There is nothing silly about it. You actually supported my point, Ouchie. I was referring to Jeff's lack of aggressiveness. The NBA is a rough league. As you pointed out about the Celtics. A lot of contact. Horny's image/demeanor/behavior was anything but rough. Which is why Cotton likened him to his paper boy. Flinging papers from the sidewalk to the front porch from his bike. The latest example? Deandre Ayton. A gentleman on the court. Shying away from contact. Finger rolls at the basket. His recent love affair with the 3-point shot is a perfect example. As Leo Durocher said, "Nice guys finish last." Using your example, how many championships do the Celtics have? And how many do the Suns have in their half-century? With one legitimate Finals appearance. And one Sunderella appearance against . . . the Celtics. Who beat us!
I would say it's more because of Red Auerbach and HOF players such as Ray Allen, Tiny Archibald, Larry Bird, Dave Bing, Jo Jo White, Bill Russell, Bill Sharman, Kevin McHale, Robert Parrish, Easy Ed, KC Jones, Sam Jones, Tommy Heinsohn, Dennis Johnson, John Havlicek, Dave Cowens, Kevin Garnett, Bob Cousy and all the other key players that I've forgotten. Compare that HOF list to the Suns list.
Actually horny was pretty tough. Dirty? No. But he took a physical beating and always got up and was back to playing hard as possible. Your characterization of him does him a great disservice.
I was at the game, in the second row, when Jeff attempted his only stuff and missed it terribly. While the play was continuing, he walked to the corner (about five feet from where I was sitting) with his head down. But his teammate had gotten the rebound and it wound up in Jeff's hands and he made the corner shot. You could feel the love for Jeff throughout the stands. But he didn't help his timid persona that day.
There is a difference in being dejected and being timid. Jeff was never a timid player no matter how you perceived his looks. It's how a player plays, not how he looks.
I actually think that Horny is 3x tougher/guttier/scrappier than DeAndre Ayton will ever be. That dude was nails IMO. But I do feel a sense of unwavering loyalty to Jeff so it could be clouding my opinion of him.
I agree love Horney would never bad mouth him. Give Deyondre a min tho, Centers take longer to develop. At his age hes right up there with Shaq, Hakeem, Mourning. Yao, Robinson and KAT and centers that are in the top 50 ever. Only KAT got numbers like Aytons at 21 the rest of that cast took 23-25 yrs old. Ayton will be 22 all next year if we can get him to attack the rim like he should be able to do its gravy.
I believe DA's "timidness" is from his fear of getting in foul trouble, not about avoiding contact. That's why he loosens up later in the game.
that doesn’t make much sense as far as his offense down low and around the basket. 2 free throw attempts per game is flat out pathetic for a guy with his athleticism, size, strength and skill.
But he doesn’t become less timid, so please explain? He 7/11 from the line in the bubble. That’s 1.375 FTs attempted per game. Less than a point per game from the charity stripe. That’s freaking awful.
4 of his bubble FT's came at the end of the Miami game when the other team started intentionally fouling to get the ball back. I remember he had 2 trips to the line because of that, which artificially inflated his FT numbers in that game, going 4-5 in total. Removing those he averaged just .875 FT attempts a game. I almost want to go through the whole season and remove those FT to see what his average would be for the year but I know it'd be depressing and take a good amount of time.
Then the coaching staff should have been working with him day and night on that. And determining if that is the problem. Or if it insurmountable.
