knowledgeable big-man coach.
We went without one for quite a while.

Perhaps Ayton does not look comfortable because he is not comfortable.

None of us have any way of knowing what his emotions are.

Specifically, none of us have any way of knowing if Ayton just does not have it in his
inherent basketball personality to not shy away from big-man contact in the post.

He may or may not. All we as fans can see is that, so far, he is not a contact Center.
6'11-250 and he plays offense like Alvan Adams at 212 lbs.

Contact requires aggressiveness. As I theorized some time ago, perhaps his early
upbringing in the laid back Bahamas established the tendency to not have it.

Especially in contact, it doesn't matter if you are good or bad. Just that you are
stronger than your opponent. It sure looks like he should be.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

. I thought Ayton played very well
tho' his stat line might not tell the whole story.

.

you and I watched two different games. I saw Ayton repeatedly get clowned by morant and jjj down the stretch in crunch time. Saw him get his shot under the basket blocked by an unathletic euro. Saw him fumble and bumble the ball repeatedly and lose a crucial ball in the crunch. Saw him loafing up and down the court on both offense and defense. Saw him clang shot after shot on the way to 37% shooting from the field and 60% from the FT line. Saw him cause a turnover with 2 mins left when he inexplicably stopped rolling to the hoop and I think book sent a pass that should’ve lead to a layup, dunk or FTs but for Ayton just stopping in no man’s land. I mean he ended up with 17 and 15 but they were meaningless stats.

 

[1Sun]

Agree with this. Not digging Oubre’s game.
He’s become a blackhole on offense

Which makes him a perfect candidate to come off the bench, since he would be the primary scoring option there.

 

[1Sun]

Seeing as he just had a daughter I could see it having an affect on him. He’s also probably coming back down to earth since averaging career highs in points and assists.

Today was well beyond that. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, he played like a zombie today.