Shams: Blazers Buyout Deandre Ayton

[An Unbiased Fan]

Lakers have zero assets to get a decent center, and the league just gives them a twenty-six-year-old former starter on a finals team, lol. Bro, WTF.

Lakes are so inept that they needed that corporate bailout.

Everybody on here also acting like Ayton is just trash. Center is super dependent position, especially with all the five out DHO crap that takes the ball so far away from the basket. You put him around all that gravity with Luka and Lebron, he's going to ball out there. If they end up with him, the Lakers are going to be a lot better.

Yep, dude is a 14/10 player. Lakers have already had a player like him with Lamar Odom, we can deal.

[ballzboyee]

Lakes are so inept that they needed that corporate bailout.

Everybody on here also acting like Ayton is just trash. Center is super dependent position, especially with all the five out DHO crap that takes the ball so far away from the basket. You put him around all that gravity with Luka and Lebron, he's going to ball out there. If they end up with him, the Lakers are going to be a lot better.

Well if they want to surround Luka with good habits on and off the court they could hardly pick a worse guy.

Luka's still arguably a top three player and a huge offensive floor raiser. You just need to put the physical talent near Luka and just get out of the way. Winning cures everything. I just have to ask... what about the fans? What about the fans who were looking for drama during the NBA season and want to see Lakers struggle because they have no bigs with size or talent. What about us? I knew this was going to happen.

[Capn'O]

In Portland the rumor is he basically gave up the vet min, so he’s gonna make that back up. Whatever his next team is (spoiler alert: The Lakers) is gonna sign him for that, so he won’t lose a dime.

Dang...hell of a deal. Surprised blazers didn't ask for more back, or have they just completely had it with him anyhow?

Not sure how true this is--these kind of hit pieces always seem to come out right after semi-controversial decisions--but for what it's worth:

Ayton was reportedly late to practices and flights, and would skip rehab appointments, throughout his tenure in Portland. The Blazers also didn't like Ayton's attitude when he was removed from games, especially when the veteran center wasn't showing the proper amount of effort.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281174/Blazers-Tired-Of-Deandre-Aytons-Bad-Habits-Leading-To-Buyout

I buy it. It's basically the details of what Perk was saying. Plus, they just ate like 30 million dollars. They can't stand him.

[Pointgod]

Read on Twitter

If true, this makes me kind of sad. Giannis deserves better.

Are they trying to push Giannis into asking out?

Bucks are damned if they do, damned if they don’t it seems. I’m not a fan of Deandre Ayton at all but he’s leagues better than anyone else they could get for the MLE.

[tsherkin]

Yep, dude is a 14/10 player. Lakers have already had a player like him with Lamar Odom, we can deal.

TBF, Odom seemed like a nice guy who had some problems. Ayton seems like an immature putz, which isn't really the same thing.

EDIT: Then again, y'all did manage Artest/MWP.

[Capn'O]

Yep, dude is a 14/10 player. Lakers have already had a player like him with Lamar Odom, we can deal.

TBF, Odom seemed like a nice guy who had some problems. Ayton seems like an immature putz, which isn't really the same thing.

EDIT: Then again, y'all did manage Artest/MWP.

Artest wasn't unprofessional though. He was just nuts.

[Michael Jackson]

Yep, dude is a 14/10 player. Lakers have already had a player like him with Lamar Odom, we can deal.

TBF, Odom seemed like a nice guy who had some problems. Ayton seems like an immature putz, which isn't really the same thing.

EDIT: Then again, y'all did manage Artest/MWP.

Odom had lots of outside issues that derailed him, including a SIDS death which is awful. His personal life had spun out a few times. HE was a much more motivaed better player than Ayton though.

[tsherkin]

Artest wasn't unprofessional though. He was just nuts.

Ahem. 2004 disagrees with you, but I suppose you mean specifically with the Lakers, which is fair.

Odom had lots of outside issues that derailed him, including a SIDS death which is awful. His personal life had spun out a few times. HE was a much more motivaed better player than Ayton though.

Exactly my point, yes. He was more of a sad case. He had some addiction issues, if I recall correctly, and yeah, a SIDS death is just an absolute tragedy.

[Capn'O]

Artest wasn't unprofessional though. He was just nuts.

Ahem. 2004 disagrees with you, but I suppose you mean specifically with the Lakers, which is fair.

We had him for a year and he was a great teammate and hard worker from all accounts. The issue with him was if you rubbed him the wrong way he might kill you.

[Jordan45822]

Surprised there is no he plans to sign with LA after he clears waivers news dropped yet.

[tsherkin]

Artest wasn't unprofessional though. He was just nuts.

Ahem. 2004 disagrees with you, but I suppose you mean specifically with the Lakers, which is fair.

We had him for a year and he was a great teammate and hard worker from all accounts. The issue with him was if you rubbed him the wrong way he might kill you.

Yes, he had some anger management issues, heh.

[An Unbiased Fan]

Yep, dude is a 14/10 player. Lakers have already had a player like him with Lamar Odom, we can deal.

