Deandre Ayton news and discussion

[lilfishi22]

I truly believe that if Ayton were on another team and could be had at a fair trade value, we would be hard after him. He is athletic, strong, skilled. Everything we need in a center. I think giving him a chance with a new coaching staff and a full training camp with the other big 3 would be wise. If it doesn't work out visit it mid-season. The types of deals being discussed will be available then.

I'm all for giving up another chance but I'm not going to get my hopes up. I truly believe he's the only person who can change who he is. Let's remember it was Monty to put him in the position to be that elite C we saw in the 2021 playoff run and it's the same coach who he ended up falling out with. Coaches come and go, teammates come and go, he's the only constant.

[flagstaff]

I truly believe that if Ayton were on another team and could be had at a fair trade value, we would be hard after him. He is athletic, strong, skilled. Everything we need in a center. I think giving him a chance with a new coaching staff and a full training camp with the other big 3 would be wise. If it doesn't work out visit it mid-season. The types of deals being discussed will be available then.

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

You don't think that if he were on a different team that was shopping him there would be a lot of talk on how good of a fit and what we could put together to get him? I think if we would be all over the former #1 pick that hasn't been utilized correctly.

[lilfishi22]

I truly believe that if Ayton were on another team and could be had at a fair trade value, we would be hard after him. He is athletic, strong, skilled. Everything we need in a center. I think giving him a chance with a new coaching staff and a full training camp with the other big 3 would be wise. If it doesn't work out visit it mid-season. The types of deals being discussed will be available then.

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

You don't think that if he were on a different team that was shopping him there would be a lot of talk on how good of a fit and what we could put together to get him? I think if we would be all over the former #1 pick that hasn't been utilized correctly.

Changing your perspective of him doesn't change the player he actually is though.

I mean, we have DA already and we know he's athletic, strong, skilled and fills a need at C....and we've given him chances with different coaching staff and full training camps. The only reason one might think if DA was on another team that we would go after him is because we're ignorant of the player he truly is. We KNOW the player he truly is because he's been with this team for 6 years.

[DusterBuster]

I truly believe that if Ayton were on another team and could be had at a fair trade value, we would be hard after him. He is athletic, strong, skilled. Everything we need in a center. I think giving him a chance with a new coaching staff and a full training camp with the other big 3 would be wise. If it doesn't work out visit it mid-season. The types of deals being discussed will be available then.

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

Well, Nurkic won’t be any of a downgrade if that’s what you’re used to, just he’ll do it for 10mil a year cheaper.

Nurkic does have some skills that Ayton hasn’t shown as far as playmaking goes. Nurkic’s outside game has improved as well. I think Nurkic gets unfairly derided by a lot of fans online, he’s a perfectly serviceable starting C. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he won’t hurt your team either with any major flaws. Really in the vain of the Vucivic or Valencunis style C. At 17mil a year, he’s like the 15th highest paid starting C in the league. For a fairly middle of the road starting player, that’s good value.

For most Blazer fans, they’re hard on Nurkic because he’s never gotten back to the promise he showed after he first got to Portland. He was a BEAST, but then had that awful leg injury and has never gotten back his confidence to dominate like he had then.

[MrMiyagi]

I truly believe that if Ayton were on another team and could be had at a fair trade value, we would be hard after him. He is athletic, strong, skilled. Everything we need in a center. I think giving him a chance with a new coaching staff and a full training camp with the other big 3 would be wise. If it doesn't work out visit it mid-season. The types of deals being discussed will be available then.

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

Well, Nurkic won’t be any of a downgrade if that’s what you’re used to, just he’ll do it for 10mil a year cheaper.

Nurkic does have some skills that Ayton hasn’t shown as far as playmaking goes. Nurkic’s outside game has improved as well. I think Nurkic gets unfairly derided by a lot of fans online, he’s a perfectly serviceable starting C. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he won’t hurt your team either with any major flaws. Really in the vain of the Vucivic or Valencunis style C. At 17mil a year, he’s like the 15th highest paid starting C in the league. For a fairly middle of the road starting player, that’s good value.

For most Blazer fans, they’re hard on Nurkic because he’s never gotten back to the promise he showed after he first got to Portland. He was a BEAST, but then had that awful leg injury and has never gotten back his confidence to dominate like he had then.

Cool to know we'd be getting someone else's disappointment with a severe injury history!

[DusterBuster]

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

Well, Nurkic won’t be any of a downgrade if that’s what you’re used to, just he’ll do it for 10mil a year cheaper.

Nurkic does have some skills that Ayton hasn’t shown as far as playmaking goes. Nurkic’s outside game has improved as well. I think Nurkic gets unfairly derided by a lot of fans online, he’s a perfectly serviceable starting C. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he won’t hurt your team either with any major flaws. Really in the vain of the Vucivic or Valencunis style C. At 17mil a year, he’s like the 15th highest paid starting C in the league. For a fairly middle of the road starting player, that’s good value.

For most Blazer fans, they’re hard on Nurkic because he’s never gotten back to the promise he showed after he first got to Portland. He was a BEAST, but then had that awful leg injury and has never gotten back his confidence to dominate like he had then.

