People forget how little we got him for. The Suns weren't stupid. Ayton's like a tram(am)poline in The Simpsons.
And he turns the ball over a lot, fumbling and taking terrible shots that have no chance of going in.
I think the rebounding is just something that Jerami isn't good at but the turnovers and shot selection is just a matter of him playing out of position... not in terms of what forward spot but in terms of being a 1a or 1b scoring option instead of a third or even fourth complementary scoring option like he should be, with the usage that goes with that.
FWIW, and forgive me if already posted, Quick has an article re. Ayton. Says DA is on board with the rookie and Cronin called DA. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5604116/2024/06/29/donovan-clingan-blazers-deandre-ayton/
Ayton is fine with a rookie center to back him up...Cronin talked to him right after we drafted him. Ayton is playing for the Bahama's nat'l team and in the Caribbean right now.
People said the same thing about Gobert and Towns, yet the Timberwolves had the top defense in the league. (and Towns has always been considered a crappy defender no less) And before that, the narrative is that smaller lineups wouldn't work. We'd probably be giving up perimeter defense, but we'd be gaining in other areas, interior defense, rebounding, scoring efficiency. Teams take about the same number of shots from 0-3 as they do 3s, and 0-3 is still the most efficient shot in basketball.
get back to me after Clingan is named DPOY for the 4th time; is a 7-time 1st team all-NBA-Defense selection; a 3-time all-NBA selection and makes his 3rd all-star game. as for Ayton vs KAT, it's apples/oranges. KAT is a 4-time all-star and has converted 1,024 three's in his career; Ayton has converted 24. KAT has proven to be a good passer out of the high post. KAT average 5 FT's a game; Ayton averaged 1.4. KAT's average shot distance is 5 feet further from the hoop tan Ayton's Clingan is not Gobert and Ayton is not KAT. Gobert and KAT don't trip over each other and because of Kat's perimeter shooting and passing, they complement each other a lot better than Ayton/Clingan are likely too. More than that is Clingan/Ayton won't be playing with a dynamic top-10 player like Anthony Edwards and in case you missed it, Minny, with the HCA, got beat 4-1 in the playoffs by Dallas who was going with a couple of journeyman bigs who rotated and rarely shared the floor. Dallas small ball crushed Minny's triple towers. Dallas paid 17M for their two bigs; Minny paid 90M for their three towers seems like only two teams went with a twin-towers concept for any substantial time: Minny and Cleveland. And rumors are floating around that Cleveland might be looking to go another direction. An exception doesn't disprove the rule I said in my post that I don't care much if Portland wants to experiment with a twin towers. I believe it will fail but bluntly, Portland needs plenty of failure next season. They are still looking for their Anthony Edwards and they won't find him by contending for a 10th seed and being stuck in the bottom of the lottery
I'm not sure why you're talking about KAT's offense, when we were talking about defense. Are you saying, KAT, a guy maligned his whole career as a bad defender, is on another level defensively than Ayton? According to your theory, the Blazers would get so destroyed defensively by playing Ayton at PF, because of "the way the game has changed" etc, yet the #1 defensive team in the league features KAT at PF. Clingan IS a defensive center BTW, and has been compared to Gobert. Offensively, I think Ayton would be fine at PF as he's got a very good mid-range shot, and I also don't buy the idea that PFs must be able to shoot 3 pointers. Ayton would also be a mismatch inside against those stretch 4s.
Actually this is a pretty good indicator we expect Ayton back. Joe doesn't try this hard if he has trades possibly lineup up, and he certainly wouldn't let this get out to Quick.
I would like to experiment with it, especially to see if it can be effective for end-of-game scenarios on offense. I don't see it being effective for long periods which is fine because I prefer our centers alternating for much of the game to stay fresh. But I guess if Williams is healthy we might need to get creative to get all 3 some minutes. At least enough time to showcase him.
KAT is back-stopped by Gobert and Minny has several strong defenders. McDaniels is excellent on defense; So was Kyle Anderson; NAW is very good; so is Conley; and Edwards is a plus defender; so was Naz Reid. We don't even know if Clingan will be as good defensively as Przybilla or Robin Lopez, let alone a 4-time DPOY. Ant-Scoot-Sharpe are all defensive sieves, especially Ant. Grant is a weak defender. Avdija may be solid but we really can't be sure yet. in other words, there were a lot of reasons why Minny was a great defensive team and were able to offset KAT's defensive disadvantages in perimeter defense. Portland doesn't have any of those advantages you're also exaggerating how bad KAT is as a defender. His defensive numbers are all better than Ayton's
yeah...you'd think there will be movement there. Not only 4 C's but the Blazers are paying over 55M for those 4
We should trade Grant for a legit 4 or draft capital. Ayton isn't going to be a capable defender at the 4.
