2022 NBA OFF SEASON DRAFT FREE AGENCY TAMPERING ETC

one has to assume that ESPN and TNT have market research indicating that the Shaqs and Perks of the world have added value. Even though he's been on for like 15 yrs I still honestly think of Shaq as an interloper to the original (and all-time) Inside the NBA with just Ernie-Kenny-Chuck. But I'm sure all the dumb bits with Shaq are the most popular segments, so

at least on espn idk abt tnt the producers literally plan out the sides of the arguments ahead of time

kd wld never want to be a pundit but hes obvs a thinker about the game

Size for position, shotmaking, efficiency, IQ, consistency, being able to guard multiple positions, a wiling passer, coachable, energetic…in my humble opinion https://t.co/7MaEUhbxyg

— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) May 16, 2022

the draft guy at the althetic has jabari smith ranked ahead of chet and it just seems crazy to me this is the contemporary version of teams just taking an athletic seven footer first just cause thats the valuable type of guy except in this case hes a big wing who can shoot and defend and tbf he is very big and athletic and can shoot the heck out of the ball but im watching his season highlight package now and feel very comfortable in saying that he had fewer than ten impressive drives all last year he just does not seem to have an off the bounce game hes a 3 and d guy youre really gonna draft a 3 and d guy number one

granted hes very young and has time to learn things but just never driving at all idk and chet is a natural baller he does it all and is scrappy too literally the one strike against chet is that hes a skinny man, smith might be soft its hard to say doesnt seem like hes in there mixing it up

agree entirely and apparently his numbers finishing at the rim are alarming. he shot 43% on two pointers overall. the athletic guy's argument is that jabari won't be played off the floor in the playoffs because he's a wing who can shoot and guard which makes sense except if you're not really that good how much does it matter if you're on the floor. wiggins isn't being played off the floor either but he also wasn't considered a useful player until he ended up on a team where he was the fourth option on offense

when ppl talk about chet i almost wonder if they look at his shot, like they just take for granted that he's a good shooter and we've seen bigs who can shoot and it just is what it is. but i feel like at that height the only guys i can think of who have better looking shots are KD and dirk. everything about his shot is natural and easy. i just don't see how he fails, he's too good of a shooter, he's guaranteed 40%+ from three, he can also dribble and move, if he ever develops a post or mid range game a la dirk he's gonna break defenses. jabari smith is very easy to understand but he also just might be a completely average player. i don't see how chet is worse than myles turner and his ceiling is one of the best big men to ever play

yeah that wont get played off the floor line is wild i hope the 1st pick wont get played off the floor you prob didnt take the right guy if he does

so ayton wants a max contract this offseason and phoenix doesn't want to keep him if it means they pay him at max. the questions I have for the ILH collective are: Will any team want ayton on their team as a max contract? And if ayton gets an offer sheet somewhere at or near to the max, will phoenix match it?

I mean, it's not a Ben Simmons level soap opera, but it's a storyline.

there's def teams that would give him the max. it's the rookie max and for any team signing him as a FA it's only 4 years, it's pretty low risk esp if you aren't in a cap crunch which the suns are.

as for matching, i bet they'd try and sign and trade him. maybe they'd match, but teams can also do all sorts of poison pill things or whatever. it doesn't seem like things are headed towards a longterm relationship there

ayton is eligible for a contract somewhere between ~32-34m a year depending on if he signs with the suns or goes somewhere else, kinda think no ones going to give him nearly that much idk there are some dumb teams tho

i think desperate teams in far flung markets would do it -- detroit, charlotte, apparently indiana was calling them at the deadline. portland maybe. the knicks? atlanta?

he's young and doesn't have a concerning injury history for a big. i think he'd be attractive to teams hoping to just make the playoffs for a few years and who are not worried about whether ayton can be a key player on a championship team

i didn't know about this until it was mentioned by kevin arnovitz on zach lowe's podcast today, but this long article on ESPN about how much de'andre ayton loves video games was, um, illuminating

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33898958/deandre-ayton-phoenix-suns-video-games

It's clear watching Ayton play NBA 2K on the big screen that he's a dedicated gamer. He says that family comes first for him -- as the father of a 1-year-old, Ayton always makes time for his son, Deandre Jr., and girlfriend, Anissa Evans. But then, every day, he'll settle down for several hours -- at least four or five -- to play NBA 2K. This is how Ayton reached Legend status, an achievement that occurs by reaching Level 40 for four seasons in the game. Ayton believes he's the only NBA player to become a Legend.

"I don't know how I did it this year because I got a child, but I did it," Ayton says.

Ayton typically wakes up around 6 a.m. after only getting about two hours of sleep. There's time for a quick round of gaming after eating breakfast, then he's off to practice. Then it's back home to finish talking trash and practicing moves on the virtual court. On game days, Ayton is focused, but that schedule still includes time for video games.

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

i suspect when the suns let ESPN do this story they might not have had ayton's best interests at heart...

portland maybe.

not likely. i think pdx will do whatever it can to retain nurkic, but they may need to overpay him to do it. he's a better fit than ayton anyway.

i … could not disagree more but to each his own, though I don’t think either player is a real answer

nurk won't put the blazers back into the (super-max + max) bind they were in with lillard & cj, but ayton would, while not delivering enough value. a big part of nurk's 'better fit' for me is that he can hold down the middle but not break the bank. after the tear down the blazers need to sign some solid pieces to rebuild with. ayton ain't the answer.

with Portland’s current roster I’m not sure what the question even is

it's not one question, but at least a dozen.

if i was the blazers, i would simply win the draft lottery and then draft chet holmgren

they might be the most mysterious team in the league right now. no idea what their goals are, what style of basketball they wanna play, how they intend on getting better, who is even on their team. it sounds like dame is sticking around in which case they need to put a real team around him in one offseason

my lord that ayton gaming story is something

i suspect when the suns let ESPN do this story they might not have had ayton's best interests at heart...

― J0rdan S., Monday, May 16, 2022 6:09 PM (two hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

this makes sense and also sucks

It wasn't just the Suns. his agent prob knew in advance, too.

my lord that ayton gaming story is something

― call all destroyer, Monday, May 16, 2022 8:25 PM (fifty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao that shit is wild why doesnt he sleep sleep is important

"I don't know how I did it this year because I got a child, but I did it," Ayton says, as his kid stares at him blankly, his mouth agape, his eyes wide

to be fair one year olds sleep a lot, unlike deandre ayton

i didn't know about this until it was mentioned by kevin arnovitz on zach lowe's podcast today, but this long article on ESPN about how much de'andre ayton loves video games was, um, illuminating

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/33898958/deandre-ayton-phoenix-suns-video-games

― J0rdan S., Monday, May 16, 2022 6:02 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

i just listened to this pod and for someone as measured as arnovitz to refer repeatedly to ayton's "comportment" being a concern within the suns.....yeah there's something there.

did he say what the comportment problems were particularly

nah. he did a big sarver piece a while back so i would assume he has good suns sources (and is protective of them)

I’m charting every single bucket Luka scored in the series. Of the 56 (out of 81 total) I’ve done so far, 18 of Luka’s buckets have come from getting Ayton on him out of the PnR. https://t.co/FAT4Gog4hw

— BBALLBREAKDOWN (@bballbreakdown) May 17, 2022

did he say what the comportment problems were particularly

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 17, 2022 1:59 PM (eighteen minutes ago)

the implication seemed to be that he doesn't take basketball seriously enough. arnovitz was like "you'd never see an article about bam playing video games so much that he only sleeps 2 hours per night." i'm sure the suns are aware of that as well which is what makes me think they weren't too worried about that info coming out

lmao he likes the nba video game more than being in the nba

No dopamine-drip of progression and leveling up IRL.

suns shd give him badges for various accomplishments, got 8 hours of sleep badge, didnt get posted up by guy half a foot shorter than me badge

lmao he likes the nba video game more than being in the nba

― lag∞n, Tuesday, May 17, 2022 2:31 PM (eight minutes ago)

it is a bit ridiculous that there's a whole story on the number 1 overall pick that hinges on him working hard enough to achieve "Legend" status............ in NBA 2K

cant believe ayton agreed to a be taken down like that, he must have zero street sense. dude let the photographer take a pic of him holding a controller like a baby lmaooooo

https://a2.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2022%2F0412%2Fr998618_1999x3000cc.jpg&w=570&format=jpg

i’ve had enough of the 2k shaming itt, if bingeing 2k until you get a headache is wrong i don’t want to be right

Tracer, if you are also a #1 overall nba pick then you should feel shame imo, sorry that’s how I feel.

you should just keep it to yourself is the thing. and def not let it be released right around when you get mopped up by the guy you were picked ahead of

i definitely think everyone should be sleeping more than 2 hours per night especially nba players

especially 7 footers

suns shd give him badges for various accomplishments, got 8 hours of sleep badge, didnt get posted up by guy half a foot shorter than me badge

Yeah, they just got to figure out how to gamify basketball.

i guess the whole scoring system with putting the ball through the hoop ring isnt enough of a game for him

Real life game stats could be applied to his Gamerscore

*double the gamerscore stats for real life stats

negative points for layups, quadruple for dunks

I cannot imagine intentionally getting 2 hours of sleep a night. Probably why I never had kids.

i def got more than that as a new parent!