Deandre Ayton news and highlights

[bwgood77]

3 ball will be huge for our team offense, though I will temper my expectations. I just really hope he vastly improves defensively. I don't really have too many issues with him offensively other than his weak screen setting.

[ImNotMcDiSwear]

3 ball will be huge for our team offense, though I will temper my expectations. I just really hope he vastly improves defensively. I don't really have too many issues with him offensively other than his weak screen setting.

What do you think about the notion that Ayton's lack of aggression on defense is at least partly the result of his poor conditioning? Do reports of him focusing on cardio give you any cause for optimism? I know you watched a lot more of him at U of A than I did, so perhaps you have more insight on this question.

[bwgood77]

3 ball will be huge for our team offense, though I will temper my expectations. I just really hope he vastly improves defensively. I don't really have too many issues with him offensively other than his weak screen setting.

What do you think about the notion that Ayton's lack of aggression on defense is at least partly the result of his poor conditioning? Do reports of him focusing on cardio give you any cause for optimism? I know you watched a lot more of him at U of A than I did, so perhaps you have more insight on this question.

That is obviously going to play a part to some extent with all aspects, but watching pretty much every game of his for two years, it seems like it mostly comes down to team defense IQ and getting back to protect the rim if he gets drawn out...or even when he is close, but a little drawn out, that he makes an effort to contest a layup or shot when he is definitely within range. He seems to hesitate too much to contest anything outside of the guy he is covering. He needs to foul more, whether it just be trying to contest or intentionally. I don't think he was in foul trouble much. A lot of teams killed AZ with layups or took advantage of this last year taking it to the rim, even if he was nearby on another guy.

He seems to always talk about improving on offense, stuff like initiating the offense or shooting 3s.

Due to this being our two best players primary focus, I imagine if we are shooting well, we will hang with teams, but on those off shooting nights, we will lose or potentially get blown out.

Coaches typically emphasize that defense is what needs to be consistent with effort because you will have those off shooting nights and defense can keep you in the game.

It seems when we have a good shooting night or a string of them, the team and fans get overconfident about how good we are, and then when we have those off shooting nights and get beat badly, it really takes the winds out of the teams' and fans' sails.

It doesn't seem we blow out teams too often over the last few years, and that is the mark of a good team, that when the other team is off, you are able to blow them out. We have gotten to the point of feeling really good about hanging with a team, as opposed to a team during the SSOL era blowing out people, and getting those scares with close games as warning signs that the team can't take their foot off the gas.

[Saberestar]

Big Ayton fan here. He looks like he shed a lot of baby fat. Looking good.


I saw this from another article. He seems like he really wants to dominate this season. I'm really excited to watch him this season, especially playing with a point guard like Rubio. I think you guys are gonna be a solid team this season. Cheers

What can the NBA expect from Deandre Ayton in year two?

Improvement. I’ve been in the lab. I can say this, I’ve never been in the gym so much my whole life.

What’s the most notable improvement you’ve made to your game?

Definitely the 3-ball. I’ve worked on it a lot, as well as bringing the ball up and handling the ball around the perimeter. I’m just really trying to take over every possession. Overall, being more dominant every game.

I wanted to see the word DEFENSE on his answer.

[3toheadmelo]

Big Ayton fan here. He looks like he shed a lot of baby fat. Looking good.


I saw this from another article. He seems like he really wants to dominate this season. I'm really excited to watch him this season, especially playing with a point guard like Rubio. I think you guys are gonna be a solid team this season. Cheers

What can the NBA expect from Deandre Ayton in year two?

Improvement. I’ve been in the lab. I can say this, I’ve never been in the gym so much my whole life.

What’s the most notable improvement you’ve made to your game?

Definitely the 3-ball. I’ve worked on it a lot, as well as bringing the ball up and handling the ball around the perimeter. I’m just really trying to take over every possession. Overall, being more dominant every game.

I wanted to see the word DEFENSE on his answer.

