DeAndre Ayton

[doordoor123]

Trying to pay more attention to fluidity vs length this year because I completely missed on Kyle Kuzma and forgot how important it is with more space in the NBA. I also overvalued length last year. Ayton has superstar fluidity. The way he moves around the court reminds me of a young Dwight Howard. He should be a sure-fire top 5 pick.

I think all the bigs move very well on the court. Ayton moves very well for his size, Bamba is extremely agile as well. But ya to me everything about Ayton screams stud. For someone that has watched him for awhile, Im still somewhat skeptical of his motor. But if he can keep a high motor all year, boy it would be hard not to take him #1.

Motor is almost impossible for me to judge without a lot of minutes and a lot of games. At times players can look like they don't have high motors because they aren't comfortable on the floor or with their own game. Ayton, to me, has flashes and that's enough for me. He has a good feel on defense, just not the IQ yet or physicality. But he has great hands and moves his feet well. He's also smart around guys trying to box him out. I just think he's the kind of player that will be in the right places at the right times and that to me is valuable. I see his offense only getting better from here. His upside is just very apparent.

[Mulhollanddrive]

DraftExpress (thought they were dead) have a pre-season scouting video on Ayton.

[The-Power]

Ayton is a physical specimen and that's what he's shown in the last game. Other than that, however, that game was less impressive than what the stat line suggests. I like his approach to go inside and play to his advantages – obvious but not a given considering the concerns regarding Ayton – but that was about it.

On defense he was not nearly as dominant as he should be against such an opponent and offensively he was simply bullying smaller and weaker opponents. That's what he's supposed to do in this situation, so that's not meant as a slight against him, but he's also not shown anything besides that (a couple good passes, an airballed midrange shot – can't think of anything else).

He will be a player to watch. That's for sure. Still not sure how I feel about him, though. From being an afterthought in first pick conversations to being the frontrunner for it – everything seems possible with him.

[DirtyDez]

In two exhibitions Ayton is 13-14 from the FT line.

[The Master]

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.

[GimmeDat]

Agree on almost all counts there The Master (great post), but personally I think Garnett was a lot more mobile than Ayton is. That's not to say that Ayton isn't impressively mobile for his size and frame, but Garnett was a lot better, imo.

[arkuo]

KG was also 30 lbs lighter

[atlantabbq99]

The dude is only a freshmen in college, but he is already jacked!

He is 7 feet and looks as smooth as Hakeem.

[Chi town]

He is already ahead of Embiid at the same age. He has potential to be Gobert on D but I don't know if he has the dog in him to dominate on that end.

He's so fluid and smooth that I think he will have a big impact on both ends due to rim protection and passing on offense. He's a great passer.

[blazeyo]

He is already ahead of Embiid at the same age. He has potential to be Gobert on D but I don't know if he has the dog in him to dominate on that end.

He's so fluid and smooth that I think he will have a big impact on both ends due to rim protection and passing on offense. He's a great passer.

Casual take.

Being ahead of Embiid is a subjective take. Embiid had much more fluid and diverse post moves, was by far better on D and had much better basketball instincts.

Ayton is a bully. Looks like he can shoot, looks to be a powerful rebounder inside his zone, can run the floor, but Embiid was faster from end to end because of his long strides..but his defense is just not there.

His defensive IQ is low. He loses assignments off the ball, he doesn't cover passing lanes, shooters or anything outside of his assignment and he doesn't look like a good rim protector to me.. It's either a block or an easy basket against him and that's not an optimal way to protect the rim.

I view him as a possible elite rebounder and offensive player, but he has long ways to go on D. He will get abused as a rookie against NBA offenses if he doesn't improve that.

Biggest thing going for him is that he is huge and can shoot.

[No-Man]

Ayton's shooting isn't close to Towns at least in terms of diversity, he has good touch, but Towns shoots it like a guard, and his footwork in preparation for it, both off the catch and dribble is unreal.

As for him been more similar to Garnett, I don't really see it, he doesnt move nearly as well, he is much bigger on the upper body, and doesn't cover nearly close to the same type of length.

He lacks that "sudden" aspect to his D that other guys have, actually having seen Jaren Jackson Jr. pre-season if anybody looks similar to KG on D, it's him.

[Kolkmania]

Do think that his shot looks a bit better, it has more arch to it than I remember. I've only seen highlights thus far, but he does look a like a giant on the court.

That said, I really disliked his positioning on the court and ability to react on the events on the court in time. Will monitor throughout the season if he improves on those aspects. His passes out of the post were encouraging, but they were really easy reads and those double teams took forever.

[WalterBenjamin]

His passing out of double teams is excellent. If he keaps it up than he is the no 1 pick in my book for sure. A lot of bigs in the NBA dont use passing out of those situations not nearly enough.

[Marcus]

Do think that his shot looks a bit better, it has more arch to it than I remember. I've only seen highlights thus far, but he does look a like a giant on the court.

That said, I really disliked his positioning on the court and ability to react on the events on the court in time. Will monitor throughout the season if he improves on those aspects. His passes out of the post were encouraging, but they were really easy reads and those double teams took forever.

The fact that he was patient enough to read it coming instead of bulling his way into a shot over kids he clearly has a physical advantage over should help keep some of that cynicism at bay no?

[Jkam31]

He is already ahead of Embiid at the same age. He has potential to be Gobert on D but I don't know if he has the dog in him to dominate on that end.

He's so fluid and smooth that I think he will have a big impact on both ends due to rim protection and passing on offense. He's a great passer.

This is absurd you must have not watched Embiid at Kansas


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[Prez]

Embiid has one of the highest defensive ceilings ever IMO. Some of the stuff he was doing over his last month last year before they shut him down was just otherworldly. He was rivaling Gobert impact defensively. Ayton isn't touching that.

[Marcus]

I don't think Chi-Town was talking defensively. I took it as he was saying overall which you CAN say Ayton is further along due to how new Embiid was to the game at this same stage.

[Chi town]

I don't think Chi-Town was talking defensively. I took it as he was saying overall which you CAN say Ayton is further along due to how new Embiid was to the game at this same stage.

Exactly.

[GimmeDat]

I don't think he has to be a KAT level shooter, because KAT's game is more based on that. Ayton has the frame where he should (key word should with him) be dominating the paint first and foremost and then using the jumper as a supplementary scoring option.. so closer to Embiid in that sense.

For that purpose, I think he jumper is where it needs to be. It does look a bit flat to me but I like the relatively quick, fluid release. Let's just hope he doesn't fall in love with it too much.

His combination of size/athleticism, passing out of the double and field/FT shooting ability is deadly. The big question is a) does he have the mentality and moves to bully people down low all game, and b) does he have the defensive awareness to capitalize at least somewhat on his high ceiling on that end. If yes, he's #1 in my book. If not, he's still pretty damn close.

[Marcus]

I don't think Chi-Town was talking defensively. I took it as he was saying overall which you CAN say Ayton is further along due to how new Embiid was to the game at this same stage.

Exactly.

lol. i gotchu bro.