Shams Wow: Ayton signs 2 year deal with Lakers

[Shaka_Zulu]

They gave Luka and Bron a 7'1, rim running, shotblocking, jumpshooting, alleyoop catching, former #1 pick for NOTHING.. lmaooo West is cooked

That lineup will have offense.


But to cook anyone, you need to get stops.


Who is defending in this lineup?

Luka
Reaves
Bron
Hoochimama
Ayton

Teams wont get a single foul call at the rim.. so really doesnt matter. A team will have to get crazy hot from 3 and on O its luka driving for layups or oops to Ayton similar to Hardens Rockets.. Lakers wont be beatable

We heard the same thing in pre playoffs, but then they got backdoor sweeped?


Ayton is talent upgrade in size and scoring, but not in defense sense. Except for the part he will be a big body that will be on the floor at all times for JJ, unlike Hayes who got 8 minutes or DNPs.


It will be felt that they lost their only reliable wing defender they had in DFS.

[KyRo23]

Not Lakers fans. Fans of a particular player on the Lakers. Because you guys do this every time with every trade or free agent signing. Lather, rinse, repeat. I'm just calling you out on it.

I assume you mean LeBron fans. You’re still not making sense though… everyone is calling Ayton a bum in this thread, but you bring up a hypothetical that may not happen against LeBron fans? Seems weird

I’m also not sure who you’re referring to with every free agent/trade. Guys like DLo who has still been being bounced all over the league? The one people always call trash

Seems to me you want everyone to be able to call a player a bum but when LeBron fans do it it’s unacceptable. Just an interesting thought process I was intrigued by

Nah, I'm just saying you'd be calling him a bum regardless of whether or not everyone else is. Because you have a now decades long track record of doing so.

In fact nobody calls players bums more consistently and pervasively than you guys. Because it's all about protecting the guys legacy and feeding into his martyr complex.

Do you have an example of a player who played well that LeBron fans called a bum?

It’s possible that some do this, I’m honestly not sure of the examples but for me at least I appreciate good role players as much as the next guy

[lilfishi22]

Wood is no way near the offensive threat as Ayton.

Comparing Wood to Ayton when both are motivated is ridiculous. Even lazy Ayton is better than Wood trying hard.

Your whole point is that putting on the Laker jersey will get you the Laker whistle when that isn't true. Even if Wood isn't the same type of player DA is, the fact that he got negative benefit putting on the jersey proves my point.

It's year 8 of Ayton's career where he's never averaged more than 3.5FT per36. Putting on the Laker jersey isn't suddenly going to get him to 4+ FTA. It's pass time to accept that he isn't some bruising big man who's banging in the down low and trying to draw all sorts of contact. You and I both know he gets his from middys, fadeaway jumpers and jump hooks. He ain't that guy. And let's not talk about motivation, that's a red flag at this point if we're talking about what he might do when he's motivated

If the refs don't like you they don't like you. Wood wasn't a well liked player plus his game was more away from the basket, context matters. Its like that guy that was complaining that Curry and the Warriors have the least amount of fta completely ignoring that Curry primarily shoots 3s. You clearly get less calls when your not going to the hoop

The Lakers CLEARLY get a beneficial whistle, watch them play against smaller market teams and you'll see

Given how few whistles DA has gotten over his career, you could probably put him in the same bucket as not well liked by refs then I guess? And considering how many middies and away from the basket attempts DA takes, it isn't some magnificent difference between Woods and DA when we're talking about their shot profile. The idea of Woods being playing more away from the basketball because he can shoot 3's and can create in space does paint a picture that he's shooting more often and further away from the basketball than DA but in reality, they are closer than you think.

Last 3 seasons, Woods took 30.2% of his FGA within 3ft of the basket. In that same time frame, DA was 29.9%. From 3-10ft, Woods took 21.1% of his attempts from there whereas DA took 31.8%. From 10-16ft, Woods was at 5% whereas DA was 23.5%. What % of their FG's were dunks? Woods was at 13.1%, DA 13.4%. DA was more efficient than Woods and I do expect his shot profile to look more like a traditional lob threat big man (ie between 2020-2022) but he's also gonna go to where he's comfortable which are those fadeaways, middy's and jump hooks; shot types that are usually not conducive to drawing fouls.

