Scoot and Sharpe would have been the worst shooting backcourt in the NBA last season

[wizenheimer]

As for offense, I agree again with you that he did not really impact Scoot/Sharpe's offensive effectiveness--neither hurting nor helping. And really, this is the problem, given that when he starts, he is the primary ball-handler, but his game is really not one that sets the table for his teammates. He is more an is0-player offensively, generally being more interested in calling his own number on offense than others'.

just some numbers

* last season, in isolation plays, Ant was in the 40th percentile (Grant was in the 22nd percentile). Isolation was 16% of Ant's offense. By comparison, Brogdon was in the 74th percentile. (Terry Rozier 96th percentile; Kawhi Leonard 93rd; Marcus Morris 89th; James Harden 88th; SGA 87th; DeRozan 86th; Dejounte Murray 84th; Doncic 83rd; Kyrie 82nd)

* last season, PnR ball-handler was 40% of Ant's offense; he was in the 68th percentile. (Quickley 97th; SGA 97th; Rozier 96th; Paul George 94th; Doncic 93rd; TJ McConnell 93rd; Booker 92nd; DeRozan 92nd; Haliburton 91st; Brunson 91st; Jamal Murray & Bradley Beal 88th; Maxey 88th; Kawhi 87th)

* in 2022-23, in isolation, Ant was in the 48th percentile. Dame was in the 91st percentile. Keon Johnson was in the 83rd percentile. Durant was 99th percentile

* in 2022-23, in PnR ball-handler, Ant was in the 82nd percentile. Dame was in the 93rd percentile

there are probably several reasons why Ant's shot creation numbers fell from 2022-23 to last season. Main one is likely Dame. Ant was drafting off of the wake created by defensive attention teams paid to Dame; much like CJ did for several years. This last season, with no Dame around teams could pay more straight up defense against Ant with occasional hedges....and his numbers fell because he doesn't have the shot-creation talent to overcome solid defensive resistance.

Another factor many won't credit could be that running the PnR with Nurkic and Eubanks was more effective than running the PnR with Ayton and Reath. Last season, Ayton was in the 41st percentile in PnR roll-man plays. The season before, Nurkic was in the 53rd percentile; Eubanks was 71st percentile. But again, the Dame factor was probably significant here

Some of his fans seem convinced Simons is really good at creating offense, or at least at creating his own offense, and credit him as such. But he's not good. Being below the 50th percentile in isolation is a revealing gauge. He's quite a bit better at PnR, but most ball-handlers are, especially if they are paired with decent pick-setters like Nurkic and Eubanks. Ayton, not so much, but there could be some structure and familiarity issues

 

[sheed30]

just some numbers

* last season, in isolation plays, Ant was in the 40th percentile (Grant was in the 22nd percentile). Isolation was 16% of Ant's offense. By comparison, Brogdon was in the 74th percentile. (Terry Rozier 96th percentile; Kawhi Leonard 93rd; Marcus Morris 89th; James Harden 88th; SGA 87th; DeRozan 86th; Dejounte Murray 84th; Doncic 83rd; Kyrie 82nd)

* last season, PnR ball-handler was 40% of Ant's offense; he was in the 68th percentile. (Quickley 97th; SGA 97th; Rozier 96th; Paul George 94th; Doncic 93rd; TJ McConnell 93rd; Booker 92nd; DeRozan 92nd; Haliburton 91st; Brunson 91st; Jamal Murray & Bradley Beal 88th; Maxey 88th; Kawhi 87th)

* in 2022-23, in isolation, Ant was in the 48th percentile. Dame was in the 91st percentile. Keon Johnson was in the 83rd percentile. Durant was 99th percentile

* in 2022-23, in PnR ball-handler, Ant was in the 82nd percentile. Dame was in the 93rd percentile

there are probably several reasons why Ant's shot creation numbers fell from 2022-23 to last season. Main one is likely Dame. Ant was drafting off of the wake created by defensive attention teams paid to Dame; much like CJ did for several years. This last season, with no Dame around teams could pay more straight up defense against Ant with occasional hedges....and his numbers fell because he doesn't have the shot-creation talent to overcome solid defensive resistance.

