The NBA regular season is finally over, the Suns ended with a record of 64 wins and 18 losses, everyone set their eyes on Paul and Booker, Paul is still old and strong, and after these years of growth, Booker has become a competitor to the MVP. However, there is one important player that we have been ignoring, and he is Ayton.
In fact, last season the Suns were able to reach the Finals, Ayton's credit is very large, whether it is facing thick eyebrows or Jokic, the internal confrontation on Ayton did not suffer losses, especially in the Finals, the Bucks focused on Ayton, if it is not the Suns who do not have a substitute inside line, the Bucks want to win easily, it is not too easy, in fact, at that time, Xiao Feng felt that the Suns should sign a maximum salary contract with Ayton in the offseason.
However, a season down, the Suns are slow to shoot, perhaps out of consideration of the big situation, the current basketball is still pursuing fast, just like Ayton' blue-collar core players, can not make the management satisfied, especially after the successful introduction of McGee and Biyombo, so that the Suns' internal line looks unbreakable, it is easy to give people an illusion, that is, Ayton's role is weakened, the substitution is very strong, so it is difficult to achieve a big contract. Of course, there is also a saying that Ayton can have such an achievement today, inseparable from Paul's promotion, without Paul's existence, Ayton is difficult to have such an achievement now, although it can be said that Xiao Feng feels that Ayton is still very important to the Suns, and in recent years, not only Booker has grown, Ayton has also become the most important part of the Suns.
First of all, we have to talk about how long Paul's peak can last? In fact, everyone knows that Paul can't stick to it all the time, and the focus of the team is of course the combination of Booker and Ayton, how difficult it is to lead the team with a single core, Embiid is the best example, the Suns have been playing hard in the past two years, how can the management easily give up, Xiao Feng does not deny the strength of McGee and Biyombo, but when it comes to the playoffs, to be honest, it still depends on Ayton's confrontation with the top interior, otherwise it is difficult to play Paul's advantage.
Ayton has played 58 games this season, compared with the previous season, the data has been significantly improved, especially the offensive efficiency has been significantly improved, in the 21.7% of the round share, Ayton's game contribution value is as high as 14.8, in the league's 25th position. The reason why the Suns can have such an efficient offense, in fact, Ayton's role is indispensable, scoring efficiency, excellent defensive ability, first-class ability to eat cakes, and a good feel, which is the improvement that Ayton brought to the Suns.
At that time, Ayton was able to suppress Doncic and Trae Young to be elected as the champion, there must be his superiority, and his conscientious and humble character is his greatest strength, he will not compete for the limelight of the star, dirty work he is willing to do, in fact, if the goal of the Suns is still the championship, in fact, there is no need to bother with not giving Ayton a maximum salary, two years of time, has already let them grind out a set of winning culture suitable for themselves, Ayton is an important part of it, if the Suns really let Ayton leave, Perhaps the Suns will face a crisis of disintegration.
In Xiao Feng's view, no matter how you look at it, the Suns will try to renew Ayton's contract, not only to save the team's complete lineup, but also not to create a more powerful enemy for themselves, such as the Warriors, if the Warriors get Ayton, the Suns will only make their situation more embarrassing. In the past two years of play, in fact, the status of high-quality centers is particularly important, whether it is Jokic, Gobert or Embiid, the dominance shown in recent years is obvious to all, the times have been changing, the Suns want to remain competitive in the next few years, must sign Ayton, even if it is the maximum salary.
Today's topic is here, the above views are only Xiao Feng's personal views, please forgive me for the deficiencies.