There's not much he can do there in the summer to be fair. But I am not too worried about his defense. I liked the improvements he made throughout the year. Still has a long way to go but the potential is there. I also think Monty is gonna help him a lot in that aspect. He helped develop AD, worked with Embiid and Aldridge, and has played with Ewing/Duncan in his career. He has a lot of experience with some damn good big men. I'm sure Ayton will be fine under Monty. I hope, lol.

[sunskerr]

I thought Ayton did improve fairly well on the defensive end throughout the season. I'm glad he worked on the 3 ball. You can only add so much to your game each offseason, so it doesn't really matter to me whether he's working on his positioning or perimeter game, as long as in the long term (talking years here) he's playing good defense when we start to compete for the playoffs.

[bwgood77]

As mentioned in the season speculation thread, here is part of an article from The Athletic...

4. Phoenix also ranked 29th in defensive rating (114.2 points allowed per game) and dead last in points in the paint allowed per game (53). The front office hopes the frontcourt additions of Aron Baynes, Dario Saric, Cheick Diallo and Kaminsky can help Deandre Ayton, who still has room to grow on that end but was often left on an island underneath the basket as the Suns deployed undersized lineups for the bulk of last season. How effective are these guys as defenders, and what numbers help illustrate that? And what level of potential do you see in Ayton on that end of the floor, both this coming season and in the future?

In terms of the additions, Baynes has rated as a solid-to-slightly above average defender for his career, Saric has been OK, Diallo hasn’t played enough to really know (though not playing much is often a decent indicator of not being very good), and Kaminsky has been pretty porous for much of his career. None of them have track records as exceptional rim protectors, Baynes was average to slightly below in that area last year, whereas Saric and especially Kaminsky were well below average.

As to Ayton, I’m surely not the first to say this, but for him to reach the potential that justified his selection first overall, defensive impact is going to be a huge part of that. It will be very difficult for him to maximize that area of his game as a four. Not that positions matter per se, but rather if he’s playing with another, slower, big it will be harder to keep him near the rim enough for his size and athleticism to take over. That said, the early returns on his rim protection have been uninspiring – he allowed opponents to shoot 64.9 percent at the rim, 4th worst among the 60 centers who defender at least 150 rim attempts last season and his collegiate block numbers were more on the order one might expect from a springy power forward rather than a defensive anchor five man. In his one year at Arizona, he posted a 6.1 percent block rate, which isn’t terrible, but pales in comparison to the college numbers of his hoped-for peer group such as Karl Anthony-Towns (11.5 percent), Joel Embiid (11.7 percent), Myles Turner (12.3 percent) and Anthony Davis (13.7 percent).

[Saberestar]

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[Saberestar]

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[lilfishi22]

Ayton made Hollinger's 2019-2020 NBA All-Breakout Team

Deandre Ayton, Phoenix
Rubio will be the best thing that ever happened to Ayton, who somehow managed to score 25.4 points per 100 on 58.5 percent shooting last season despite playing with point guards randomly selected out of the crowd before the game. Ayton runs the floor very well and should benefit from at least one magical Ricky transition pass per game. Ricky may cramp his spacing a bit in the halfcourt, but he won’t be any worse than the dudes Phoenix was trotting out last season.

Experience should do the rest. Look for Ayton to shake off some of the off-ball defensive confusion that plagued him last season and take better advantage of his natural feet and size — he can swallow up ballhandlers on switches.

[Fo-Real]

It's funny, rewatching the Kings game everybody is getting water/Gatorade (whatever it is) from those little cut the water boy provides, Ayton has his own special bottle... anyone here old enough to remember the Spinks special mix fight?!?! LMFAO!!!

[Frank Lee]

nice work detective

more notably see Pryor vs Arguello
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=uh3_sports_web_gs&p=aaron+pryor+controversy#id=4&vid=9140ebd8b1c561bae0ff390d90bfb13b&action=view
1:04:40 mark.... 'Gimme the other bottle....the one I mix'. Pryor was a stone jawed punching machine

Jesus... a scant 37 yrs ago.

