Ace Bailey ROY watch

[fishonjazz]

Locke said on KSL that his belief is that Ace will be the primary option for the last 20 games of the year (though the first 10 will be laddering up to it.)

That would be cool and interesting to watch

 

[Tremendous Upside]

That would be cool and interesting to watch

You misspelled "horrible and counter-productive"

 

[NUMBERICA]

The sad thing is that we are hoping to corrupt a player. Jumping into defenders, doing "a veteran move" etc. is not what the basketball is about. Right now Ace is playing smart by finding the open space for his threes, long twos and dunks. Instead, we want him to exploit the bizarre NBA rules for the unwatchable endless trips to the line.

And he will probably learn to do it since the pressure and the payout are real. But it would be bad and ugly basketball. I always disliked peak Harden and I will die on this hill.

There’s a lot of space between Harden/Shai and someone who goes to the line once every three games.

I’m not a fan of foul-baiting as the primary objective of a play, but this is a game of numbers so you have to respect the math.

 

[jazznik]

There’s a lot of space between Harden/Shai and someone who goes to the line once every three games.

I’m not a fan of foul-baiting as the primary objective of a play, but this is a game of numbers so you have to respect the math.

Is there though? Keyonte is currently at 7.2 FTA/G while Shai is at 9.3 in similar minutes. Key is still learning and there is little doubt that in a year or two he gains even more "veteran moves" and will be very close to SGA. I remember much celebration about the newfound ability of Key to draw fouls and no criticism. We are giddy about our own players reaching the level of Harden/Shai/EmbiidIf the Jazz somehow collectively flopped their way to championship . If Ace starts shooting twice as many FTs we would still clamor for more... and more... and more...

That's how we collectively make the NBA basketball unwatchable. I am actually glad that Ace is playing the right way: he is much more fun to watch in his "inefficient" form. If the Jazz somehow collectively flopped their way to a championship I would not be happy.

 

[NUMBERICA]

Is there though?

Yes. Ace almost never gets to the line. He is outlier bad at it.

Shai and Harden get like 40% of their points at the line.

Pretty wide gap.

Everyone agrees the game should be officiated differently, but if it’s more important to “play the right way” than it is to win then that’s your preference.

 

[rjfan]

I don't think It necessarily comes only by foul baiting (or even the extremely egregious ones). So far Ace"s game been more about jumpers (threes and some midrange, maybe more than what should be there when he's at his best) and opportunistic drives and dunks (open lanes, transition, lobs, putbacks, etc). That's a shot diet that doesn't lead you to get fouled that often.

He's still way too skinny to just be playing bully ball to the rim right of the gate, nor with the package of handles and defense manipulation of a point guard to run an offense from the get go (like Trae was a master of the PnR from day one).

It took Keyonte two offseasons and two worse seasons than rookie Ace Bailey to grow his body and get used and work his game around NBA speed, phisicality, defensive pressure, etc, so that he could turn things around. Honestly, I'm not afraid one bit for Ace. Even his response to the recent slow increase of what he's tasked to on offense has been very assuring for me.