Cool to know we'd be getting someone else's disappointment with a severe injury history!

Funny, but to be fair, brutal / visceral injuries are usually much less detrimental to players longevity than the visually unnoticed injuries like an ACL. Nurkic had one totally freak accident. He’s recovered fully, his mental trust / willingness to go all out just never came back after that injury. Now whether or not you view that as different as someone who physically isn’t the same post-injury… that’s up to everyone personally to decide.

Also, the Suns didn’t do the KD trade for Vegas bookies, they did it cause they have a new owner who for some reason thinks ……. Isiah Thomas …. Is a sound advisor to keep around (against literally all reasonable view of the past 20 years)

[Ryu]

I am curious to see what bigfoot, sunsbum and the rest of the hating brigade would moan about when DA leaves?

[bigfoot]

I am curious to see what bigfoot, sunsbum and the rest of the hating brigade would moan about when DA leaves?

I'd have to let things simmer for at least half a season but it would unlikely be about a player. I was a PJ Tucker fan when most everyone else was a hater. See I can forgive flaws when the effort is undeniable. But when the effort is missing I'd be first in line to make a comment. People hated Shamet but his effort was alway consistently high. Go back and look at my posts and it's unlikely you'll see me down on Shamet.

But if Ayton is gone, any moaning will probably revolve around an injury that impacts a chance at chip (e.g., Amare, Ceballos, Manning, etc).

[sunsbum]

I’ve always been a fan of hard workers, the PJ tucker hate was weird, dude was like 8th man came from nothing, left it out on the floor and people gunna rag on him? If DA left, I’d probably be pretty content. I actually have a pretty long leash for BS. JJ I never had a problem with, Monty I liked basically until the last game of last season, after another blowout I was like we gotta find someone else. Shamet I also loved for his hustle but watching him and chuck together was mind numbing. At least chuck chow came up big at times. Ayton just ticks all the boxes of what I don’t like in basketball, mostly lack of effort. In the real world I can’t stand people that don't have an accountability for themselves or their actions so that carries over. Everything else in regards to DA just snowballs off of those two things.

[lilfishi22]

Don't even get me started on PJ. Dude was a warrior out there

[Saberestar]

I truly believe that if Ayton were on another team and could be had at a fair trade value, we would be hard after him. He is athletic, strong, skilled. Everything we need in a center. I think giving him a chance with a new coaching staff and a full training camp with the other big 3 would be wise. If it doesn't work out visit it mid-season. The types of deals being discussed will be available then.

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

Well, Nurkic won’t be any of a downgrade if that’s what you’re used to, just he’ll do it for 10mil a year cheaper.

Nurkic does have some skills that Ayton hasn’t shown as far as playmaking goes. Nurkic’s outside game has improved as well. I think Nurkic gets unfairly derided by a lot of fans online, he’s a perfectly serviceable starting C. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he won’t hurt your team either with any major flaws. Really in the vain of the Vucivic or Valencunis style C. At 17mil a year, he’s like the 15th highest paid starting C in the league. For a fairly middle of the road starting player, that’s good value.

For most Blazer fans, they’re hard on Nurkic because he’s never gotten back to the promise he showed after he first got to Portland. He was a BEAST, but then had that awful leg injury and has never gotten back his confidence to dominate like he had then.

I think that you can't win it all in this league with an starting C like that. All three are talented, really big and know how to play the game but they are a liability on defense because of their lack of mobility and agility.

All three are literally hunted by any good perimeter player from the rival team, we had a big advantage any time CP3 or Book could get any of them in a switch or recovering from his man.

Offensively those guys can help you but sometimes they hurt a dynamic offense because they need the ball to be effective. They aren't THAT good, none of them are similar to Jokic.

I think that a C like Robert Williams or Jarrett Allen would be more useful for the Suns. They aren't as skilled as those three but we would be much better defensively and they are great finishing lobs/putbacks.

[Biff]

I truly believe that if Ayton were on another team and could be had at a fair trade value, we would be hard after him. He is athletic, strong, skilled. Everything we need in a center. I think giving him a chance with a new coaching staff and a full training camp with the other big 3 would be wise. If it doesn't work out visit it mid-season. The types of deals being discussed will be available then.

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

Well, Nurkic won’t be any of a downgrade if that’s what you’re used to, just he’ll do it for 10mil a year cheaper.

Nurkic does have some skills that Ayton hasn’t shown as far as playmaking goes. Nurkic’s outside game has improved as well. I think Nurkic gets unfairly derided by a lot of fans online, he’s a perfectly serviceable starting C. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he won’t hurt your team either with any major flaws. Really in the vain of the Vucivic or Valencunis style C. At 17mil a year, he’s like the 15th highest paid starting C in the league. For a fairly middle of the road starting player, that’s good value.

For most Blazer fans, they’re hard on Nurkic because he’s never gotten back to the promise he showed after he first got to Portland. He was a BEAST, but then had that awful leg injury and has never gotten back his confidence to dominate like he had then.

Nurkic has been wildly injury prone since 19-20. Nothing better than availability. We didn't need another injury prone player.