Another factor many won't credit could be that running the PnR with Nurkic and Eubanks was more effective than running the PnR with Ayton and Reath. Last season, Ayton was in the 41st percentile in PnR roll-man plays. The season before, Nurkic was in the 53rd percentile; Eubanks was 71st percentile. But again, the Dame factor was probably significant here

Some of his fans seem convinced Simons is really good at creating offense, or at least at creating his own offense, and credit him as such. But he's not good. Being below the 50th percentile in isolation is a revealing gauge. He's quite a bit better at PnR, but most ball-handlers are, especially if they are paired with decent pick-setters like Nurkic and Eubanks. Ayton, not so much, but there could be some structure and familiarity issues

Bro, he played 13 games with Sharpe.

ISO hall had to do with the lack of talent around him, he was forced to shoulder more than he should. How do you not see that?

yes Ant has the ball in his hands a lot because he was our best player, on a very poor offensive team.

Never think if we have more offensive talent around him, his effectiveness will go up and he doesn’t have to play hero ball or bail of out at the end of the shot clock?

this is a prime example of someone throwing it all on Ant as a scapegoat without looking at the whole picture or who he was out on the floor with him.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

1. Yes, we can have different opinions on what value is for Ant. Some want to trade him for draft capital, which to in itself is risky imo because we cant predict what pick or who we will pick from this far out, and it could be just trading Ant basically for nothing in the end. I want value back for him, right now, that potentially help and build with Scoot and Sharpe. Yes, there is a risk Ant value doesn't go up and we end of getting less value for him, but I rather risk that then trading him for draft capital, which it itself is also risky imo.

From what I've seen, people want Ant traded for prospects that make sense as part of the rebuild, as well as draft capital. I definitely want a youngster who is presently on a team that is more suited than we are to contend now--a team that would make better use now of what Ant can bring than we can. Guys like Anthony Black, Jarace Walker, Devin Carter--guys who are unlikely to contribute significantly to their current teams' playoff goals this season.

And it should be noted that the point of amassing draft capital--specifically picks for years 2028-2030--would mostly be to use them in future deals to procure the pieces we need to upgrade the roster once we have our foundational pieces (which may or may not include Scoot/Sharpe).

 

[sheed30]

This isn't choosing Scoot and Sharpe over Ant. It's saying Ant isn't what we need (he's the wrong kind of player to keep if you're doing this reset) and we need to keep looking until we find that.

If Scoot or Sharpe wind up not being good enough then we'll move off of them as well. We haven't had enough time that I'm ready to move off of them.

There isn't much room for growth with Ant. We've already seen him for long enough to know that he isn't going to be a top piece to a championship team. You don't start building with your bench. You start building through the draft. You fill in the bench later. It'll be easier then, because better players will be willing to accept a lesser role for the opportunity at a championship.

Right now is just not the time for Ant in Portland. We'd be better off trying again with another pick.

That’s just your opinion btw. About Ant not being a piece on a reset team, he surely can be, and you said so yourself, that he can help another team that he goes to.

yes, if Scoot and Shapre improve, they there is more reason to trade him. But we aren’t there yet, my thoughts. Ofcourse everyone has their own thought.

You speak about it like it’s facts when it’s merely just your opinion, but the difference is you voice this over and over in different thread to people who aren’t even talking to you, like you’re trying to convince people they are wrong and your right.

 

[Phatguysrule]

That’s just your opinion btw. About Ant not being a piece on a reset team, he surely can be, and you said so yourself, that he can help another team that he goes to.

yes, if Scoot and Shapre improve, they there is more reason to trade him. But we aren’t there yet, my thoughts. Ofcourse everyone has their own thought.

You speak about it like it’s facts when it’s merely just your opinion, but the difference is you voice this over and over in different thread to people who aren’t even talking to you, like you’re trying to convince people they are wrong and your right.

Everything I'm saying in here without a link to a source is my opinion. I would hope that you consider any information on the internet without a sited source to be just that. An opinion.

If you aren't sending a direct message to somebody in a private conversation you aren't speaking to only one person. You are speaking to the whole PUBLIC forum. You are inviting other people to join the conversation. If that bothers you, that's on you.

If you have such delicate feelings about people disagreeing with you, I would recommend that you refrain from joining engaging in a public discussion.

 

[sheed30]

From what I've seen, people want Ant traded for prospects that make sense as part of the rebuild, as well as draft capital. I definitely want a youngster who is presently on a team that is more suited than we are to contend now--a team that would make better use now of what Ant can bring than we can. Guys like Anthony Black, Jarace Walker, Devin Carter--guys who are unlikely to contribute significantly to their current teams' playoff goals this season.

