AYTON TRADED!

[JCSunsfan]

Man… Armen Gilliam was so the PF version of Ayton. Emptiest stat stuffer ever.

Yep. I remember the huge disappointment I had at trading Gilliam. I was so excited we got him with the second pick and I had such high hopes. It was the realization that he was a bust and we had to move on. Rambis was not nearly the talent, but he was an incredibly hard worker and great for team chemistry.

People might hate Grayson, but there is no doubting that guy's competitive fire and willingness to win at almost any cost. I hate him in a Danny Ainge sort of way. He is one of those players that makes other players pause just a little. I would not have traded for him, but he does bring something.

Nurkic is a space eater. Bol has an opening now. Wonder what he will do with that.

Vogel loves centers. If he looked at the tape, talked to the players, and then dealt DA, well, that says something. He is the kinda coach that would have really thought he could get something out of DA if it was possible.

 

[Proximo]

It doesn’t make for as much overlap of the two which maximizes the damage they can inflict.

I would agree with you - if we didn't have another guy named KD who could keep 2 of the 3 on the court most of the time.

 

[PHI PHX PHAN]

I'm one of the Ayton supporters and I didn't wanna see him go.
With that said I'm quickly falling into the pro Nurkic mindset.
I never paid much attention to his game like that but I started doing my YouTube scouting and honestly he plays like Jokic (I AM NOT SAYING HE IS JOKIC).
He looks very solid dribbling, he seems decisive when he gets the ball off the screen & roll or when fed in the paint, he can make plays for others.
He appears to have a high bball IQ.
I'm very much intrigued and excited about that kind of big being surrounded by Book, KD, and Beal.
There is the durability issue which is the biggest drawback but as far as a fit for this team, he could be a godsend.
I think he will be very content being a Draymond type player and just being extremely effective without needing the stats.

I'm all in...
I think he's in a perfect situation and will thrive.
We are still very much a problem for the league.
Go Suns!

 

[Absolute Zero]

Probably already addressed, but does this help our cap situation? Maybe if we waive some of these guys? Looking for positives.

 

[Proximo]

Yep. I remember the huge disappointment I had at trading Gilliam. I was so excited we got him with the second pick and I had such high hopes. It was the realization that he was a bust and we had to move on. Rambis was not nearly the talent, but he was an incredibly hard worker and great for team chemistry.

People might hate Grayson, but there is no doubting that guy's competitive fire and willingness to win at almost any cost. I hate him in a Danny Ainge sort of way. He is one of those players that makes other players pause just a little. I would not have traded for him, but he does bring something.

Nurkic is a space eater. Bol has an opening now. Wonder what he will do with that.

Vogel loves centers. If he looked at the tape, talked to the players, and then dealt DA, well, that says something. He is the kinda coach that would have really thought he could get something out of DA if it was possible.

I am wondering if Bol is part of the thought process on this.

I know it's a longshot but maybe the plan is to give him some center minutes.

 

[AzStevenCal]

People might hate Grayson, but there is no doubting that guy's competitive fire and willingness to win at almost any cost. I hate him in a Danny Ainge sort of way. He is one of those players that makes other players pause just a little. I would not have traded for him, but he does bring something.

Nurkic is a space eater. Bol has an opening now. Wonder what he will do with that.

Vogel loves centers. If he looked at the tape, talked to the players, and then dealt DA, well, that says something. He is the kinda coach that would have really thought he could get something out of DA if it was possible.

I don't think we see eye to eye on Grayson. He wasn't some great competitor that went too far in the heat of the moment. What he did was calculated and beyond what should ever occur on a basketball court and often had nothing to do with winning.

He didn't just get mad and get even; he got mad, plotted out his revenge and then 2 minutes or 2 months later he'd deliver a cheap shot for daring to beat him or outplay him or look at him the wrong way. I hope he has matured past this but I don't know how you ever get that kind of personality under control.

 

[Proximo]

Probably already addressed, but does this help our cap situation? Maybe if we waive some of these guys? Looking for positives.

Doesn't affect it this year, Allen is a free agent next year

We have some more movable contracts now.

The only positive I see is Grayson Allen is a very good 3 point shooter and should be another good player to play off the big 3.

 

[AzStevenCal]

Doesn't affect it this year, Allen is a free agent next year

We have some more movable contracts now.

The only positive I see is Grayson Allen is a very good 3 point shooter and should be another good player to play off the big 3.

I do not want to root for that guy but yeah, he adds value as a basketball player.

 

[Proximo]

I'm one of the Ayton supporters and I didn't wanna see him go.
With that said I'm quickly falling into the pro Nurkic mindset.
I never paid much attention to his game like that but I started doing my YouTube scouting and honestly he plays like Jokic (I AM NOT SAYING HE IS JOKIC).
He looks very solid dribbling, he seems decisive when he gets the ball off the screen & roll or when fed in the paint, he can make plays for others.
He appears to have a high bball IQ.
I'm very much intrigued and excited about that kind of big being surrounded by Book, KD, and Beal.
There is the durability issue which is the biggest drawback but as far as a fit for this team, he could be a godsend.
I think he will be very content being a Draymond type player and just being extremely effective without needing the stats.

