I'd like to see the Blazers experiment with playing Ayton at PF and Grant at SF. If Ayton plays well a PF, that means our market is expanded. We can look for starting center or PF.
I lobbied for years to get Ayton because I thought he could be had cheap and would be a great and versatile front-court defender - big enough to handle big men, fast enough on his feet to guard on the perimeter. But I'm already sick of him. He's a nicer Michael Olowokandi - body of a David Robinson but just not a basketball player. Bad hands (despite good rebounding totals, weirdly) and can't set screens. Decent jump shot but overall a drain on the offense. If he REALLY CARED he could be Rasheed Wallace with rebounding. But he doesn't. And I don't think he can be made to care. So start looking for places to offload him. I suggest Detroit, because Monty had him playing that Suns team to the finals, (although how many disappointing top-3 pick big men can they stand) or Brooklyn (say what you like about Ben Simmons, but at least his contract is 1 year shorter, and I'd ask for Day'Ron Sharpe as a throw-in).
Given how disappointing Ayton has been, and given how good Jaquez has been, I can't help wondering if we'd've been better off with the Miami Dame Trade. But then again, I have a feeling they knew what they had in Jaquez and would've refused to include him, and fuck Jovic.
Fun fact, Duop is averaging 8.2 3p attempts per 36 mins and shooting 37% on those. All his stats look pretty similar to Naz Reid, who is signed to a 3 yr/42M contract and is worth every penny of it.
Center in Portland becomes inherently difficult when Blazer guards let their man blow right past them.
Day'Ron got away with a little shove there... Duop isn't great in a drop regardless--which is why we see a lot more switching with him out there--big reason why his rebounding numbers aren't great either.
there was no shoving. That was the patented Blazers "hedge" defense. The guard opens the driving lane for the ballhandler, so the guard can take a quick breather from playing defense. It hasn't worked in 10 years, so of course Portland has to keep using it.
And Dennis Smith Jr. is a 27% 3-point shooter this season, so that makes that bad defense even worse.
What Duop Reath does is keep the lane open on offense for other players, and more 1-0n-1 opportunities for those teammates.
I think the reason so man big men are disappointing, is because they tend to be those that are basketball players because the hit the genetic lottery. Whereas to make it as a smaller player you have to be really dedicated.
giant bodied players in NBA have to stay in incredible shape. There's smaller faster players zipping around everywhere, and it takes tremendous cardio and focus for the big guys to effectively keep up the pace. Why not just play all guards and forwards? The loafy Centers slow the game down. Tell that to undersized playoff teams that run into opponents stacked with bigs (cough cough, Olshey's Blazers).