TBF, Odom seemed like a nice guy who had some problems. Ayton seems like an immature putz, which isn't really the same thing.

EDIT: Then again, y'all did manage Artest/MWP.

Eh, Odom was literally high half the time though lol. I remember him on the Clipper too, same way. He had all the tools to be a HOFer and never even made an all-star team. I think with Ayton if you can get him for MLE then there's no real risk. If he doesn't work out the Lakers are switching up with Lebron leaving anyway. Much better paying very little for a 14/10 C, and keeping options open a year form now.

[HMFFL]

The Lakers to me don't make sense. Ayton will be a distraction to the team all while Luka's weight is the media's focal point.

The shorter the fights to the Bahamas for the Ayton family is key.

Golden State, Miami, and my dark horse team is Denver

[IMF]

Yep, dude is a 14/10 player. Lakers have already had a player like him with Lamar Odom, we can deal.

TBF, Odom seemed like a nice guy who had some problems. Ayton seems like an immature putz, which isn't really the same thing.

EDIT: Then again, y'all did manage Artest/MWP.

Artest wasn't unprofessional though. He was just nuts.

In Indiana Artest famously asked Carlisle to take time off (multiple games) to work on his rap album. That was on a contending team.

[IMF]

If true, this makes me kind of sad. Giannis deserves better.

Are they trying to push Giannis into asking out?

Bucks are damned if they do, damned if they don’t it seems. I’m not a fan of Deandre Ayton at all but he’s leagues better than anyone else they could get for the MLE.

This would be a worthwhile gamble for the Bucks. They desperately need to upgrade their talent and just lost their starting center. Ayton was a serviceable player for a finals team once, it’s possible in a winning environment he could become that guy again.

[tsherkin]

Eh, Odom was literally high half the time though lol. I remember him on the Clipper too, same way. He had all the tools to be a HOFer and never even made an all-star team. I think with Ayton if you can get him for MLE then there's no real risk. If he doesn't work out the Lakers are switching up with Lebron leaving anyway. Much better paying very little for a 14/10 C, and keeping options open a year form now.

Yeah, I think Ayton is a functional idea for LA, if only because they have not one, but TWO different high-end PnR playmakers. Between his rebounding and how he responds to running in that set, at least his offense would be fine. And he should help their mediocre defensive rebounding. Won't be much help otherwise on D, but a DRB still ends an offensive possessions at least, and the offensive efficiency would be nice.

EDIT: Also, Odom was kind of screwed out of an AS appearance three or four times (04 MIA, 05-08 LA) because of team quality. And he did win a 6MOY.

Sidebar, watch out. B-ref is all screwed with its dates right now. Everything's offset back by a year.

[Myth]

Dang...hell of a deal. Surprised blazers didn't ask for more back, or have they just completely had it with him anyhow?

Not sure how true this is--these kind of hit pieces always seem to come out right after semi-controversial decisions--but for what it's worth:

Ayton was reportedly late to practices and flights, and would skip rehab appointments, throughout his tenure in Portland. The Blazers also didn't like Ayton's attitude when he was removed from games, especially when the veteran center wasn't showing the proper amount of effort.

https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281174/Blazers-Tired-Of-Deandre-Aytons-Bad-Habits-Leading-To-Buyout

I buy it. It's basically the details of what Perk was saying. Plus, they just ate like 30 million dollars. They can't stand him.

Very happy that they got $10M shaved off. They kept that off court stuff in Portland quiet. Good strategy that didn’t quite work out. I was ok with Ayton during his time in Portland because the organization always pretended to be positive about him and point out his positivity with Clingan.

[taikibansei]

Are they trying to push Giannis into asking out?

Bucks are damned if they do, damned if they don’t it seems. I’m not a fan of Deandre Ayton at all but he’s leagues better than anyone else they could get for the MLE.

This would be a worthwhile gamble for the Bucks. They desperately need to upgrade their talent and just lost their starting center. Ayton was a serviceable player for a finals team once, it’s possible in a winning environment he could become that guy again.

Ayton was disgruntled in Phoenix (winning environment), and disgruntled again in Portland (not so winning environment). That's 2-for-2. At both places, he was also such a negative that his teams eventually dumped him at a loss. This does not bode well for the Bucks and/or Giannis.

[taikibansei]

Not sure how true this is--these kind of hit pieces always seem to come out right after semi-controversial decisions--but for what it's worth:


https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281174/Blazers-Tired-Of-Deandre-Aytons-Bad-Habits-Leading-To-Buyout

I buy it. It's basically the details of what Perk was saying. Plus, they just ate like 30 million dollars. They can't stand him.

Very happy that they got $10M shaved off. They kept that off court stuff in Portland quiet. Good strategy that didn’t quite work out. I was ok with Ayton during his time in Portland because the organization always pretended to be positive about him and point out his positivity with Clingan.

Yeah, Portland did a good job keeping that negative stuff under wraps. Kudos!

[taikibansei]

Doesn't this signing put the Ayton to the Bucks rumors to rest?

Read on Twitter

Hope so. As Portland found, even on the bench Ayton has a negative impact.