Deandre Ayton news and highlights

[bwgood77]

He's always played decent one on on defense, but being a center who is supposed to protect the rim, help defense and moving back as last line of defense is extremely important. It doesn't matter if you are guarding your man if there is a guy continually driving into the rim. Then of course the one time he is backing off his man towards the basket is when Boston needed a 3.

[JMac1]

Feed Ayton early and have the offense work from the inside out. It'll get Ayton more focused on defense too IMO, and hopefully open up the court for the rest of the players. That play though, Ayton clearly having a rookie moment. It's on the coach for not reiterating what he wanted done on that last play. Should have been easy saying "foul if their back is to the basket and guard the 3 point line, no 3's" Literally just had to repeat that exact line over and over again.

You didn't see what BW saw? They did feed him in the post early, he just wasn't aggressive.


That's the issue. People keep blaming the players and don't realize the problems is we keep hiring **** coaches. Blame the rookie for not developing himself just like we did with Josh and Bender and Chriss and now Ayton.

Oh, my bad BW, I guess you mean him running out 23'9 feet away from the basket to hand off the ball is his "touches." He had two early post-up ops and traveled, he was done until the third quarter. Maybe he should get the ball 23'9 from the basket and dribble down to the post?!?

keep blaming players fans....

[JMac1]

Ayton is delusional if he thinks he is playing defense

So AD was killing him one on one? Nope. Pick and Roll defense and that is on two people and when players drive to the hoop is where he lacks. His perimeter D and one on one D has been fine.

He will learn, I am worried more about this crappy system he is playing in. Pathetic! All of our picks have failed because we haven't hired a coach that's worth a damn!

Including Igor. We are going nowhere with this guy, guaranteed. Most wasted lotto picks.

[JMac1]

Dude is a rookie averaging 16 and 11 at the hardest position in the NBA playing for a **** team, organization, and coach and people are calling him stupid...LOL!

[bwgood77]

Feed Ayton early and have the offense work from the inside out. It'll get Ayton more focused on defense too IMO, and hopefully open up the court for the rest of the players. That play though, Ayton clearly having a rookie moment. It's on the coach for not reiterating what he wanted done on that last play. Should have been easy saying "foul if their back is to the basket and guard the 3 point line, no 3's" Literally just had to repeat that exact line over and over again.

You didn't see what BW saw? They did feed him in the post early, he just wasn't aggressive.


That's the issue. People keep blaming the players and don't realize the problems is we keep hiring **** coaches. Blame the rookie for not developing himself just like we did with Josh and Bender and Chriss and now Ayton.

Oh, my bad BW, I guess you mean him running out 23'9 feet away from the basket to hand off the ball is his "touches." He had two early post-up ops and traveled, he was done until the third quarter. Maybe he should get the ball 23'9 from the basket and dribble down to the post?!?

keep blaming players fans....

If he does a proper hand off and then a proper screen and rolls he would get those opportunities. He finally did it a couple times later though. Ayton's always had some passiveness. Just because you only watched his highlights prior to the season it doesn't mean his highlights were all he did on every play.

[JMac1]

Feed Ayton early and have the offense work from the inside out. It'll get Ayton more focused on defense too IMO, and hopefully open up the court for the rest of the players. That play though, Ayton clearly having a rookie moment. It's on the coach for not reiterating what he wanted done on that last play. Should have been easy saying "foul if their back is to the basket and guard the 3 point line, no 3's" Literally just had to repeat that exact line over and over again.

You didn't see what BW saw? They did feed him in the post early, he just wasn't aggressive.


That's the issue. People keep blaming the players and don't realize the problems is we keep hiring **** coaches. Blame the rookie for not developing himself just like we did with Josh and Bender and Chriss and now Ayton.

Oh, my bad BW, I guess you mean him running out 23'9 feet away from the basket to hand off the ball is his "touches." He had two early post-up ops and traveled, he was done until the third quarter. Maybe he should get the ball 23'9 from the basket and dribble down to the post?!?

keep blaming players fans....

If he does a proper hand off and then a proper screen and rolls he would get those opportunities. He finally did it a couple times later though. Ayton's always had some passiveness. Just because you only watched his highlights prior to the season it doesn't mean his highlights were all he did on every play.

I really have to LOL ruefully at this. SMH. Point is, he shouldn't be out there. And that crap is so easy to cover with no PG threat going to the basket with him. The guard can't pass or finish or shoot and they are getting wide open looks. So why run something where you need a quality PG and you don't have one? Feed the man in the post more than two times a game.

I don't care about his past. What does that have to do with the price of coffee? I see what he does and what we do NOW! The only issue is this dumb as ring around the rosey offense. Its ridiculous.