And it should be noted that the point of amassing draft capital--specifically picks for years 2028-2030--would mostly be to use them in future deals to procure the pieces we need to upgrade the roster once we have our foundational pieces (which may or may not include Scoot/Sharpe).

Ya that’s fair, but I’m more on the side of it’s too early for that.

Let Scoot and Sharpe show us improvements first.

imagine taking Ant and Grant off our current team, if you thought we were bad offensively last year, this year will be way worse.

And it’s even worse for Scoot and Sharpe, they still needing to develop but having more loads on their shoulders than they need to, and the other teams defense focusing on them two, will affect their effectiveness, similar to what we saw from Ant last season imo.

I promise all of you, if we get rid of Ant and Grant without much talent coming back, Sharpe and Scoot ISO usage will go up too. It’s only commons sense. And we will be back to the same thing guys on trying to bash on Ant with, but with Sharpe and Scoot instead when it comes to ISO. They will have the ball in theirs hands the most, and with little offensive around them, they will start to force things more and more as we saw with Ant last year.

 

[sheed30]

Everything I'm saying in here without a link to a source is my opinion. I would hope that you consider any information on the internet without a sited source to be just that. An opinion.

If you aren't sending a direct message to somebody in a private conversation you aren't speaking to only one person. You are speaking to the whole PUBLIC forum. You are inviting other people to join the conversation. If that bothers you, that's on you.

If you have such delicate feelings about people disagreeing with you, I would recommend that you refrain from joining engaging in a public discussion.

lol, and same thing goes, you don't need to push a narrative on here 24/7. We get it, you have your thoughts. That's fine. I merely don't post as much as you and others, by a far margin.

But to see the same thing over and over, and lots of your counters points imo, aren't even facts just baseless claims that I have debunked a few times, seems to me mean you are the one that doesn't like if others push back on the thoughts you post here all the time. You want everyone to be on the same page as you.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Ya that’s fair, but I’m more on the side of it’s too early for that.

Let Scoot and Sharpe show us improvements first.

imagine taking Ant and Grant off our current team, if you thought we were bad offensively last year, this year will be way worse.

And it’s even worse for Scoot and Sharpe, they still needing to develop but having more loads on their shoulders than they need to, and the other teams defense focusing on them two, will affect their effectiveness, similar to what we saw from Ant last season imo.

I promise all of you, if we get rid of Ant and Grant without much talent coming back, Sharpe and Scoot ISO usage will go up too. It’s only commons sense. And we will be back to the same thing guys on trying to bash on Ant with, but with Sharpe and Scoot instead.

Ehh, I don't know about that last thing. Sharpe doesn't have the handle to go iso like Ant does, and Scoot is just more of a natural distributor than Ant can ever dream of being. Also, a lot more of the offense is going to run through Avdija this year than ran through any non-guard last year. In all reality, the best argument to keeping Ant around is that we haven't seen him and Deni on the court together, and we have no idea what lineups including those two together will look like.

Yes, it's definitely true that this team will be worse this year without Ant/Grant than they were last year, but I don't think most in here see that as a bad thing.

 

[wizenheimer]

Bro, he played 13 games with Sharpe.

ISO hall had to do with the lack of talent around him, he was forced to shoulder more than he should. How do you not see that?

yes Ant has the ball in his hands a lot because he was our best player, on a very poor offensive team.

Never think if we have more offensive talent around him, his effectiveness will go up and he doesn’t have to play hero ball or bail of out at the end of the shot clock?

this is a prime example of someone throwing it all on Ant as a scapegoat without looking at the whole picture or who he was out on the floor with him.

Brogdon had the same talent around him last season as Ant did; Brogdon was in the 74th percentile in isolation, Ant was in the 40th. The season before. with each playing with the same players, Dame was in the 91st percentile; Ant was in the 48th. By the way, last season, while Ant was in the 40th percentile in isolation, Sharpe was in the 49th percentile

 

[sheed30]

Ehh, I don't know about that last thing. Sharpe doesn't have the handle to go iso like Ant does, and Scoot is just more of a natural distributor than Ant can ever dream of being. Also, a lot more of the offense is going to run through Avdija this year than ran through any non-guard last year. In all reality, the best argument to keeping Ant around is that we haven't seen him and Deni on the court together, and we have no idea what lineups including those two together will look like.