[Chuck Everett]

Looks like Nick Richards might be traded to the Lakers from Phoenix as well. I mean, you can hate Ayton as much as you want, but to go from Jaxon Hayes/Koloko/Alex Len and Trey Jemison to Ayton/Richards is a massive upgrade.

[EmpireFalls]

Nick Richards is absolute garbage

[Chuck Everett]

Nick Richards is absolute garbage

Worse than Jaxon Hayes and Christian Koloko garbage though?

[lilfishi22]

Wood is no way near the offensive threat as Ayton.

Comparing Wood to Ayton when both are motivated is ridiculous. Even lazy Ayton is better than Wood trying hard.

Your whole point is that putting on the Laker jersey will get you the Laker whistle when that isn't true. Even if Wood isn't the same type of player DA is, the fact that he got negative benefit putting on the jersey proves my point.

It's year 8 of Ayton's career where he's never averaged more than 3.5FT per36. Putting on the Laker jersey isn't suddenly going to get him to 4+ FTA. It's pass time to accept that he isn't some bruising big man who's banging in the down low and trying to draw all sorts of contact. You and I both know he gets his from middys, fadeaway jumpers and jump hooks. He ain't that guy. And let's not talk about motivation, that's a red flag at this point if we're talking about what he might do when he's motivated

Yeah I believe he will have career highs in FTA.

You arguing that he won't when you have seen how Lakers lead the FT discrepancy against other teams.

And you act as if 2 FTA is hard to beat. Saying he can up his FTA from 2 to 4 is not very hard to do and you nit picking it is like a waste of time. It's my prediction and I will wait and see.

I wouldn't be shocked if he set a new career high in FTA but like I wouldn't be shocked if he continues to be the DA we know.

I haven't cared about DA for so long, I'm not going to care if he suddenly averages a less mediocre number of FTAs

[EmpireFalls]

Nick Richards is absolute garbage

Worse than Jaxon Hayes and Christian Koloko garbage though?

Jaxson Hayes is easily better than him because no assets need to be relinquished to get him.

Giving up seconds for Richards is laughable.

[Myth]

Sometimes talking basketball with people on Facebook makes me appreciate realgm even more. Was talking with a Lakers fan on Facebook who was overly excited about landing Ayton. I tried to describe what to expect in details of strengths, weaknesses, on court habits, and behind the scenes reputation. He ignored all that and talked about ppg and rpg, made stat comparisons based on ppg and rpg between Ayton’s first 7 years in the league and Dwight Howard’s first 7 years in the league (I’m sure he read the comparison elsewhere and parroted it randomly), and dismissed the reputation stuff as him just being scapegoated. Dude is setting himself up for a big disappointment.

[superv]

Lakers got killed on the boards against minny, so ayton is a good pickup. LeBron at 41 making 50 mil and his son at 5 min are a problem keeping them with next to no cap space just below the second apron.

[enigmatics]

They gave Luka and Bron a 7'1, rim running, shotblocking, jumpshooting, alleyoop catching, former #1 pick for NOTHING.. lmaooo West is cooked

Rim running, alley oop catching

If you like finesse middies while shying away from contact he's def your boy though.

[JB2]

Nick Richards is absolute garbage

Worse than Jaxon Hayes and Christian Koloko garbage though?

Jaxson Hayes is easily better than him because no assets need to be relinquished to get him.

Giving up seconds for Richards is laughable.

Luckily Lakers have no 2nds to give

[LakersSoul]

Ayton has his weaknesses but it’s still a very good pickup.

A motivated Ayton playing for a playoff team is still a starting calibre center which is significantly better than whatever the hell they were running with last year.

I’d consider moving Reaves to the bench and inserting 3&D players at PG & the other wing spot to compliment Luka, LeBron & Ayton. Reaves will still play 32+ minutes but needs to play as much as possible away from Lebron & Luka to maximise impact.

Yeah, Ayton has issues but a few tiers better than Hayes and the rookies Lakers had last year after AD was traded.

Lakers might struggle on D but Ayton will love playing alongside play makers like Luka, Bron and AR . All he has to do is jump for lob dunks and rebound, both things he good at doing. Any D will be a plus.

[DusterBuster]

Lakers might will struggle on D.

ftfy.

[lilfishi22]

Ayton has his weaknesses but it’s still a very good pickup.

A motivated Ayton playing for a playoff team is still a starting calibre center which is significantly better than whatever the hell they were running with last year.

