Don’t be hAYTON

I got shit on unbelievably hard this summer for warning lakers fans (in r/nba) that there would come a point this season when they would literally be begging to play Hayes over Ayton.

Because for as ass as Hayes is, he at least tries his ass off most of the time and has developed chemistry with Luka. Ayton hasn’t done either of those things.

I would honestly start Hayes over him atp, but we won’t because he shares the same agent as Luka and we likely promised him the starting role.

I’ll confirm that for you: he did not, in fact, try on defense. As an average, midwestern dork with a competitive nature, few things piss me off more than wasted potential.

Pretty common stat line for him, no fouls or one or two

the result of soft no-effort defense

I am a UofA grad and the year he was with us I knew he was a bum for that fact, even with how much he was getting glazed. We got bounced early in the tourney cause that man is SOFT 

Must be something with him and Mikal. Dudes would spin to a fade rathe than take it strong. 

Saying he’s “Built like Tarzan, but plays like Jane” would be a goddamn insult to Jane

Straight its night and day watching Ayton then Hayes. Ayton is literally a stump.

the 360 layup attempt to a miss was the peak of his laziness

Ya it was funny to watch the narrative around him when he went to the Lakers. Suns fans already knew how this would go.

He has a player option next year for 8 mil. That’s fine for a backup center, but that means we have another position of need.

But Hayes has been playing centre for the Lakers for a while. More successfuly than Ayton may I add. We never play him at the PF position.

why would they? At least Rui, Smart or Laravia shoot (and sometimes make) a 3.

He plays basketball like you would if you were playing pickup against 90 year olds, where not making hard contact would be more important than winning the game. The most contact-averse player I’ve ever seen.

I do think bad effort is part of it. But I’ve thought since 2023 that the bigger issue is that he has zero confidence. When he gets criticized in the media he rarely follows it up with a good game, and you’d expect those to be his highest effort games. I think it’s because he mentally shrinks even more because of the scrutiny (which makes signing with the Lakers a questionable choice).

It happened when Suns played the Nuggets in 2023. He got some media criticism and just got worse after that. IMO that series is where it was most obvious, because he’d do things like airball middies from the spot he’s most comfortable in, which isn’t an effort thing. Eventually Jock Landale was closing games in that series.

This has been his problem since college, which is why the conversation about him has always been odd. He simply is not an athlete with a high stamina level. And given that he’s a basketball player it’s not via a lack of effort. Some athletes are just built this way.

Sure, but it’s only for 8 million bucks. Even an average starting center gets paid double that.

Unfortunately yes. Which I’m sure he’ll pick up. I can only hope he’ll opt out and bet on himself but it’s not likely.

The problem is he thinks that goes out to prove it wrong, and then slowly gets back into his old ways and gets frustrated when people call him out on it. Really he just wants to do well enough to escape criticism, but doesn’t actually care about the team, spirit of competition, opposing players etc.

Yup. 8.1 for next year.

you were not gonna sign him for 8m without a player option.

OTOH next year he may put in more effort to trick his next team into a new contract.

Yeah and he can continue to build that bag through his performance and not stop there.

Dude is only 27 so plenty of years to prove his worth and keep getting those checks.

Unless he think he’s fine with what he has now or something, why would he not want to keep building up that wealth?

I mean he basically has court side seats every game and is seemingly able to cruise in games with no problem.

Except, if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he’s gonna be a min contract player in no time and eventually out of the league.

And just poor professionalism

Check his follows and likes on Twitter if you want to see even more bad KOC takes

Yep. It’s the disappointment that comes from seeing him when he gives effort vs when he doesn’t. When he’s on, he’s so good. When he’s off, I legit want Kleber to take his minutes. At least Kleber would have the decency to do too much instead of nothing. Y’all were right. All time potential, 12 year old mentality. Chris Paul is getting moved up the leadership rankings just for somehow being able to make HumiliAyton look like a good player.

Simmons also at one point in his life loved running and dunking or throwing up bullshit layups. Prime Simmons unironically finds a little niche on this team sitting in the dunkers and running fast breaks.

Wasn’t his back actually genuinely fucked as well?

What a waste of height and talent.

Maybe they get Ben Simmons lol. All they want him to do is dunk the ball.

Some team that loves making bad decision will take him probably.

He’s gonna transition to full time streamer

Are you kidding? Teams are gonna be lining up for his natural tanking talent. The Jazz should have signed him this year and Silver probably wouldn’t be able to say shit