Yes, it's definitely true that this team will be worse this year without Ant/Grant than they were last year, but I don't think most in here see that as a bad thing.

Sharpe doesn't have the handles, but if Scoot and him are our best offensive players next year next to Ayton if we dump Grant and Ant, then there will be times they will be FORCED to create a shot.

Happened with Ant, and will happen with them too imo. Good point about Deni, we didn't have someone who was more a point forward last year. So yes that should help. If Sharpe and Scoot show some nice leaps next year, then yes Ill be in the boat of trading Ant.

But my point to others, is we ain't there yet. That's just my 2 cents.

 

[Natebishop3]

@sheed30 you need to stop with the personal insults. It's a forum. People have different opinions. Getting that upset when someone doesn't agree with you is ridiculous.

Yeah but your opinions are silly and covered in dog hair!

 

[Phatguysrule]

lol, and same thing goes, you don't need to push a narrative on here 24/7.

I certainly don't *need* to. But I am free to join the discussion when it comes up. Which has been more often lately. For obvious reasons.

We get it, you have your thoughts. That's fine. I merely don't post as much as you and others, by a far margin.

That's cool.

But to see the same thing over and over, and lots of your counters points imo, aren't even facts just baseless claims that I have debunked a few times,

They are my opinions. Yes. We've covered that.

seems to me mean you are the one that doesn't like if others push back on the thoughts you post here all the time. You want everyone to be on the same page as you.

I don't care if you're on the same page. But I'm happy to debate it. That's what internet forums are for. I appreciate the debate.

 

[Phatguysrule]

imagine taking Ant and Grant off our current team, if you thought we were bad offensively last year, this year will be way worse.

Excellent! I hope they learn from it.

And it’s even worse for Scoot and Sharpe, they still needing to develop but having more loads on their shoulders than they need to, and the other teams defense focusing on them two, will affect their effectiveness, similar to what we saw from Ant last season imo.

Excellent! Having that responsibility is going to really helping their development, IMO. Or if nothing else it will help us make a decision on them sooner.

I promise all of you, if we get rid of Ant and Grant without much talent coming back, Sharpe and Scoot ISO usage will go up too. It’s only commons sense. And we will be back to the same thing guys on trying to bash on Ant with, but with Sharpe and Scoot instead when it comes to ISO. They will have the ball in theirs hands the most, and with little offensive around them, they will start to force things more and more as we saw with Ant last year.

That could be. But I doubt it. I think they'll play more of a team game (with each other, if nothing else, rather than freezing each other out). And they'll play better defense.

I'd like to find out sooner, rather than later.

 

[BIG Q]

Ehh, I don't know about that last thing. Sharpe doesn't have the handle to go iso like Ant does, and Scoot is just more of a natural distributor than Ant can ever dream of being. Also, a lot more of the offense is going to run through Avdija this year than ran through any non-guard last year. In all reality, the best argument to keeping Ant around is that we haven't seen him and Deni on the court together, and we have no idea what lineups including those two together will look like.

Yes, it's definitely true that this team will be worse this year without Ant/Grant than they were last year, but I don't think most in here see that as a bad thing.

I would also add that Scoot appears to be more inclined to get Ayton involved in the offense as well. I would love to see Ayton get 20/12 nightly.

 

[PtldPlatypus]

Sharpe doesn't have the handles, but if Scoot and him are our best offensive players next year next to Ayton if we dump Grant and Ant, then there will be times they will be FORCED to create a shot.

Happened with Ant, and will happen with them too imo.

Difference is, Ant is predisposed to isolation. He has a propensity towards it. Scoot has a propensity towards setting up his teammates. And Sharpe has a propensity towards finding holes in the defense and getting himself open for a C&S or a lob. Any iso's they do will be second/third option, so fans will likely take less umbrage to them.

 

[Phatguysrule]

Sharpe doesn't have the handles, but if Scoot and him are our best offensive players next year next to Ayton if we dump Grant and Ant, then there will be times they will be FORCED to create a shot.

Not if we have players moving off the ball. If you have the three players you mentioned as well as other players who can catch on the move and pass, and a decent offensive coach we will be able to get open looks.

If you have to run the ball through "ball stoppers" like Grant and Ant, you will not get good looks. You'll get the looks we saw this last season. You will end up playing ISO basketball.