I'm all in...
I think he's in a perfect situation and will thrive.
We are still very much a problem for the league.
Go Suns!

Your watching his highlights.

He only played 26 minutes a game last year, because he can be a liability defensively.

My prediction is the Suns will be playing a lot of small ball

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Reading the Athletic's reasoning, they like the trade

Gist?

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

None taken - you must have missed the point where I said "moving forward".

Nurkic has already proven he can't stay healthy and is turning 30. Where is the upside? Playing less than 50 games a year is worthless.

Speaking of playing less than 50 games, Little has the same problem - he's always hurt! On top of that, he hasn't been very good when he has been healthy.

You may think I'm overrating Kamara but it's more an indictment of what we're bringing in than outsized praise for Kamara.

Got it

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I will go further - I think he is going to avg 22-25 PPG and 10-12 boards with Portland this year, and quite possibly make the all star team.

I think that’s possible and it’ll be of the woods empty calorie variety.

 

[Covert Rain]

I think you're misunderstanding. I think this wasn't a good trade for us, but I'm not as convinced it significantly lowers our championship ceiling yet.

That’s where this gets wonky. If we are talking the engaged Ayton it definitely does. If we get the other Ayton then maybe it’s a little lower but closer.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Gist?

Just that the Suns needed to get deeper and they did that. They think Nurkic is fine as a big

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I don't like dirty players, even if they're on the Suns. Didn't like Ainge, didn't really like Raja Bell.

But ... Allen is a legitimate rotation guy. He shoots the three well enough to be a threat and plays both ends of the court. I don't have a clear memory of how dirty he is, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

I don't see anything in Little or Johnson, and Camara was a longshot. The trade is Ayton for Nurkic and Allen.

Oh he’s dirty as hell. You’ll hate him.

 

[ajcardfan]

Ugh. I don't care for it. For years all that Ayton trade talk and THIS is what we got. It's a let down.

 

[Hoop Head]

Just that the Suns needed to get deeper and they did that. They think Nurkic is fine as a big

That's the rub. Nurkic is fine as a big and 50% of the time Ayton was, 30% he was nowhere to be found and 20% he looked great. Nurkic will be fine here. I know health is a concern but games played isn't a great indicator of how often he was available on a tanking Portland squad. He was also shut down late in the year the last 2 seasons. I hope he can suit up around 70%+ of our games and if he does, he'll be about the same as Ayton in that regard. Ayton wasn't an iron man either.

I hope Little produces some here since he's likely here for a while. The Allen addition is a head scratcher because wasn't he available last year for Crowder? Why didn't that happen? JJ is likely in his last year as GM, title or bust for him. As much as I'd like to see him go, I want a title more.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I will admit his stats are better than I thought, but I still don't understand how we are getting playing time for all these guards.

Lots of small ball

 

[Hoop Head]

Ugh. I don't care for it. For years all that Ayton trade talk and THIS is what we got. It's a let down.

Ayton was clearly overvalued by Suns fans. Ultimately he never had more value than he was the potential #1 pick right before the draft. It's been trending south since.

 

[Chaplin]

That’s where this gets wonky. If we are talking the engaged Ayton it definitely does. If we get the other Ayton then maybe it’s a little lower but closer.

The thing is, you can't call this a trade for the "engaged" Ayton. He simply wasn't reliably engaged at all.

 

[Cheesebeef]

That’s where this gets wonky. If we are talking the engaged Ayton it definitely does. If we get the other Ayton then maybe it’s a little lower but closer.

There is no reliably engaged Ayton. People have to stop living in the 2021 past.

 

[Cheesebeef]

Oh he’s dirty as hell. You’ll hate him.

I’ll love him.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

If I'm not mistaken Nurkic always tore us up

In 7 games head to head:

Averages
Player	Points	Rebounds	Assists	Steals	Blocks
Deandre Ayton	17.9	7.4	1.6	0.6	0.7
Jusuf Nurkic	13.0	11.4	2.3	0.9	0.6

Kind of what I remembered. Ayton scoring but getting killed on the boards. Portland went 5-2 against us in those 7 games.

Games Played Between Deandre Ayton and Jusuf Nurkic

This is the detail of NBA games in which Deandre Ayton and Jusuf Nurkic played against each other, including head-to-head record, stats average, game highs and game-by-game data both in the Regular Season and Playoffs.

www.landofbasketball.com

 

[Folster]

Allen's "dirty" play would be pretty ordinary in the 80's and 90's.

 

[Phrazbit]

I don't like dirty players, even if they're on the Suns. Didn't like Ainge, didn't really like Raja Bell.

But ... Allen is a legitimate rotation guy. He shoots the three well enough to be a threat and plays both ends of the court. I don't have a clear memory of how dirty he is, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for now.

I don't see anything in Little or Johnson, and Camara was a longshot. The trade is Ayton for Nurkic and Allen.

He's really really dirty, and unlike Pat Bev, who calculates his dirtiness, Allen seems to do it out of instinct and then can't comprehend why he gets in trouble and why people hate him.