If you think Ayton's lack of play is because of Ayton, then we just disagree. So does he. He told you how he felt, but I'm sure it doesn't mean anything to you, because only what the coach says is true.

[bwgood77]

You didn't see what BW saw? They did feed him in the post early, he just wasn't aggressive.


That's the issue. People keep blaming the players and don't realize the problems is we keep hiring **** coaches. Blame the rookie for not developing himself just like we did with Josh and Bender and Chriss and now Ayton.

Oh, my bad BW, I guess you mean him running out 23'9 feet away from the basket to hand off the ball is his "touches." He had two early post-up ops and traveled, he was done until the third quarter. Maybe he should get the ball 23'9 from the basket and dribble down to the post?!?

keep blaming players fans....

If he does a proper hand off and then a proper screen and rolls he would get those opportunities. He finally did it a couple times later though. Ayton's always had some passiveness. Just because you only watched his highlights prior to the season it doesn't mean his highlights were all he did on every play.

I really have to LOL ruefully at this. SMH. Point is, he shouldn't be out there. And that crap is so easy to cover with no PG threat going to the basket with him. The guard can't pass or finish or shoot and they are getting wide open looks. So why run something where you need a quality PG and you don't have one? Feed the man in the post more than two times a game.

I don't care about his past. What does that have to do with the price of coffee? I see what he does and what we do NOW! The only issue is this dumb as ring around the rosey offense. Its ridiculous.

If you think Ayton's lack of play is because of Ayton, then we just disagree. So does he. He told you how he felt, but I'm sure it doesn't mean anything to you, because only what the coach says is true.

Well plenty of people see it outside of me when they watch the games and discuss it in the game thread. I know you are a massive homer with him and he can do no wrong but he certainly has things to work on whether you want to be honest about it or not.

[JMac1]

If he does a proper hand off and then a proper screen and rolls he would get those opportunities. He finally did it a couple times later though. Ayton's always had some passiveness. Just because you only watched his highlights prior to the season it doesn't mean his highlights were all he did on every play.

I really have to LOL ruefully at this. SMH. Point is, he shouldn't be out there. And that crap is so easy to cover with no PG threat going to the basket with him. The guard can't pass or finish or shoot and they are getting wide open looks. So why run something where you need a quality PG and you don't have one? Feed the man in the post more than two times a game.

I don't care about his past. What does that have to do with the price of coffee? I see what he does and what we do NOW! The only issue is this dumb as ring around the rosey offense. Its ridiculous.

If you think Ayton's lack of play is because of Ayton, then we just disagree. So does he. He told you how he felt, but I'm sure it doesn't mean anything to you, because only what the coach says is true.

Well plenty of people see it outside of me when they watch the games and discuss it in the game thread. I know you are a massive homer with him and he can do no wrong but he certainly has things to work on whether you want to be honest about it or not.

Someone is losing this argument and insert the "homer" label to try to discredit what another poster has to say. Way to go Mr. Moderator. It's cool though. You are an Igor Homer, its all the players fault type of fan.

Put this in your notebook, Ayton rim protection stinks!! People drive on him like no ones business. Like I said I am not worried about what he can't do right now, I just want him to develop his strengths first then worry about defense. If you want a defensive center first, should have drafted Bamba, we didn't. At least Ayton can do what we brought him in here to do and that's become an offensive monster and then go from there, but if you don't have a problem with this willy nilly offense and want to bash Ayton, go ahead. Like you said, no one expected him to come in here and dominate on defense "If you watched him play at Arizona like I did.", so why all of the bitching and moaning about it, I am not? I want to see if he can't impose his will offensively. If he was dominating in the paint, most wouldn't care as much about his sorry ass rim protection right now, but again, Igor bull crap offense is hurting him.

Quiz said feed the man in the post, so I'll cite someone specifically who agrees with me. And someone I respect.

[bwgood77]

I really have to LOL ruefully at this. SMH. Point is, he shouldn't be out there. And that crap is so easy to cover with no PG threat going to the basket with him. The guard can't pass or finish or shoot and they are getting wide open looks. So why run something where you need a quality PG and you don't have one? Feed the man in the post more than two times a game.

I don't care about his past. What does that have to do with the price of coffee? I see what he does and what we do NOW! The only issue is this dumb as ring around the rosey offense. Its ridiculous.

If you think Ayton's lack of play is because of Ayton, then we just disagree. So does he. He told you how he felt, but I'm sure it doesn't mean anything to you, because only what the coach says is true.