 

[sheed30]

I would also add that Scoot appears to be more inclined to get Ayton involved in the offense as well. I would love to see Ayton get 20/12 nightly.

Does he? Does the stats show that? I know the real answer. Or the ones that liked that post?

I’m not trying to be hard on you, but this is another example of you guys just throwing out stuff without anything to back up these statements.

I’ll make it easy for you. Ayton stats playing with Ant and Scoot are the basically the same..

Ant playing with Ayton - 16.7 PPG and 11.1 Reb

Playing with Scoot - 17PPG and 11.0 Reb

you guys should really back check what you say before you post lol. Also, Ant and Ayton pick and roll was more effective than a Scoot/Ayton pick and roll.

You know why that is? Because teams simply rolled with Ayton and left Scoot and his poor 3% open all the time.

Once again goes back to one of my main points, Scoot and Sharpe, mainly Scoot in this scenario, would benefit us greatly as a team if he can become a dependable 3 point shooter

 

[sheed30]

Not if we have players moving off the ball. If you have the three players you mentioned as well as other players who can catch on the move and pass, and a decent offensive coach we will be able to get open looks.

If you have to run the ball through "ball stoppers" like Grant and Ant, you will not get good looks. You'll get the looks we saw this last season. You will end up playing ISO basketball.

Grant and Simons played that way more because of the talent around them, I don’t know why your ignoring that over and over

 

[Phatguysrule]

Grant and Simons played that way more because of the talent around them, I don’t know why your ignoring that over and over

That's fine, But with them playing that way our talent isn't going to develop.

They stop the ball too much. When they played with Ayton, Sharpe and Scoot they stopped the ball too much.

I have watched Ant refuse to feed Sharpe ever since Sharpe was drafted. I don't know if he's just not smart enough to view the court or if he's actually concerned that Sharpe is going to pass him as the number one option on offense.

Whatever it is, I've seen enough. You keep saying that I'm ignoring things. I'm not. I'm taking them into consideration. I've seen the way Simons and Grant play with Scoot, Sharpe and Ayton. And I'm not impressed.

We need more rebounding from Grant, and more defense from Simons, and a lot more movement off the ball, and quicker decision making once they receive the ball, from both.

Both of these players are too old to develop these characteristics. They pretty much are what they are. Unless we have a Popovich or Phil Jackson to convince them to change. And I'm sorry to say that we don't.

And we're not going to have a chance to get a coach like that until we get our talent in order.

In order to get our talent to play like it needs to Simons and Grant need to drastically change the way they play or they need to be dealt.

 

[Samuel]

I have watched Ant refuse to feed Sharpe ever since Sharpe was drafted.

yeah sharpe seems to cut way less when ant has the ball than he used to, it's a bummer.

 

[BIG Q]

Does he? Does the stats show that? I know the real answer. Or the ones that liked that post?

I’m not trying to be hard on you, but this is another example of you guys just throwing out stuff without anything to back up these statements.

I’ll make it easy for you. Ayton stats playing with Ant and Scoot are the basically the same..

Ant playing with Ayton - 16.7 PPG and 11.1 Reb

Playing with Scoot - 17PPG and 11.0 Reb

you guys should really back check what you say before you post lol. Also, Ant and Ayton pick and roll was more effective than a Scoot/Ayton pick and roll.

You know why that is? Because teams simply rolled with Ayton and left Scoot and his poor 3% open all the time.

Once again goes back to one of my main points, Scoot and Sharpe, mainly Scoot in this scenario, would benefit us greatly as a team if he can become a dependable 3 point shooter

Given you are saying they are basically the same stats wise when playing with Ayton I pick to keep the younger player that has unlimited upside, has the ability to be a far superior defender and is on a much smaller contract. It is a win, win, win. Thanks for making my point. Cheers!

 

[Natebishop3]

Simons isn't half the point guard that Dame is. He's good at scoring but he's not a distributor.

 

[sheed30]

Given you are saying they are basically the same stats wise when playing with Ayton I pick to keep the younger player that has unlimited upside, has the ability to be a far superior defender and is on a much smaller contract. It is a win, win, win. Thanks for making my point. Cheers!

You said he was inclined to get Ayton more involved and that’s just false!

