I’ve kinda lost track of how many fanbases are disappointed with Trey Lyles at this point (I’m pretty sure it’s three, but it could be more, because maybe Knicks fans are disappointed with him even though he’s never played for them), but I don’t care about their opinions. They might know better than me, having seen the good along with the bad, where I’ve only seen the good (such is the fate of a highlight-compiler), but again: I don’t care. I like Lyles. A lot. So sue me.
My impression of him was severely warped by that one random hot stretch he had with the ‘Ggets, I realize that, but at the same time, player fandom doesn’t need to make sense. There are tons of fans of tons of bad players all around the league. I don’t need to defend my love of Lyles to you haters. You can go back to hating on him all you want, he probably deserves some of it, but I’ll be over here lamenting the fact that I never made a jumper-ilation for him.
It’s not too late for that, by the way. My docket is going to pretty full of -ilations this offseason but maybe I can squeeze one in for Lyles. Again, I don’t need to defend this decision to you haters.
The thing with Lyles is that he simply needs to be more aggressive shooting the rock. His shot attempts are so far down this season that it’s almost comical. This has resulted in some decent percentages, but teams are going to play you differently, to the detriment of the rest of your teammates, if you never shoot the ball. LaMarcus Aldridge was out tonight, and Lyles got the start, which must have empowered him, because he dropped 20, including 12 in the first quarter, in this game.
I’ve talked a lot about him getting his career destroyed by Paul Millsap, but perhaps it’s time I turned my ire towards LaFartus Fartridge for the continued ruination.