Deandre Ayton Discussion: This Is A Platform I Can't Run From

one game in a new system against a team that's always a weird matchup for bigs

i've always been an ayton hater, but no reason to panic just yet

 

I actually thought he was okay. Lol. Again, I’m looking for him to just be solid to good so I remain optimistic

 

Kwame 2.0

 

He gotta do more.

Warriors have been a good matchup for us because AD cooked them. Ayton is not AD but he gotta get 20 minimum against them.
He made 5 of 7, so it's up to the team to get him more touches too. I want to see more anyway

 

Where is this idea that Ayton was bad coming from? He didn't have a great game but he was fine IMO
He had a few ugly moments like bricking two FT's and trying to iso post Horford (that is not exploiting a mismatch JJ and Luka: put Ayton into the post when he's got a small on him not one of the best defensive centers of this past generation!)

Plus he had a good 4th quarter - finished two PNR passes downlow and was solid on defense

 

He's our co-3rd offense option. With a huge gap to the 5th downwards. He can't finish with 10-6. That's not gonna cut it.

I mean he was our 3rd best scorer with 10. He and Rui need to be in the 20s because half of our rotation won't score much (Gabe, Smart, Vando and LaRavia).

If he scores 10 points when Bron doesn't play, we most likely lose the game

 

I guess in a vacuum but Rui, Gabe, Laravia, and Vando not really doing anything of note outside of a few made open 3's by Rui was a much larger offensive issue then Ayton IMO.

His screening needs to improve for sure but he got better as the game went on - the Lakers not so much except for AR who finished strong

 

Today's Media analysis

The Lakers were without LeBron James, new addition Deandre Ayton provided next to nothing
this is why box score watching doesn't work

 

still think this was kerr's plan, and they executed it. see if luka and reaves can generate more two-point shots than our offense can three-point shots. you have to see that, though, and run some stuff to get the ball moving. we got rui a few open threes this way, but i knew kerr was going to come out of the half telling his guys rui better not see a look like that again. they'll let luka and reaves penetrate and hit tough twos, then run out on misses and just abuse our bad defense for layups and threes in the halfcourt.

anyway, none of that is really ayton's fault, imo. teams less talented, experienced, and cohesive than gs will have trouble executing the same plan, imo.

 

he can't hide from the light

how long before it overwhelms him and the demands of the LA crowd used to championship bigs gets to him?

 

Yeah yeah I agree.
It's just one game against a very smart team. I think our loss was collective , I don't blame anyone individually on this one.

Just some stuff to look out for in the next games

 

Look out, NBA

 

1st half: 2 points, 3 rebounds, LACKLUSTER ENERGY.
Second half: 13 points, 5 rebounds, ENERGY PLAYS.

And I think that's what is missing from Ayton when you watch him play....

There's easy baskets to be had with Luka, Reaves, and then LeBron coming back. He can get 10 points every night just by being wide open. But he has to play with energy for those shots to be there.

I was super disappointed in him the 1st half and the 1st game. 2 points and 3 rebounds in 17 minutes of play is not good enough for someone of his talents. He should be 18/10 every night.

Hopefully this gives the Lakers the film they need to see where Ayton fits best offensively.

 

Much better. JJ and Luka made the goal of the 3rd Q: get DA the ball. For a team that came out flat in the 3rd game 1, this changed everything for us and Ayton in that 3rd. Getting him involved offensively got him engaged defensively too.

 

He was DominAyton in the 3rd.
This should be the perfect team for him and for the Lakers getting at worse a league average center who has night where he looks like an All NBA player was why Ive been so high on this signing.

He does stuff like one handed tomahawk dunk off with his left hand and gets up so easily you just see why he got drafts number 1

 

Outstanding game. Amazing how much more effective we are vs Minnesota with a competent big man. Dominated his match up vs Gobert.

 

The Kwame 2.0 stuff

 

Great game. Showed some real flashes of what he can do once he fully gels with the team.

 

Like I said in the Smart thread, he raises our floor, while Ayton raises our ceiling. At his best he is a 18/11 with good defence guy.

If we get third quarter Ayton more often than not, we’ll do really well.