Ayayi Named a Jerry West Award Finalist

[Spike#1]

Gonzaga's Joel Ayayi was named one of the five finalists for the 2021 Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announced Tuesday.

The five finalists for the 2021 Jerry West Award are MaCio Teague (Baylor), Joel Ayayi (Gonzaga), Quentin Grimes (Houston), Joe Wieskamp (Iowa) and Chris Duarte (Oregon).

https://gozags.com/news/2021/2/23/me...Cu9S5yN7U4Bu3w

Joel getting some love!

[MickMick]

Well deserved accolades. If you don't think he is one of the most complete players in Gonzaga history, you haven't been watching. When compiling my all time great Zag list, Joel will comfortably be in. There does not seem to be a single basketball skill that he does not excel at. The guy is literally great at EVERYTHING. When it comes to evaluation, the NBA scouts aren't getting everything they need from just a personal workout because how Joel performs in actual games cannot be accurately assessed in that way. This is a guy whose game videos must be emphasized and studied for proper evaluation. I personally believe he could be very productive at the next level.

[gueastcoast]

I was thinking about Joel's efficiency recently and I had a thought that didn't really fit a game thread or elsewhere - I don't know how best to describe it, but so much of his activity around the basket is based on quickness and angles, even more so than Timme. He makes more shots that traverse the minimum distance between his hand -> the backboard -> the basket, all in the blink of an eye. It's not just quick, there's no wasted effort in his or the ball's the trajectory. I'm not really doing it justice but it's really cool, or it is to me at least lol

[TexasZagFan]

Well deserved accolades. If you don't think he is one of the most complete players in Gonzaga history, you haven't been watching. When compiling my all time great Zag list, Joel will comfortably be in. There does not seem to be a single basketball skill that he does not excel at. The guy is literally great at EVERYTHING.

Ultimate team player, well deserved accolade.



Joel was effusive in his praise for the short time they spent in Fort Worth. A fine young man, and great representative of GU.

[MDABE80]

He’s just so good in so many ways. Rebounding, scoring , passing and body control in the air is superior. Hope he does two things1 wins this award and 2. Returns to be a Zag.

[Zags11]

Stud.

[bdmiller7]

I liked the comment during the last game that Few said it's amazing how often Ayayi's team wins on competition Mondays.

[bballbeachbum]

Studded out, again, how fun is it watching him play and rooting for him?

perfect complement to the team's chemistry linking things together out there and filling the gaps, reading tempo to take advantage to do what's needed right then, and another testimony to the Zag way of working hard and developing with whatever unique skillset and abilities each kid brings to Spokane

agree with tyra's take!

[sittingon50]