Well plenty of people see it outside of me when they watch the games and discuss it in the game thread. I know you are a massive homer with him and he can do no wrong but he certainly has things to work on whether you want to be honest about it or not.

Someone is losing this argument and insert the "homer" label to try to discredit what another poster has to say. Way to go Mr. Moderator. It's cool though. You are an Igor Homer, its all the players fault type of fan.

Put this in your notebook, Ayton rim protection stinks!! People drive on him like no ones business. Like I said I am not worried about what he can't do right now, I just want him to develop his strengths first then worry about defense. If you want a defensive center first, should have drafted Bamba, we didn't. At least Ayton can do what we brought him in here to do and that's become an offensive monster and then go from there, but if you don't have a problem with this willy nilly offense and want to bash Ayton, go ahead. Like you said, no one expected him to come in here and dominate on defense "If you watched him play at Arizona like I did.", so why all of the bitching and moaning about it, I am not? I want to see if he can't impose his will offensively. If he was dominating in the paint, most wouldn't care as much about his sorry ass rim protection right now, but again, Igor bull crap offense is hurting him.

Quiz said feed the man in the post, so I'll cite someone specifically who agrees with me. And someone I respect.

I agree they should feed him in the post when he's open, and they try to get him open with screens and rolls, but he's not real good at that.

I don't bash Ayton. I usually just respond to others bashing him saying that he's never been really good at the things they usually complain about and mention his strengths and weaknesses. Though I was really surprised to see that Boston final play again and what he did when he usually sticks with his man, so I did mention that one.

Like I said, I'm not bashing him. But you are certainly bashing the coach every chance you get a few games into his career working with a dysfunctional roster, trying to implement his system with young guys and no PG. He needs time.

It takes first time coaches some time. Heck, Brad Steven went 25-57 his first year and he had Rondo running things with Avery Bradley next to him. Popovich had a very rough start and wondered if he was cut out to be a coach.

[JMac1]

Well plenty of people see it outside of me when they watch the games and discuss it in the game thread. I know you are a massive homer with him and he can do no wrong but he certainly has things to work on whether you want to be honest about it or not.

Someone is losing this argument and insert the "homer" label to try to discredit what another poster has to say. Way to go Mr. Moderator. It's cool though. You are an Igor Homer, its all the players fault type of fan.

Put this in your notebook, Ayton rim protection stinks!! People drive on him like no ones business. Like I said I am not worried about what he can't do right now, I just want him to develop his strengths first then worry about defense. If you want a defensive center first, should have drafted Bamba, we didn't. At least Ayton can do what we brought him in here to do and that's become an offensive monster and then go from there, but if you don't have a problem with this willy nilly offense and want to bash Ayton, go ahead. Like you said, no one expected him to come in here and dominate on defense "If you watched him play at Arizona like I did.", so why all of the bitching and moaning about it, I am not? I want to see if he can't impose his will offensively. If he was dominating in the paint, most wouldn't care as much about his sorry ass rim protection right now, but again, Igor bull crap offense is hurting him.

Quiz said feed the man in the post, so I'll cite someone specifically who agrees with me. And someone I respect.

I agree they should feed him in the post when he's open, and they try to get him open with screens and rolls, but he's not real good at that.

I don't bash Ayton. I usually just respond to others bashing him saying that he's never been really good at that and mention his strengths and weaknesses. Though I was really surprised to see that Boston final play again and what he did when he usually sticks with his man, so I did mention that one.

Like I said, I'm not bashing him. But you are certainly bashing the coach every chance you get a few games into his career working with a dysfunctional roster, trying to implement his system with young guys and no PG. He needs time.

It takes first time coaches some time. Heck, Brad Steven went 25-57 his first year and he had Rondo running things with Avery Bradley next to him. Popovich had a very rough start and wondered if he was cut out to be a coach.

I am not bashing the coach. I'm bashing his coaching. I never said he couldn't coach or needed to be fired, I said what he is doing is just dumb. He knows what type of players he has. Also, having Ariza initiated so much offense is ridiculous, the guy dribbles way too much. His rotations stink and he takes players out of the game with the crap he is running. He doesn't have the right players to run what he is trying to run. They should have drafted Doncic if they wanted to run this type of offense. We don't have to be good, but we should be running the right offense with the right substitutions.

Bad coaching mind screws good players all the time. Igor new name is Jeff Fisher. How can we be worse than last year by adding Ayton and Ariza? How? If that isn't on the coach, then I don't know what is. Triano was much better with much less.

This roster sucks, but JJ has regressed and we add Mikal who is not being used correctly. The fact that he plays Canaan so much shows that he needs his ass whooped. Canaan cost us the Celts game before the 3pt, but we blame it on Ayton, yea ok.

