Shams: Blazers Buyout Deandre Ayton

[MrGoat]

Ok so they've done the Celtics a favor with the Holiday trade and now they're doing the Lakers a favor with this. Portland is lobbying hard for that number 1 pick

If Ayton does go to the Lakers, though, he'll be out of excuses if he underperforms. If you're a somewhat traditional center then no player makes it like playing on easy mode for you more than Luka Doncic

[garrick]

Read on Twitter

Well duh if Portland just wanted all expirings there's no team that has those assets so their expectations were unrealistic.

Normally a team will take an expiring to dump multi year contracts so trying to match expiring contracts was never realistic.

[LAvision]

Read on Twitter

They didnt want a multi year contract while they just traded for Holiday and his 100mil contract?! These guys have no idea what they are doing.

[garrick]

Read on Twitter

They didnt want a multi year contract while they just traded for Holiday and his 100mil contract?! These guys have no idea what they are doing.

They also took a huge gamble on Yang Hansen who was projected to be a 2nd round pick and picked him at #16. His passing skills look good but he's sub par athletically and the record for Chinese players since Yao Ming have not been good so it's a super bold (foolish) pick when you passed up better players at that spot.

If they really liked him they should have traded down from #16 and gotten some additional picks via a trade.

[LAvision]

Read on Twitter

They didnt want a multi year contract while they just traded for Holiday and his 100mil contract?! These guys have no idea what they are doing.

They also took a huge gamble on Yang Hansen who was projected to be a 2nd round pick and picked him at #16. His passing skills look good but he's sub par athletically and the record for Chinese players since Yao Ming have not been good so it's a super bold (foolish) pick when you passed up better players at that spot.

If they really liked him they should have traded down from #16 and gotten some additional picks via a trade.

As others said during draft night, that pick seemed like a move to boost team price evaluation/Chinese revenue. What they have done this offseason is insane.

[Diop]

. If you're a somewhat traditional center then no player makes it like playing on easy mode for you more than Luka Doncic

Doncic really helps your block numbers by allowing his opponents to drive right past him

[sfernald]

Look obviously the Blaze front office is on the “silver” special.

All they have to do if they want one of Dybansta, Peterson or Boozer next year guaranteed is:

1) draft the Chinese guy to reopen the multi-billion Chinese market to the nba that was lost when Yao Ming retired

2) Gift the lakers a starting quality center for minimum

3) you don’t wanna know what #3 is

[xb3at band1tx]

Lakers and Warriors come to mind as the most center starved teams in the league but curious who else is out there.

I'm sure his market is gonna be HOT.

[KyRo23]

Ayton is apparently trash on the forum until LA has the chance to sign him off of a buyout. Guess he's amazing now

[KyRo23]

Hope you said this with a straight face lol

Can you put together a logical reason for the Lakers being the clear frontrunner, or is it just half baked conspiracy theory revolving around you being triggered by LeBron James?

Its clear the Lakers need a Center desperately but don't have too many assets to get it done. They are a good Center and a good 3 and D guard away from being a true championship contender.

It also makes a lot of sense for Ayton to go there to up his value in meaningful games again. People are just connecting the dots...

Okay, but what happens if he doesn't sign with LA? You guys are just gonna move onto the next theory? You can't be so sure of this stuff, but drop it if it doesn't happen. Lets keep an eye on it, I'm curious

[SlimShady83]

Lakers!

[pepe1991]

Ayton is apparently trash on the forum until LA has the chance to sign him off of a buyout. Guess he's amazing now

Pure talent vise, he is top 5 Center in nba.
But guy is lazy and basketball is not one of his top priorities in life.

On court he has bad habit of dribbling in traffic, but has no handles, his effort level isn't there, his rebounding could be better for player with such athletic profile, his defense should be way better especially given his athletic profile.
Like, even with most basic drive and will power, he could have been top 20 player without any issues.

But he seems to be more interested in influencers banging than anything else


Why guy who can do this, isn't even top in 10 rebounding ?

Answer is ugly. He doesn't really care.

[thamadkant]

You'll find out in the next few days. He asked for buy out this soon because there's already an agreement with a team.

[Calvin Klein]

Ayton was the first overall pick and was the starting center in an NBA finals. And now he's being bought out at 26 years old.

Crazy to think about.

Not if you watched him play enough

[BruttoNostra]

Ayton is apparently trash on the forum until LA has the chance to sign him off of a buyout. Guess he's amazing now

Pure talent vise, he is top 5 Center in nba.
But guy is lazy and basketball is not one of his top priorities in life.

On court he has bad habit of dribbling in traffic, but has no handles, his effort level isn't there, his rebounding could be better for player with such athletic profile, his defense should be way better especially given his athletic profile.
Like, even with most basic drive and will power, he could have been top 20 player without any issues.

But he seems to be more interested in influencers banging than anything else


Why guy who can do this, isn't even top in 10 rebounding ?

Answer is ugly. He doesn't really care.

One of the best rebounders in the league is the guy who needs to stand on a horse (and probably requires a ladder to get there) to be that high in the air. Rebounding is much more a skill than a simple physical attribute. Like, being a PF or C height doesn't hurt, but among those 100-150 high enough players in the league the jumping ability is not the leading indicator.

[pepe1991]

Ayton is apparently trash on the forum until LA has the chance to sign him off of a buyout. Guess he's amazing now

Pure talent vise, he is top 5 Center in nba.
But guy is lazy and basketball is not one of his top priorities in life.

On court he has bad habit of dribbling in traffic, but has no handles, his effort level isn't there, his rebounding could be better for player with such athletic profile, his defense should be way better especially given his athletic profile.
Like, even with most basic drive and will power, he could have been top 20 player without any issues.

But he seems to be more interested in influencers banging than anything else


Why guy who can do this, isn't even top in 10 rebounding ?

Answer is ugly. He doesn't really care.

One of the best rebounders in the league is the guy who needs to stand on a horse (and probably rerquires a ladder to get there) to be that high. Rebounding is much more a skill that simple physical attribute. Like, being a PF or C height doesn't hurt, but among those 100-150 high enough players in the league the jumping ability is not the leading indicator.

Rebounding is more about positioning, but if you are 7 foot tall and THIS athletic, you should be better rebounder than -outside top 10, especially since he plays 30 mpg and it's not like he has Westbrook to steal rebounds from him.

He is same guy who averaged 11,5 rebounds a game + 2 blocks a game at college. But once again, effort since getting paid simply isn't there. More money he makes, less he cares.

[BruttoNostra]

Pure talent vise, he is top 5 Center in nba.
But guy is lazy and basketball is not one of his top priorities in life.

On court he has bad habit of dribbling in traffic, but has no handles, his effort level isn't there, his rebounding could be better for player with such athletic profile, his defense should be way better especially given his athletic profile.
Like, even with most basic drive and will power, he could have been top 20 player without any issues.

But he seems to be more interested in influencers banging than anything else


Why guy who can do this, isn't even top in 10 rebounding ?

Answer is ugly. He doesn't really care.

One of the best rebounders in the league is the guy who needs to stand on a horse (and probably rerquires a ladder to get there) to be that high. Rebounding is much more a skill that simple physical attribute. Like, being a PF or C height doesn't hurt, but among those 100-150 high enough players in the league the jumping ability is not the leading indicator.

Rebounding is more about positioning, but if you are 7 foot tall and THIS athletic, you should be better rebounder than -outside top 10, especially since he plays 30 mpg and it's not like he has Westbrook to steal rebounds from him.

He is same guy who averaged 11,5 rebounds a game + 2 blocks a game at college. But once again, effort since getting paid simply isn't there. More money he makes, less he cares.

In my opinion, it's easier to "dominate" on boards in the high school and NCAA since players like Ayton are way bigger than many of their defenders, with plenty of 6'7 and 6'8 centers in NCAA (and majority of them will not continue to be Pros at least not for long), especially in some smaller schools.
In the NBA Ayton is not such an outlier. So a slow no-jumping 6'10-6'11 guy skilled in positioning, as you mentioned, will easily outrebound Ayton.

[garrick]

Ayton is apparently trash on the forum until LA has the chance to sign him off of a buyout. Guess he's amazing now

Pure talent vise, he is top 5 Center in nba.
But guy is lazy and basketball is not one of his top priorities in life.

On court he has bad habit of dribbling in traffic, but has no handles, his effort level isn't there, his rebounding could be better for player with such athletic profile, his defense should be way better especially given his athletic profile.
Like, even with most basic drive and will power, he could have been top 20 player without any issues.

But he seems to be more interested in influencers banging than anything else


Why guy who can do this, isn't even top in 10 rebounding ?

Answer is ugly. He doesn't really care.

He's consistently been in the top 10 in rebounding and this year averaged 10.2 rebounds per game which would have been 10th in the league but he did not play enough games this season to qualify and he's averaged double digits in rebounds every season he's been in the league.

Do people not do even the basic Google search before making these kinds of claims?

[Lalouie]

ayton's a joke

i don't even think luka can help him. ayton might be too dumb for luka. luka's passes might bounce off of ayton's thick skull

but someone mentioned klutch. i dont think klutch reps ayton do they

[GQ03]

With the expected Ayton addition the Lakers likely projected lineup with minimal effort:

PG: Luka/CP3
SG: Reeves/Vincent
SF: Lebron/Knecht/Thiero
PF: Rui/Vando
C: Ayton/Hayes