I do think the Suns do a poor job of developing players but that is no excuse for a player to mail it in while collecting a huge contract.
The Suns do a bad job of evaluating high end draft picks.
Seriously they are bad. If you look back in early 2018 the top 2 picks were Jackson Jr and Porter Jr, Ayton was 4th or 5th behind Bagley. This was before Luka declared and Trey went off.
If Porter Jr. didn't mess up his back bad he would have been the first pick easy.
But Sarver insisted on Ayrton at all costs because he went to his University. And RMD knew his career as a GM was on the line. Sarver forbid RMD traveling to watch Luka, it was already decided Ayton was the pick. Clear cognitive bias.
But Sarver also made a lot of bad picks. And if you think Blanks or Babby were running the show you are kidding yourself.
Sarver picked.
2011 - Morris 13 picked over KL because Sarver and Baby both didn't like how he sweated during his work out.
2012 - Kendal Marshall 13 - Babby and Sarver loved his passing
2013 - Alex Len 5 - Sarver and RMD thought he monster inside I think Maryland
2014 - Warren 14 - Sarver went to scout him personally at NCST
2015 - Booker 13 win all around great pick hands down. Spurs like
2016 - Len and that other bro I forget his name- This was not on Sarver this was RMD thinking he had a unicorn lol (oh this was the Joker draft lol)
2017 - Jackson - I Heard Sarver wanted Fox, RMD loved Jackson this is not on Sarver, I this is when Sarver started to sour on RMD. RMD didn't even like Tatum that much
2018 - Ayton 1 and Bagley 2, they rated Trey 3 and Luka 4. RMD was done at this point.
2019 - Culver but this turned into Mikal great pick Jones
2020 - Smith over Haliburton, a fire able offense. Because Smith was project late first maybe second round.
Where are you running into all these Ayton fans? We have a lot of UA fans here but we have very, very few DA supporters. And that's been more and more the case since before he played his first game for the Suns.
His post draft/preseason interviews where all he could talk about was getting the big contract alarmed most of us that had been in his corner while he was in Tucson. Add to that the off and on problem with his hands, the complete lack of physicality at both ends of the court, the ridiculous "I am great" kind of comments, the drug suspension and letting the world know he skips sleep regularly to play video games, his diehard fans on this site can be counted on one hand and you probably wouldn't need all the fingers or the thumb.
You would be surprised. There are a lot of University of Arizona fans who are sure he is going to turn into a super star. Just look back three weeks, one guy said I was insane to think Ayton was at Nkemdiche. Well I was right he is. Sorry your University sucks I hope Monty's son realizes this and goes to Duke, my son is AAU and Monty's kid is a super star. Go to Duke or NC not the University of Rober Sarver Eller School of Sexual Harassment.