Deandre Ayton (born July 23, 1998) is a Bahamian professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played for the Arizona Wildcats in the Pac-12 Conference in the 2017–18 season and was a consensus five-star prospect in the Class of 2017, as well as a McDonald's All-American.[1] Ayton was selected with the first overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Suns.
Deandre Ayton is the number one overall pick in the recent 2018 NBA draft who played a single season in the University of Arizona. It is a once in a lifetime opportunity for any basketball players to be chosen as the top pick of thousands or even millions of aspirants around the globe. In a sense any top prospects in any sports is expected to perform really well in their respective profession, and it's no different for Ayton who is selected as the first pick which is presume to perform well on the best basketball league in the world.
Now that we have some rough informations about Ayton let's get into details much deeper about him as a NBA prospect.
Offensive Skill Set
Ayton is a physical freak standing at 7 ft or 7' 1'' and have a monstrous wingspan of 7' 5'' which is almost identical from recent memories top NBA prospects like Joel Embiid and Greg Oden. A 260 pound mobile center like Ayton is without a doubt can dominate the post but what's amazing is that he is very light on his feet and very nimble which translate to a good second jump for second chance opportunities. He is a good lob target considering his size along with his explosiveness and quickness on the open court. Ayton is also able to move bigs using pound dribble drop step moves and finishing over the top in the post which is pretty scary and unstoppable.
With today's system of modern NBA bigman spacing the floor with midrange and longrange ability, Ayton could easily catch in this new era of playing style. He is comfortable at shooting mid range jumpers and can knockdown three's on limited attempts, what is scary is that he is a 7 footer who could do that which is most likely unblockable as we've seen in the likes of Embiid or Nowitzki for example. He could do all that in different situations using pick and pop or even in transition and loves to do the mid post job step jump shot a lot.
Ayton is also a good passer for a bigman, which many successful team nowadays have the likes of Demarcus Cousins, Draymond Green well although he is pretty undersized he is still a bigman or even the "Joker" Nikola Jokic. Deandre Ayton can locate shooters on the wings with good precision in dribble penetrate kickout situation.
Offensive Weakness
Ayton rarely faces up to put the ball on the floor. He's confident in his jump shot, but he only made 37.5 percent of his jumpers. He tends to settle for outside shots instead of being patient and establishing better position in the paint. Ayton finished in the 36th percentile in pick-and-rolls, though it's worth noting Arizona's point guard play wasn't good. He'd also occasionally catch and hold while teammates stood and watched.
This is one of the most problem of NBA bigs who can shoot the perimeter which is being too impatient instead of using the advantage of their size and tools to get a better position in the post or paint area.
What Ayton is Lacking? DEFENSIVE INSTINCTS
In an eye test you can easily describe or define Ayton could be a defensive juggernaut like Embiid but he is not actually. Even though he has all the defensive tools to be a decent defensive specialist or ever tanking a whole team's defense, Ayton is lacking instincts in this particular category. The reason is due to the fact that he is mostly playing the power forward position alongside Dusan Rustic which hurts his improvements on the defensive side of the floor that needs more experience to vastly refine it.
Now with the Phoenix Suns Deandre could be more comfortably play the center spot as this was the lacking position of the team. Although he is greatly lacking on instincts at his defense with his mobility at his size which are great assets of defensive specialists. With the right coaching and development of the Suns he doesn't need to be great on defense if he could turn into a good one then he could be very serviceable.
"We're in the best shape we've been in since I've been a part of the franchise. With the trades we've made, and with Deandre. He had an unbelievable summer league, playing the right way, not forcing it, was still dominating on both sides of the floor. He'll be the down force threat we need to open up space for everybody else." - Booker on Ayton
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