[Fo-Real]

nice work detective

more notably see Pryor vs Arguello
https://video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=uh3_sports_web_gs&p=aaron+pryor+controversy#id=4&vid=9140ebd8b1c561bae0ff390d90bfb13b&action=view
1:04:40 mark.... 'Gimme the other bottle....the one I mix'. Pryor was a stone jawed punching machine

Jesus... a scant 37 yrs ago.

Yes, thats the one I meant, "special mix"!!! you are right!

[Revived]

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[cberry78]

Serious question.

If DA ends up averaging 25/12 are people still going to complain?

[lilfishi22]

Has anyone ever doubted his scoring and rebounding ability?

[Mr Puddles]

Serious question.

If DA ends up averaging 25/12 are people still going to complain?

It really depends on his defense.

If DeAndre Ayton becomes a plus on defense (he's certainly starting to trend that way - which is very encouraging) and he's a 25 /12 guy on high efficiency - not many people will blame the Suns for passing up on him.

If DeAndre Ayton ends up being an elite defender as well as an elite offensive player, people will argue that he's the right pick over Doncic.

If he turns out to be 25/12 guy with questionable defense - he'll be considered a disappointment when compared to players drafted behind him.

Overall it's pretty crazy that Ayton is already looking like a 20+ ppg guy without having a consistent go-to move yet or fully developed arsenal on offense yet.

[cberry78]

Serious question.

If DA ends up averaging 25/12 are people still going to complain?

It really depends on his defense.

If DeAndre Ayton becomes a plus on defense (he's certainly starting to trend that way - which is very encouraging) and he's a 25 /12 guy on high efficiency - not many people will blame the Suns for passing up on him.

If DeAndre Ayton ends up being an elite defender as well as an elite offensive player, people will argue that he's the right pick over Doncic.

If he turns out to be 25/12 guy with questionable defense - he'll be considered a disappointment when compared to players drafted behind him.

Overall it's pretty crazy that Ayton is already looking like a 20+ ppg guy without having a consistent go-to move yet or fully developed arsenal on offense yet.

All of this is kind of my point.

At what point does DA become a net positive like Booker is? Is it 25/12 (which I feel he'll be able to do without much effort)? Will he need to get to 28/15 on the offensive side with minimal D?

I understand that he will always be compared to the other players drafted in the same class as him, but in a vacuum, what does he need to achieve for Suns fans to stop comparing him to "those that shall not be named"?

[TheLogician]

Need KAT to demand a trade to PHX. Basically the only way out of this.

[Revived]

Serious question.

If DA ends up averaging 25/12 are people still going to complain?

It really depends on his defense.

If DeAndre Ayton becomes a plus on defense (he's certainly starting to trend that way - which is very encouraging) and he's a 25 /12 guy on high efficiency - not many people will blame the Suns for passing up on him.

If DeAndre Ayton ends up being an elite defender as well as an elite offensive player, people will argue that he's the right pick over Doncic.

If he turns out to be 25/12 guy with questionable defense - he'll be considered a disappointment when compared to players drafted behind him.

Overall it's pretty crazy that Ayton is already looking like a 20+ ppg guy without having a consistent go-to move yet or fully developed arsenal on offense yet.

All of this is kind of my point.

At what point does DA become a net positive like Booker is? Is it 25/12 (which I feel he'll be able to do without much effort)? Will he need to get to 28/15 on the offensive side with minimal D?

I understand that he will always be compared to the other players drafted in the same class as him, but in a vacuum, what does he need to achieve for Suns fans to stop comparing him to "those that shall not be named"?

Good defense. He has a team around him that when healthy should be good enough to be a borderline winning team so his numbers have to start translating to wins.

Putting up big scoring numbers in losses isn’t enough imo. While the team is shorthanded without Booker, of course losses will happen and that won’t be Ayton’s fault. But stat lines 25/12 or whatever it is are all numbers that Enes Kanter can get if he was featured enough but surely his team would lose by 20+ every game.