Somehow, even without Devin Booker, the Suns managed to make it a game against the Warriors, who were playing at full-strength. With four and a half minutes left, they were only down by four points. The fact that they played this well should be encouraging, because it means that their miscellaneous cast of project players (including the newly-acuquired Tyler Johnson, who went 1-of-9 in his Suns debut) is capable of gelling.
Deandre Ayton is absolutely not one of those project players. You can’t be as good as he is and be called a “project” even if you are projected to continue improving. He and Devin Booker are established scorers. Players like Oubre and Jackson and Bridges, those guys are projects. Ayton is in a different tier from those guys. I call it “tier alpha” and the other guys are in “tier beta”. Because a true man like myself will frame everything in terms of alphas and betas. That’s what you do when you’re alpha like me.
Alpha Ayton’s total number of shot attempts in this game, twenty, is befitting of his skill level. He doesn’t have to get twenty attempts every game, but then again, maybe he should. With Devin Booker out, there’s not really anybody you’d rather have taking those shots.
Okay, I just accidentally convinced myself. Ayton needs a minimum thirty shot attempts per game or I will tell his agent to tell Ayton to start demanding a trade.