[Djedefre]

With Ayton, we got EXACTLY what everyone here expected - rebounding, solid hands and finishing, good passing for size, tendency to escape from tight situations in/around the post with mid-range jay, inconsistent motor, questionable defensive effort, poor rim-protection and lack of acknowledgement of his own (terrifying) physical attributes and how to properly use them on the court. All this was demonstrated like million times at Arizona and simultaneously pointed out by pretty much every scout and draft geek out there.

He has enough time to work on his (numerous) flaws and it's reasonable to assume he'll only get better. But how much and how fast, depends mainly (but not solely ofc) on him - his effort and willingness to work on his game and strive for greatness.

[bwgood77]

Someone is losing this argument and insert the "homer" label to try to discredit what another poster has to say. Way to go Mr. Moderator. It's cool though. You are an Igor Homer, its all the players fault type of fan.

Put this in your notebook, Ayton rim protection stinks!! People drive on him like no ones business. Like I said I am not worried about what he can't do right now, I just want him to develop his strengths first then worry about defense. If you want a defensive center first, should have drafted Bamba, we didn't. At least Ayton can do what we brought him in here to do and that's become an offensive monster and then go from there, but if you don't have a problem with this willy nilly offense and want to bash Ayton, go ahead. Like you said, no one expected him to come in here and dominate on defense "If you watched him play at Arizona like I did.", so why all of the bitching and moaning about it, I am not? I want to see if he can't impose his will offensively. If he was dominating in the paint, most wouldn't care as much about his sorry ass rim protection right now, but again, Igor bull crap offense is hurting him.

Quiz said feed the man in the post, so I'll cite someone specifically who agrees with me. And someone I respect.

I agree they should feed him in the post when he's open, and they try to get him open with screens and rolls, but he's not real good at that.

I don't bash Ayton. I usually just respond to others bashing him saying that he's never been really good at that and mention his strengths and weaknesses. Though I was really surprised to see that Boston final play again and what he did when he usually sticks with his man, so I did mention that one.

Like I said, I'm not bashing him. But you are certainly bashing the coach every chance you get a few games into his career working with a dysfunctional roster, trying to implement his system with young guys and no PG. He needs time.

It takes first time coaches some time. Heck, Brad Steven went 25-57 his first year and he had Rondo running things with Avery Bradley next to him. Popovich had a very rough start and wondered if he was cut out to be a coach.

I am not bashing the coach. I'm bashing his coaching. I never said he couldn't coach or needed to be fired, I said what he is doing is just dumb. He knows what type of players he has. Also, having Ariza initiated so much offense is ridiculous, the guy dribbles way too much. His rotations stink and he takes players out of the game with the crap he is running. He doesn't have the right players to run what he is trying to run. They should have drafted Doncic if they wanted to run this type of offense. We don't have to be good, but we should be running the right offense with the right substitutions.

Bad coaching mind screws good players all the time. Igor new name is Jeff Fisher. How can we be worse than last year by adding Ayton and Ariza? How? If that isn't on the coach, then I don't know what is. Triano was much better with much less.

This roster sucks, but JJ has regressed and we add Mikal who is not being used correctly. The fact that he plays Canaan so much shows that he needs his ass whooped. Canaan cost us the Celts game before the 3pt, but we blame it on Ayton, yea ok.

I don't know that Triano was better. We had a very easy schedule to start the year....I kept mentioning it is going to get much tougher, and when it did, all we did was start losing and sunk to the bottom of the standings and could only barely beat a team like Memphis on a last second lob in or Atlanta on a crazy Book comeback...the worst teams...then we sat some guys or they were injured and teams didn't take us seriously and played 3rd stringers against us or were also trying to tank.

This year we have played the 2nd toughest schedule and only 2 teams with a losing record (one of them being 6-7).

As far as the Boston game, if you want to blame it on someone other than Ayton for what he did on that final play, look no further than Booker trying to pretend like there was 1 minute left for like the last 8 minutes and take the team out of their offense, try to run out the clock (prevent offense?) and leaving the rest of the team unengaged as they had to simply watch him do this.

[Saberestar]

I am happy with Ayton so far.

I think he has played pretty well for a rookie C, he is probably better now than Towns, Embiid or A. Davis were in their first 12 games of their careers.

I love how he plays on offense. He does not stop the ball and plays so easy the game. He scores and assists effectively.

TREMENDOUS rebounder. I mean...the guy is averaging 10.9 rebounds in his first 12 games...he is 20 years old...he probably is gonna lead the entire league for a good number of years in rebounds.