Nice try, once again do some homework and fact checked please before you try to debate, you guys only end of looking silly in the end lol

 

[BIG Q]

You said he was inclined to get Ayton more involved and that’s just false!

Nice try, once again do some homework and fact checked please before you try to debate, you guys only end of looking silly in the end lol

Prove it is false. Just because you say it is false does not in fact make it false. I'll wait.

 

[sheed30]

Prove it is false. Just because you say it is false does not in fact make it false. I'll wait.

lmao, man, I already did. The stats of Ayton playing with Ant and Simons are the same!

And to make what you said even more false, Ayton played a good bit more games with Scoot than he did with Ant.

He played 42 games with Scoot, and only 27 with Ant.

So in MORE games played with Scoot, his stats are still the same as when he played with Ant.

That makes what you said even more silly now. A lot of what you guys say are just you guys "assuming" without any facts or stats to back it up...

Come better next time, thanks and have a good day.

 

[Samuel]

Come better next time, thanks and have a good day.

<watches sheriff leave>

(spits) 'he really cleaned up this town.'

 

[BIG Q]

lmao, man, I already did. The stats of Ayton playing with Ant and Simons are the same!

And to make what you said even more false, Ayton played a good bit more games with Scoot than he did with Ant.

He played 42 games with Scoot, and only 27 with Ant.

So in MORE games played with Scoot, his stats are still the same as when he played with Ant.

That makes what you said even more silly now. A lot of what you guys say are just you guys "assuming" without any facts or stats to back it up...

Come better next time, thanks and have a good day.

I said that I would rather have the younger player with unlimited upside, has the ability to be a far superior defender and is on a much smaller contract. What is wrong with that? You kinda conveniently forgot about that.

 

[sheed30]

I said that I would rather have the younger player with unlimited upside, has the ability to be a far superior defender and is on a much smaller contract. What is wrong with that? You kinda conveniently forgot about that.

Fair enough, but I was talking about the original post that when you said he was inclined to get him more involved in the offense and you would love to see Ayton 20/12 nightly…you added extra things after that the following post.

One day I’ll be nice enough to post the site so you guys can double check things beforehand instead of assuming.

 

[RR7]

lmao, man, I already did. The stats of Ayton playing with Ant and Simons are the same!

And to make what you said even more false, Ayton played a good bit more games with Scoot than he did with Ant.

He played 42 games with Scoot, and only 27 with Ant.

So in MORE games played with Scoot, his stats are still the same as when he played with Ant.

That makes what you said even more silly now. A lot of what you guys say are just you guys "assuming" without any facts or stats to back it up...

Come better next time, thanks and have a good day.

Last season, Ayton played 514 minutes with Anfernee Simons, with Scoot off the floor. He had a USG% of 21.6 in those minutes. He took 215 FGs in those 514 minutes. Ant had 96 assists in those minutes. He played 454 minutes with Scott, with Anfernee off the floor. He had a USG% of 24.2 in those minutes. He took 222 shots in those 454 minutes. Scoot had 102 assists in those minutes.

I adjusted for when they were on the floor with eachother, without the other guard, as that seemed far more relevant. obviously, one would have to break it down even further to get an entirely true picture of who was playing what. But that quick look shows Ayton with a higher usg%, and more FGAs per minute with Scoot. Which, to me, would imply getting him more involved.

 

[Pinwheel1]

Last season, Ayton played 514 minutes with Anfernee Simons, with Scoot off the floor. He had a USG% of 21.6 in those minutes. He took 215 FGs in those 514 minutes. Ant had 96 assists in those minutes. He played 454 minutes with Scott, with Anfernee off the floor. He had a USG% of 24.2 in those minutes. He took 222 shots in those 454 minutes. Scoot had 102 assists in those minutes.

I adjusted for when they were on the floor with eachother, without the other guard, as that seemed far more relevant. obviously, one would have to break it down even further to get an entirely true picture of who was playing what. But that quick look shows Ayton with a higher usg%, and more FGAs per minute with Scoot. Which, to me, would imply getting him more involved.

Scoot is the better PG.

But we need to know who else was on the floor with those 2 guys for those stats to be valid IMO. If they were the same 3 guys in both instances then those stats are more telling. But of course, they weren't. I say this because in some of those end-of-season games when Ayton went for 30, the other starters (besides Scoot) were Rupert, Murray, and Walker. Of course, Ayton would be the focus on offense in that scenario.