THT is a player in the League, but he really needs his three point shot to improve quicker than it has.
NBA/Pro/International Basketball
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Very true, and it's not just a question of banking that extra point, a player's threat to bury 3's dramatically affects the way they get guarded, which dictates their whole offensive game, especially for a guard.
THT and Ayo are both really complete two-way players with high basketball IQ's. But yeah, if it's Ayo that becomes a knockdown shooter, he is going to have the stronger NBA career.
Ayo is very rarely the longer player in an NBA context, which was part of the reason for the suspicion of him in the draft. Trae Young is a matchup where Ayo does have a length advantage, and you're gonna have a real bad night when that's the case, Ayo gets to do the stuff he was shredding the Big Ten with again.
Anyone in the Association or anywhere else that underestimated this young man made a serious mistake.
Not only was Ayo blessed with physical skill... but he also was gifted with that special heart and drive of someone to always want to get better and improve his game and prove everyone wrong who doubted him.
Say... that seems to remind me of someone! Wasn’t there some guy who played a while back that was born with physical skills but needed to improve his game but also had the drive and passion to get better and better and prove all his doubters wrong?
And I think that guy may have had a pretty decent career, too...
And I think he may have played for the Bulls for a while!
You just can't teach or buy heart and drive like that. A gift from above.
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
I tell you another thing Ayo and THT have in common: they both got to be teammates with Alex Caruso early in their careers. That influence shows.
And for the first time this deep into his career, Ayo is now in double figures averaging 10.1 points per game while shooting over 50% from the field. How soon before he starts for the Bulls?
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Ayo started 40 times as a rookie and 51 times last year.
He's actually been coming off the bench more this year than ever, and slightly fewer minutes overall, though that has ticked up with Zach LaVine's unavailability and he's been more efficient when he has played.
Over the past couple of months he has become someone the team can rely upon as a scorer. That's a big development for him, he's been mostly an energy/defense chaos agent player to this point in his career, but his shooting is opening up the floor for him in the half court in a new way.
Bulls hired Peter Patton as shooting coach it seems to be doing wonders
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Not for Vooch unfortunately
He had one season in Olrando where he shot 40% from 3 besides that hes just a meh shooter.
Outside of shooting from deep Vooch, like Ayo seems to be finding his way on this team. 23.3 ppg 11.4 rpg the last 5 games. If he can do that going forward we'll take it.
That's right. What I should have said was PERMANENT Starter! Like for the next 10 years?
If you're trying to compare Ayo to MJ here, I've got some oceanfront property in Mahomet I'd like to show you.
Ayo would have to show a heck of a lot more consistency to even sniff that. Part of the reason he's not starting anymore is that his PG skills on the NBA level were severely lacking. That's part of the reason they went more with Coby playing that role.
lstewart53x3
- Scottsdale, Arizona
MJ’s top line is obviously orders of magnitude greater than Ayo’s top line. Not every player reaches their potential. But Ayo has the work ethic to reach his top line, as MJ did.
Ayo will never be Michael. No one will. What I am highlighting is that their mentality and personal approach to the Game is cut from the same cloth. There is a level of passion and dedication that few players ever try to reach.
But I would like to see some oceanfront property in Collinsville if you know of any!
Who had Klay Thompson getting benched for Podz on their bingo card 2 years ago lmao
Going by the twitter comments only, the GS fans are thrilled with the move.
I saw MJ play in person maybe 30 times and have seen every one of his games on TV,as well as watching numerous clips/recaps over the years of his play.
He IS the greatest player of all time-bar none, except maybe Wilt. I lived vicariously the Michael Jordan era and took my family to watch him every time I could, telling them that they would have only so many chances to see Babe Ruth play.
Ayo is NOTHING like him. I love Ayo--hes's my favorite pro and one of my favorite Illini. But Michael shot everytime he could --drove one on three, took on everybody, took over every game and averaged 30 points for his career, and won 6 championshops (should have been 8 in a row...)
Ayo in a good, not great role player, but he passes the ball as soon as he can screens, assists others, fights for tough rebounds but he'll likely never make an all-star team. Never takes a bad shot, defers EVERY time...and is usually lucky to get into double digits.
Michael had the heart of a LION. Ayo has the heart of a...bobcat. Michael wanted to reach down your throat and pull your heart out, then stomp on you- even in practice!. Ayo will pat you on the back , help you up, and dust you off. I love Ayo... but the simularity ends with the same name on the front of their jerseys, not on the back.
They do (did) play on the same team and I'm glad to have watched both of them!
Michael's all-around roundball skills are superior to Wilt (and everyone else). Michael had the body and mind of the perfect basketball player if you were to go into a lab and construct one from the heart outward. Size, skills, passion, drive, intensity, no weaknesses that he did improve upon.
Wilt did have skill and was able to be dominant for a long time in an era when many players did not have the high skill level as they did in Michael's time or as today. Big Men were/are just a different category of player. Their raw size along allowed them back then to dominate the paint on both ends when there was no Three shot and you have to try to penetrate. Players like that today would have a hard time even getting on the court the way the game is played now.
Don't get me wrong. There are great players in every era. But the skill level that began with Michael and which continues to evolve today would not let most of the guys from previous eras ever see much of the floor today. It's just a different game and player from what it used to be pre-Michael (but it did start to trend this way with 'Magic' J). That's why a guy like Kofi would have had a hell-of-an-NBA career if he played back in the 1960s).
ChiefGritty
- Chicago, IL
Kofi unfortunately would have had a hell of an NBA career if he'd been born one decade earlier, let alone 5.
He'd have also made a zillion dollars of NIL if he'd come along like two years later (and made a bad decision in the window of opportunity he had).
Fated to be an underappreciated superstar.
DICKnaggie
- Champaign
I haven't watched the All Star game for years but am now and what the h is the point? Why not just have a 60 minute shooting contest? As someone who coaches young kids this is so hard to watch. I'm old but I feel like late 70's, 80's all-star games were different? Maybe I'm wrong but why even have a "game" when people don't actually compete?
I don't think I've watched an NBA All-Star game since the days of the Lakers-Magic/Celtics-Bird years in it's entirety...... What the NBA is nowadays is not enjoyable to me. Living in AZ I have watched some playoff games/series when the Suns were in them.... but that's about it. My basketball world revolves mostly around my Illini !! I do watch some NCAA/B1G games if they are relevant to the Illini. I also basically shut down my life during the NCAA tournament games, I really try to watch/follow every single tournament game!!
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DICKnaggie
- Champaign
Ya, I grew up in the 70's and 80's with Doc J as my favorite player and hated the Celtics but truly love Birds !!!! talking legacy now. I feel like the All Star game was actually competitive back then but maybe that is wishful/revisionist history. I just don't understand why you even have the event if it is what it is today.
And that may be part of the problem. The NBA All-Star game has been defense optional for years now. If you look back at the final scores for the better part of the last 40 years, the scores have been well into the triple digits. I admit that I haven't watched the game in several years but that's not because I have any sort of apathy towards the league. I try and watch at least a portion of every Bulls game that I can. I just generally don't watch All-Star games in any of the 4 major pro sports, aside from MLB every summer.