If he assists (3 per game) and plays so easy the game in his first 12 games just imagine how good he is gonna be in a couple of years with solid coaching. Not too many Cs are better than him in that aspect of the game already.

He has big and great hands, he catches everything. That is huge and it is gonna give him the opportunity to score always over 15 points every single night.

What he must improve is his defense.
He needs to understand better the rotations, help defense and all of that. And he needs to be a little bit more agressive defending the paint.

His motor is OK. He is not a superhigh motor guy (like Shawn Marion was) but he is not a chair out there.


So overall I think his game so far has exceeded my early expectations. If he improves defensively he is gonna be an All Star pretty soon.

[Archx]

Ayton is a pretty good 1v1 defender. I actually rarely see anyone score over him in pure 1v1. Even when he switches to guards and has to guard them on the perimeter. But in order to be taken serious and have respect from anyone in the league, he has to become a superb rim protector. Don't know what Suns are doing over there, but Chandler suddenly looks like a freaking DPOY.

Otherwise Ayton is so fun to watch. His offense is incredible. Right now he is rushing things a bit, but when the game will slow down for him, he will have arsenal of moves in his disposal to overcome any defender.

I mean if you guys wanted a defensive monster, wonder what would have happened if Suns drafted Robinson at 16 ( i think?). Would PHX have a better record??....

Anyway, Ayton is really good on offense, still unfortunately, the way NBA is right now for centers, he needs to become a rim protector in order to really shine and give Suns more chances to win.

[bwgood77]

Ayton is a pretty good 1v1 defender. I actually rarely see anyone score over him in pure 1v1. Even when he switches to guards and has to guard them on the perimeter. But in order to be taken serious and have respect from anyone in the league, he has to become a superb rim protector. Don't know what Suns are doing over there, but Chandler suddenly looks like a freaking DPOY.

Otherwise Ayton is so fun to watch. His offense is incredible. Right now he is rushing things a bit, but when the game will slow down for him, he will have arsenal of moves in his disposal to overcome any defender.

I mean if you guys wanted a defensive monster, wonder what would have happened if Suns drafted Robinson at 16 ( i think?). Would PHX have a better record??....

Anyway, Ayton is really good on offense, still unfortunately, the way NBA is right now for centers, he needs to become a rim protector in order to really shine and give Suns more chances to win.

There were a lot of question marks with Robinson which is why he dropped, but yeah, had we taken Doncic earlier he would have been the ideal pick later. But he doesn't do too much on offense. This hustle and closeout for the block is great though..

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[lilfishi22]

Dude is a rookie averaging 16 and 11 at the hardest position in the NBA playing for a **** team, organization, and coach and people are calling him stupid...LOL!

The hardest position is the 1. And it's fine to give a Canaan **** for being put in a position where he's in way over his head but criticizing Ayton's porous defense is a no-no

Ayton's poor defense at the college level and at the NBA level is never because of Ayton

[JMac1]

Dude is a rookie averaging 16 and 11 at the hardest position in the NBA playing for a **** team, organization, and coach and people are calling him stupid...LOL!

The hardest position is the 1. And it's fine to give a Canaan **** for being put in a position where he's in way over his head but criticizing Ayton's porous defense is a no-no

Ayton's poor defense at the college level and at the NBA level is never because of Ayton

Hardest position to learn. two, I commented on where his defense is lacking. To pretend that his entire defense is bad is false.

[lilfishi22]

Dude is a rookie averaging 16 and 11 at the hardest position in the NBA playing for a **** team, organization, and coach and people are calling him stupid...LOL!

The hardest position is the 1. And it's fine to give a Canaan **** for being put in a position where he's in way over his head but criticizing Ayton's porous defense is a no-no

Ayton's poor defense at the college level and at the NBA level is never because of Ayton

Hardest position to learn. two, I commented on where his defense is lacking. To pretend that his entire defense is bad is false.

I gave him props for his individual post defense and individual perimeter defense too. But overall, it's frustrating to see how far behind he is from a team defense standpoint

[enigmatics]

As a reminder ..... Ayton played one whole season at UofA and at the 4 spot.

He's out of position right now and it shows. It also doesn't help that the rest of his teammates are matadors on defense as well. The defensive aspect of his game is going to require time and good coaching. The latter part I'm really concerned with right now.

[lilfishi22]

As a reminder ..... Ayton played one whole season at UofA and at the 4 spot.

He's out of position right now and it shows. It also doesn't help that the rest of his teammates are matadors on defense as well. The defensive aspect of his game is going to require time and good coaching. The latter part I'm really concerned with right now.

Yeah he played the 4 in college next to Ristic where he was out of position, out of necessity. He's playing the 5 now and he's still out of position?