I know DA played some PF in HS and college and has thought of himself as such. Might it be possible to occasionally play him at the 4 and Clingan at the five? Are DA's feet too slow to defend other 4s? His mid-range game is solid. As you can tell, I'm not a fan of undersized fours. I think Grant's game would be better on the wing. Anyway, looking for thoughts from people who understand the sport better than I (which is everyone).
Chauncey already said he’d experiment with it this year. I am personally very excited to see our 7 ftrs share the court.
I don't think Grant is part of this team's future Guards: Sharpe Scoot Ant Forwards: Flagg* Avdija Camara / Walker Centers: Ayton Clingan Williams Grant will get us assets. Maybe Ant gets traded too. We have the best Center rotation 2026-27 season we will be dominating
I think DA would be fine offensively at the 4, but I think he's too slow on defense and will cause the rest of the team to work too hard trying compensate. I don't care if we lose, I just think this will frustrate everyone and be a waste of time. DA will certainly be among the slowest 4s in the league.
League is very clearly pivoting back to the two big model. We should obviously try. But Ayton has to shoot threes with some volume and accuracy for it to be viable. Otherwise spacing is gonna be miserable for our guards.
It all depends on the match up against opponents. There could be times where it might work. All about the matchups.
don't take this wrong, I'm just curious about the 2-big model. I'm not seeing any clear pivot that direction. Looking at teams: MEM - maybe, with Jackson and Edey. But JJJ is capable of switching on defense and has averaged 5 three attempts a game DEN - no DAL - no MIN - yes NOP - no...right now they have no towers on the roster GSW - no OKC - maybe with Chet and Hartenstein, but Chet could run circles around Ayton LAL - no LAC - no PHO - no SAC - no SAS - they tried it for the first 20 games last season, but scrapped the experiment and benched Zach UTA - unknown. They spent time with Kessler and Markkanen playing together (8 min/game) but have been shopping both players HOU - no MIA - maybe, if they play Adebayo+Ware. But both players are a lot different than Ayton/Clingan WAS - maybe with Valanciunas+Sarr, but maybe not TOR - no; they had Poeltl and Olynik last season but didn't play them together enought to register at bbref. PHI - no ORL - no...unless Banchero is a C who plays PF NYK - no MIL - no. Giannis and Portis were PF's last season and Ayton isn't like either ATL - no; and the Hawks are reportedly shopping Capela IND - no CLE - yes, but rumors suggest the Cavs have soured on the Mobley/Allen pairing BOS - not really. Porzingis+Horford didn't crack the top-20 Boston pairs; Besides, Horford just camps at the arc and Tatum is the PF BRK - no (unless it's Claxton + Sharpe) CHI - no CHO - not unless Williams and Richards share the floor DET - no obviously a lot of teams have the bigs that they could play together but most almost never do. 5 or 6 minutes every 3rd game depending on matchups doesn't really count as a trend. Experiments, especially for a lottery team like Portland are fine but don't really make for zig/zag average shot distance, career: Horford 17.1 (in Boston) Markkanen - 15.5 Olynyk - 13.9 Wembanyama - 13.0 Portis - 12.9 Holmgren - 12.8 Jaren Jackson - 12.6 Banchero - 12.5 KAT - 11.8 (about 13.5 with Gobert) Mobley - 7.4 Ayton - 7.1 Ayton has spent his career in and around the paint, on both ends of the floor. As you said, he'd have to radically change his game and significantly expand his range otherwise Ayton and Clingan would be tripping over each other (and the bigs guarding them), completely clogging the lane.
If we're running with the Marc Gasol comparison for Clingan, can Ayton be our Zach Randolph? I mean, I always thought that combination shouldn't work and should be terrible defensively.
I wonder if there is any zone defense that would help. It might make things worse but we are only talking about 15% of possessions. "The Heat are not like most teams, and they played more zone than anyone this season by a wide margin. In the regular season, they spent 21 percent of their defensive possessions in zone; the Portland Trail Blazers were second at 14.9 percent and no one else was even in double digits."
That was in 2019. NBA speed is a lot different than college speed. If Ayton wants to do it he's welcome to try. We certainly have a capable enough center to put next to him. And as good as he's looking maybe he can make up for a slower power forward.
I think relying on a zone defense in today's NBA with the range of these guys is probably suicide. If you have a lot of wings who are long and fast and can be very switchy then yeah, it can probably work for stretches.
I just remembered we also basically own Mil picks from 2028-2030, hopefully we’ll be a contender and them a bottom feeder then.. we could get really good quick.
