For sure, nothing in regard to the plan for Ayton has changed but the suspension. If he can put these issues behind him I think he will live up to expectations. It's simply a bit hard to take when the Suns are taxiing for take off.
Was looking through some of the on/off numbers and came across the Mavs. Oddly enough there is no drop off offensively between when Doncic is on or off the court (team has a 111 rating either way). The defense is however 11 points better when he is off the court. Porzingas on the other hand is a huge negative on offense and even a negative on defense as well (-25.1 net rating)... https://stats.nba.com/team/1610612742/onoffcourt-summary/
On/off can vary wildly, especially in a small sample size like we have so far, because they rely so much on how one team's bench matches up the opposition. IMO, what i get from those numbers is that the Mavs bench has been solid. But I also expect that Doncic will never be a plus defender. He does need to cut back on the long three point attempts, he will get trapped behind the arch, early in the clock and just hoist up a three. He also needs to get a little less fancy with his passes, he will do a no look, behind the back pass to a guy... who was already open and where no defenders could get in the way... he's turning the ball over a lot. But that is pretty common with young ball handlers.
This is very true. He really needs to stop hoisting up long threes for no reason. I understand is as a heat-check once you've hit a few, but he really goes overboard. He definitely gets too cute with passing as well.
He’s definitely high on himself (the great ones are) but he takes some really bad shots. He’s not Kobe/Harden where he can create a lot of separation to get his shot off. He also doesn’t jump that much on his shot and it’s easy to contest. Kinda reminds me of Nash. He could get wherever he wanted but on jumpers he needed a lot of fade-aways or out extra arc on his shots.
A forum moderator on realgm wrote an interesting piece about Doncic. Of the top 60 players in the league I believe, Doncic was the only player with a negative on/off and +/- last season. So far, it has carried over to this season, again with a negative on/off and +/-. I think Doncic is a top 10 player, but I found it very interesting regarding his impact on team success. https://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1907853
They have good bench players and specifically a good bench PG in Brunson. Factor in that the bench is genrally playing against other benches and you can understand why the offense doesn't have a drop off when he leaves the floor. He is however a poor defender and that shows through glaringly in the on/off rating. I would guess that his overall impact is at least a little above neutral, but random circumstances make it not seem that way.
As others mentioned it’s not just Luka vs Ayton. It’s Luka and Igor vs Ayton and Monty. But I would always side with the on court talent... Monty has been great so far but we once started out 14-9 under Hornacek.
Luka and Igor? What does Igor have to do with this? He is an assistant for the Kings now. Rick Carlisle is Luka's coach in Dallas and he coached the Mavs to a title about 8-9 years ago.
Yeah.... Igor has nothing to do with it. Sarver wanted Ayton. And now Ayton has to live up to the hype or it will haunt us for a decade at the least. Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk
Really? Based on what? Just because we took him or because they both went to UofA? What about Sarver's trips to see Luka play and the rumors/speculation that he was head over heels about him as a player. Not to mention the fact that from a financial standpoint, long thought to be Sarver's only real interest, the Suns would have had far more income had they drafted the Euro cash machine.
