darealjuice wrote:bwgood77 wrote:
Another solid read, some more interesting excerpts for those who can't see:Ayton possesses qualities that can’t be taught, and the things he lacks are those that have the highest percentage of improving. But that doesn’t ensure that Ayton will improve in those areas, and they are almost all related to the way he sees the game.
Put another way, his biggest strengths are individual strengths and his biggest weaknesses are team weaknesses. He shows a feel for the game in his footwork and poise and displays a lack of it in his understanding of the other nine people on the court. Watching Ayton, it’s easy to see that he is very good in 1-on-1 isolations with high-level footwork, balance and fluidity. He has a relatively smooth shot that is structurally sound and can improve with repetition. He is also a willing passer. On the other hand, he is a very poor screener and doesn’t have a feel for how to space the floor. The good news is that coaches are used to working with players to develop in these areas; he’ll receive no shortage of tutelage and reps. The bad news is there is always the risk of an unwillingness or a lack of capacity to understand.
Ayton, of course, has uncanny size and physical ability. He is already filled out and physically imposing at 19. He will most likely continue to put on muscle and weight as he ages, which would have been a great sign in 1990, but is a bit more concerning now, when NBA bigs need to be fluid and perimeter-oriented.
That said, Ayton already is a fantastic pick-and-roll defender for his size. He routinely gets down into a stance and uses his quickness to slow ball handlers and then get back to his man, even in situations with multiple screens. He is very good at showing his frame to the ball handler and anticipating the angle of the screen.Although Ayton averaged fewer than two assists per game, those statistics don’t do justice to his passing ability. At Arizona, he didn’t play with particularly great finishers or spot-up shooters, so his passes weren’t maximized. He rarely hunted points and seemed to be a willing passer in both big-to-big situations and when kicking out to the perimeter. He didn’t always make the right read, but he was always actively looking and aware of where his teammates were.On defense, he has to show that he can read and react to the other four players on the court...
This relates directly to his rim-protection skills. In college, he showed the ability to help and recover but on a bigger floor with better and quicker offense, he may not be as effective. The NBA’s defensive 3 seconds rule will require him to leave the lane, and teams will force him to come out and defend further away from the basket, given the way NBA bigs can shoot from deep. He will need to anticipate his help responsibilities faster than what we saw in college
Yeah, he ended up talking most about the screens actually which was always one of the things that bothered me most about him
The other big issue with Ayton’s offensive game is his poor screening. To put it bluntly, it has been a long time since I have seen someone miss on so many screens. On almost all of his screens, he runs to a spot, rather than to a defender. He makes little or no contact and shows little intention of screening a player rather than an area. It looks as though he thinks it’s the ball handler’s responsibility to run the defender into him and not the other way around. In addition, Ayton slips out of the screens almost before they happen. Maybe he is bored by the screen and just wants to get to the part where he can receive the ball. Either way, he pops too easily regardless of the situation. Popping isn’t a bad thing when you’re a perimeter threat, but when you are the most imposing physical force in college basketball, you should be screening bodies and rolling hard to the rim.
Now, a lot of Arizona’s offense included false action. In those plays, you can understand why a player might not see the importance of selling the play by setting a hard screen. But even when Ayton screened the ball in a purposeful or late-clock situation, he did a terrible job. That wasn’t due to a lack of ability, but purely to a lack of attention to detail or effort. If Ayton knew how much more open he would get as a result of making contact on screens, he might do it better. We like to think that this sort of issue can be easily corrected through coaching, but there is always the possibility that it could be symptomatic of a larger problem: a lack of integrity.
Then on defense
Teams need to consider how he will grow mentally—whether he will be able to see and understand everything at a higher level when the floor is spread more and the players are longer, faster and stronger. On defense, he has to show that he can read and react to the other four players on the court. In college, the three-point line is closer and the lane isn’t as wide, so the defenders can shrink the floor more easily and offenses struggle to create proper spacing. That can also make defenders look better than they are, because they have less ground to cover. The NBA court allows for fewer mistaken decisions and smaller windows of time to make them.
This relates directly to his rim-protection skills. In college, he showed the ability to help and recover but on a bigger floor with better and quicker offense, he may not be as effective. The NBA’s defensive 3 seconds rule will require him to leave the lane, and teams will force him to come out and defend further away from the basket, given the way NBA bigs can shoot from deep. He will need to anticipate his help responsibilities faster than what we saw in college:
