Suns draft Ryan Dunn at #28

Ronin

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AzStevenCal

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KD is listed at 6'10" and Ayton 7' but it was clear as day that KD was taller than Ayton.
There was a time when a premium was attached to the 7 foot label so many that were in the ballpark wanted to be thought of that way. But sometime in the 90's it became apparent (to me) that some players just didn't want to be viewed that way even if they were clear 7 footers.
 

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There was a time when a premium was attached to the 7 foot label so many that were in the ballpark wanted to be thought of that way. But sometime in the 90's it became apparent (to me) that some players just didn't want to be viewed that way even if they were clear 7 footers.

Height used to dictate position. Magic as a 6'9" PG should have helped change that perception but there are people who swear Magic wasn't an actual PG. Things started changing in the mid to late 90's with small bigs like Chuck, Larry Johnson, Rodman, Anthony Mason, and more. There was still the stigma around 7' but it was slowly changing. KD has talked about it some.
 

Yuma

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Height used to dictate position. Magic as a 6'9" PG should have helped change that perception but there are people who swear Magic wasn't an actual PG. Things started changing in the mid to late 90's with small bigs like Chuck, Larry Johnson, Rodman, Anthony Mason, and more. There was still the stigma around 7' but it was slowly changing. KD has talked about it some.
That was an idiotic argument. He was clearly a PG. Sure he could play center in a playoff game and was the star of the game, but his whole college and NBA career he played PG.
 

AzStevenCal

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I believe he has the work ethic to at the very least improve his shot.
I know nothing about him but I'm not sure work ethic is always enough when it comes to improving your shot, especially at this level. But the work ethic should serve his game well in general even if it doesn't factor into his stroke.
 

Superbone

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I know nothing about him but I'm not sure work ethic is always enough when it comes to improving your shot, especially at this level. But the work ethic should serve his game well in general even if it doesn't factor into his stroke.
I don't see how not, to be honest. Practice makes perfect. OK, maybe not perfect but with 1000s of reps and a shooting coach, how could one not improve?
 

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I don't see how not, to be honest. Practice makes perfect. OK, maybe not perfect but with 1000s of reps and a shooting coach, how could one not improve?
Josh Okogie is prob pretty good proof that practice doesn’t always make perfect. That guy works like a dog out there and I gotta believe he’s extended that to his shooting in practice, but some guys just can’t get it figured out.

Remains to be seen with Dunn.
 

AzStevenCal

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I don't see how not, to be honest. Practice makes perfect. OK, maybe not perfect but with 1000s of reps and a shooting coach, how could one not improve?
Yeah but practice wrong makes imperfect, years of that make it difficult to overcome those bad habits. To me, shooting is the most challenging basketball skill to try and change after a decade plus of doing it a different way.
 

Superbone

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Yeah but practice wrong makes imperfect, years of that make it difficult to overcome those bad habits. To me, shooting is the most challenging basketball skill to try and change after a decade plus of doing it a different way.
True. But we have precedent in Jeff Hornacek.
 

Cheesebeef

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Oh sure, and he's by no means the only player who has improved their shooting in the NBA. And I'm sure we're all hoping that his dedication to improvement will impact his shooting.
Dunn’s FT shooting gives me the most pause about him eventually becoming a good shooter. 52% is usually evidence of a problem with your head shooting, not your form.
 

AzStevenCal

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Dunn’s FT shooting gives me the most pause about him eventually becoming a good shooter. 52% is usually evidence of a problem with your head shooting, not your form.
I'm not sure if it's necessarily a head problem but yeah, his free throw percentage is concerning.
 

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It's always a dicey prospect adding a non-shooter. Some never improve no matter how hard they try. Then you have a guy like Amare who couldn't hit the broad side of the barn coming into the league who developed into a great shooter. Hopefully Dunn can learn.
 
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True. But we have precedent in Jeff Hornacek.

Coming out of college into the NBA, the ball came off Jeff Hornacek's hand wrong which lead to shooting issues. He fixed it by taping a couple of fingers together and it seemed to resolve the problem. However, he shot .790 from the FT line in college.

In the case of Ryan Dunn, he only shot .525 from the FT line in college. I think the shooting issues are worse and may not be so easily resolved.
 

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Oh sure, and he's by no means the only player who has improved their shooting in the NBA. And I'm sure we're all hoping that his dedication to improvement will impact his shooting.
TJ Warren improved his 3 point shooting dramatically while playing for us.
 

JCSunsfan

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Yeah but practice wrong makes imperfect, years of that make it difficult to overcome those bad habits. To me, shooting is the most challenging basketball skill to try and change after a decade plus of doing it a different way.
A lot of players improved. I think of Dan Majerle and others that did that.
 

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TJ Warren improved his 3 point shooting dramatically while playing for us.

He had a volume problem. He just didn't shoot 3's until his last year here. He averaged just over 1 attempt a game, so his percentage wasn't a great indicator of ability. He shot about 25% also but when you shoot 1 game, going 2-2 can have a decent increase in percentage. He would pass up 3's to drive, where he was more efficient. He was a 50%+ shooter and scored well. Once we got him shooting more 3's though he knocked out 42.8% on 4 attempts a game. He was also 78% FT shooter. TJ could shoot, his shot selection was the issue more than his ability.
 

Yuma

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Reading about Ryan Dunn, I keep seeing the phrase, "Best defender in the draft" in analysis and reviews of this kid. IDK, probably just hype.
 
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