[Biff]

Well, Nurkic won’t be any of a downgrade if that’s what you’re used to, just he’ll do it for 10mil a year cheaper.

Nurkic does have some skills that Ayton hasn’t shown as far as playmaking goes. Nurkic’s outside game has improved as well. I think Nurkic gets unfairly derided by a lot of fans online, he’s a perfectly serviceable starting C. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he won’t hurt your team either with any major flaws. Really in the vain of the Vucivic or Valencunis style C. At 17mil a year, he’s like the 15th highest paid starting C in the league. For a fairly middle of the road starting player, that’s good value.

For most Blazer fans, they’re hard on Nurkic because he’s never gotten back to the promise he showed after he first got to Portland. He was a BEAST, but then had that awful leg injury and has never gotten back his confidence to dominate like he had then.

Cool to know we'd be getting someone else's disappointment with a severe injury history!

Funny, but to be fair, brutal / visceral injuries are usually much less detrimental to players longevity than the visually unnoticed injuries like an ACL. Nurkic had one totally freak accident. He’s recovered fully, his mental trust / willingness to go all out just never came back after that injury. Now whether or not you view that as different as someone who physically isn’t the same post-injury… that’s up to everyone personally to decide.

Also, the Suns didn’t do the KD trade for Vegas bookies, they did it cause they have a new owner who for some reason thinks ……. Isiah Thomas …. Is a sound advisor to keep around (against literally all reasonable view of the past 20 years)

He’s recovered fully, his mental trust / willingness to go all out just never came back after that injury. Now whether or not you view that as different as someone who physically isn’t the same post-injury… that’s up to everyone personally to decide.

How is it any different? Show me an example of any player in NBA history that turned it around? You either do or you don't.

[WeekapaugGroove]

I think the suns just desperately wanted out of the Ayton business.


Now we wait for the real Ayton stories to start to leak out over the next week.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

[Calvin Klein]

I do have a Valley Oop shirt which I wear. That was amazing. And that 2021 run. I will remember that fondly. Everything else, a huge disappointment. And the biggest missed opportunity in franchise history.

[DusterBuster]

A new coach can't fix his problems. Only Ayton can fix his problems. He is what he is.

An in-his-sleep 16p/10r disappearing act.

Well, Nurkic won’t be any of a downgrade if that’s what you’re used to, just he’ll do it for 10mil a year cheaper.

Nurkic does have some skills that Ayton hasn’t shown as far as playmaking goes. Nurkic’s outside game has improved as well. I think Nurkic gets unfairly derided by a lot of fans online, he’s a perfectly serviceable starting C. He doesn’t play above the rim, but he won’t hurt your team either with any major flaws. Really in the vain of the Vucivic or Valencunis style C. At 17mil a year, he’s like the 15th highest paid starting C in the league. For a fairly middle of the road starting player, that’s good value.

For most Blazer fans, they’re hard on Nurkic because he’s never gotten back to the promise he showed after he first got to Portland. He was a BEAST, but then had that awful leg injury and has never gotten back his confidence to dominate like he had then.

Nurkic has been wildly injury prone since 19-20. Nothing better than availability. We didn't need another injury prone player.

I’ll be shocked if Nurk averages over 27 min to be honest. He’ll start, but play limited minutes and probably not end games. Expecting a lot of small ball from Suns.

[SkyBill40]

Well... I guess that's finally over. I'm interested to see how Nurkic fills the anchor spot. A shame we got rid of Camara though as he looked like a solid player find in the second round. Allen can shoot and defend,.so that'll be interesting as well if he stays. Same goes for Little and Johnson.

Sent from my [Samsung Z4 Fold] using RealGM mobile app

[AtheJ415]

This was one of the dumbest trades we will ever make.

Nurkic is absolute garbage and a downgrade defensively. You can knock Ayton's effort all you want but he add least had the potential to get engaged and dominate at times. Nurkic is way too slow to even play in the playoffs.

Then we got 3 decent role players who are no better than buyout market players we would have had our pick of during the season.

If you want to trade Ayton fine, then move him fo Turner and McConnell. That is a MUCH better return because Turner at least is an upgrade defensively and is playable in the playoffs.

Eubanks is also WAY better than Nurkic and better be starting.

[WeekapaugGroove]

It's just too bad there wasn't at least one GM who liked Ayton as much as some of y'all on here.

Sent from my SM-F731U using RealGM mobile app

[Phystic]

This was one of the dumbest trades we will ever make.

Nurkic is absolute garbage and a downgrade defensively. You can knock Ayton's effort all you want but he add least had the potential to get engaged and dominate at times. Nurkic is way too slow to even play in the playoffs.

Then we got 3 decent role players who are no better than buyout market players we would have had our pick of during the season.

If you want to trade Ayton fine, then move him fo Turner and McConnell. That is a MUCH better return because Turner at least is an upgrade defensively and is playable in the playoffs.

Eubanks is also WAY better than Nurkic and better be starting.

Agree with about half of this. I would say only Allen is a decent role player. And as much as I agree Ayton is better Nurkic, saying eubanks is way better than Nurkic is a real exaggeration