DirtyDez wrote:In two exhibitions Ayton is 13-14 from the FT line.
And there's no suprise, he was >80%ft shooter in HS. He can be as good in shooting a ball as Karl Towns is right now, because for 19yo big these numbers are crazy good. Towns was >80%ft shooter in college (without 3 point shooting) and I expect Ayton to be a little bit better shooter honestly this season - similiar ft% and midrange but better long range stats.
21pts (6/9fg, 1/1 3pt, 8/8ft), 11 reb, 3 ast in 26 minutes vs Chico State.
Honestly, I don't like idea of playing twin towers' game by Miller - Ayton is power forward on defense, and Ristic plays closer to the rim, and I don't think it's good for Ayton in terms of developing his game. Today multiple possessions on defense, Ayton spent on perimeter when Ristic was on a floor and IMHO the best thing for Ayton is to try to play as defensive anchor and rim protector if he wants to develop abilities to fulfil his potential on this end of a floor. But in fact because he's much versatile and quicker than Ristic, that won't happen when both Ayton and Ristic are on a floor.
That being said, I was thinking during today's game that maybe more appropriate comparison to Ayton on defense than Robinson or Ewing is Garnett - 7' footer who had never been top shotblocker but because of his size, BBall IQ and astonishing lateral quickness was perhaps the greatest defensive player of his era. Ofc right now Ayton is nowhere near to Garnett in terms of bball IQ and reading the game but watching him defending picks and switching defenders on perimeter I'm so impressed, that I think there are maybe few 7'1'' guys in a league currently with this size who can play that active defense. Seriously, in modern NBA, ability to defend pick and rolls that aggressively and switching opponents on defense is so important that even if I'm negatively suprised by his shotblocking I think he still can become amazing defensive player even he won't develop his shotblocking instintcs. Still way to go, but tools are there to dominate defensive game by many different ways, but on the other hand he's still so raw.
And watching last two games his passing ability is just very good, he sees passing lanes very nicely. so I expect him to get couple of assists almost game by game. Miller said after a game about Ayton: “They elected to post trap him and he looked like a 10-year NBA player", and this accurate statement about what we saw today, and last game.
And forgive me that I'm maybe too ecstatic about this guy but what is striking the most that he seems to be amazingly developed as for 19yo kid big. I mean, look on AD, KAT or Boogie when they were in college - they show great potential on offense, but Ayton is ~80-85%ft 7'1'' 260lbs with good passing game, elite finishing and solid 3 RIGHT NOW, they just were not as good in college on offense as Ayton will be this season.
And again to be clear - it's somehow based on irrelevant exhibitions, but everyone interested in high school basketball knew how extremely talented Ayton is, it was just big question mark about his motor. And watching him right now is making these statements look silly - today he started with faceup midrange J, then he hit spot up 3, couple of free throws, and had 3 or 4 great passess in first half, and we're talking about 19yo 7'1'' 260lbs kid athletic freak with 43 inches vertical. 100% commitment even he didn't get enough touches especially in first half, with aggressive inside game in second one, looking like a full package after all.
He had 73 pts in 66 minutes on 29/39 shooting (2/3 3pt, 13/15 free throws) in these 3 games.