I’d consider moving Reaves to the bench and inserting 3&D players at PG & the other wing spot to compliment Luka, LeBron & Ayton. Reaves will still play 32+ minutes but needs to play as much as possible away from Lebron & Luka to maximise impact.

Yeah, Ayton has issues but a few tiers better than Hayes and the rookies Lakers had last year after AD was traded.

Lakers might struggle on D but Ayton will love playing alongside play makers like Luka, Bron and AR . All he has to do is jump for lob dunks and rebound, both things he good at doing. Any D will be a plus.

The other question is if he's happy with just being your Clint Capela (rebound/dunk/play D) type or does he fancy himself more of a Hakeem lite (jab jab pull up middy). Maybe he's matured and humbled by the pay reduction and will do exactly what you need of him and nothing else, that's kind of the ideal scenario

[Swift21]

He’s going to check out when he’s not getting shots. Ayton is mentally weak.

[Invictus88]

Lots being said about the move from the Laker standpoints, and it's all mostly true. Definitely a risk, with a lot riding on coaching/leadership and Ayton's menalitity.

That said, let's look at this from Ayton's perspective;

Dude basically just got rewarded for being a headcase in Portland;

-He makes almost all his money back that he gave up in the Buy Out, with 8m security for next season in a player option.
- He goes to a situation where it'll surely benefit him basketball fit wise vs the Blazers, with Lebron/Luka feeding him Lobs and providing easy chances.
- He goes to a situation where it'll surely benefit him in terms of role/playing time. Blazers had Clingan & Robert Williams competing with him for minutes
- He goes to a situation where he'll benefit from media attention around the Lakers. He will also be featured in a team that atleast on paper is supposed to win more than the Blazers were expected to.

Don't get me wrong, I 100% like what the blazers did and I expect them to be a team on the rise. He was a cancer in the lockerroom, and took minutes from young developing prospects.

And I'm also fully aware that some of these "benefits" for Ayton can be potential negatives for him as well if he lets it; Bigger spotlight means more attention on any potential lack of effort, and any lockerroom issues. Playing with LEbron/Luka, and dealing with the LA spotlight can be additional distractions for a player who has been known to be mentally weak.

That said though, this is as close to a perfect situation you could expect if you're Ayton. He was heading down Andre Drummond territory, and now has a optimal chance to rebuild his value, a chance that he quite frankly didn't deserve.

Drummond followed this exact same path... He signed with the Lakers after being bought out by Cleveland and after flopping spectacularly in the playoffs (basically being benched) he was dumped and signed at the league minimum the next year....

Lots of similarities on paper, when you factor in the Buy Out, signing with the Lakers, etc, but Ayton's situation is clearly favorable compared to Drummond's.

- Ayton isn't joining with 2 months left in the season, but at the start of the year. He was far more time to make an impact
- Ayton has the security of the second season with 8m guaranteed if he wants it, which is obiovusly a plus for him while again adding more time until his next contract
- Drummond joined a Laker team with AD, whose best position clearly was Center. With the season winding down and the Lakers needing to win for playoff standings, Drummonds playing time was always going to be limited even in the best case scenario.
- Drummond joined a Laker team dominanted by Lebron. That, alongside having to play alongside AD, meant that his lack of spacing was really a bigger problem vs Ayton.
-Drummond didn't join a team with Luka (and Reaves & older version of Lebron as secondary playmakers. That Laker team really lacked playmaking which is why they traded for RW (mistakenly) the following year. This Laker team has 3 players that can break down defenses, led by Luka who is incredible at finding bigs.


So yeah, obviously Ayton's career can still go down the Drummond path, especially if he can't get his mentality together, but other than some superficial similarities, his situation is infinitely better when you look fit/role & financial security, and far preferable for his potential future earnings and his next contract.

None of those reasons matter as Ayton is the same player wherever he goes. He's decent value.for.8 million (16 & 10). But they.are partly empty stats. Just don't expect much and you'll be fine.

[MrBigShot]

Genetic lottery with zero motor or passion for the game...

[CobraCommander]

The lakers might get to game 6 of the first round If they can avoid Houston, OKC, Denver, Dallas or Minnesota

[JRoy]

They gave Luka and Bron a 7'1, rim running, shotblocking, jumpshooting, alleyoop catching, former #1 pick for NOTHING.. lmaooo West is cooked

Rim running, alley oop catching

If you like finesse middies while shying away from contact he's def your boy though.

Exactly.

Tell me you’ve never watched DA play without telling me.