Ayton’s our future at the 5. We need a 3 and a 4 Get rid of Simons and Grant this offseason and hand the keys to the youth.
unless a team has a Jokic or a healthy Embiid, I don't think any team has much future at stake at the C position. Generically, C has turned into the least impactful position. maybe the NBA pendulum will start swinging the other way, but even if it does I can't see Ayton having a big impact
I like Ayton and I liked Nurk but Ayton can run like a deer and is 25 years old. Nurk really needed a new landscape after Dame left anyway. I still like Nurk and Nurk still loves Portland. No bad blood there at all...he's like Rolo. A guy who fit in Portland culture.
I'll take a guy at C who has already been the fourth best player on a finals team and should still have his best basketball ahead of him.
No question. This is the DA I was hoping to get when I had been cheering on the thought of acquiring him months prior to the trade. Sometimes guys need a change of scenery and a new coach. Hoping he keeps it up and makes me look smart to the people who didn't want him.
ok...and that has nothing to do with what I said.... "fourth best player"....that's actually what I'm saying. C's are just not that important unless they are unicorns like Jokic. Phoenix could have made it to the finals that season with a lot of different C's, IMO. They could not have made it there without Booker, or CP3, or Bridges
he's a max player. He's proving he's a max player. I think that tweet about Deandre has "nothing to prove", was a self confidence statement misinterpreted, then turned into a meme on Twitter. The world of Ayton haters are eating crow right now.
He's been playing really well, but not even close to top 15. I could hear an argument that he's been the best Blazer for the last 10 games... maybe even a top 30 player. But not even close to top 15
What would this place without some hyperbole and a massive over-correction? Now we've got to go from defending Ayton as not being garbage to pumping the brakes on production during meaningless March games. Love to see Ayton playing better though!
Ayton's 3 game hot streak since returning from hand sprain, FGA is +10 from season average. Some takes are off broken plays and missed shots, and Deandre is using premiere gobbling skills.
He said he had nothing to prove because he was a max player. Still, hes averaging almost identical numbers to 2021-2022 Nurkic. He needs to play like this all the time to be a max player. Problem is his performances have always been up and down. Hopefully this high is sustained though.
Ayton has been on a tear lately, since coming back from whatever injury he had. If he can finish this way, it'll give the team a glimmer of hope going into the offseason. Though I fear he'll regress at some point.
Last ten games: For comparison (Ayton isn't in this list because he hasn't played a minimum of 6 games): (Unrelated but FUCK San Antonio for hitting the jackpot three fucking times while we get LaRue Martin, Mychal Thompson and Greg Oden.)
Ayton still needs to improve on his overall scoring efficiency. This season he's averaging 1.24 points/shot. The Blazer team is averaging 1.21 points/shot. Nurkic this season is averaging 1.35 points/shot, and we all know Nurkic is not as good a pure shooter as Ayton. Ayton's career mark is 1.34, so he's been better at it in Phoenix than this season in Portland points/shot this season: Gobert 1.69 Embiid 1.59 Porzingis 1.55 Zubac 1.54 Sabonis 1 .52 Jokic 1.48 Myles Turner 1.45 AD 1.45 Looney 1.43 Holmgren 1.42 KAT 1.42 Sengun 1.36 Nurkic 1.34 Adebayo 1.33 Jaren Jackson 1.29 Wembyana 1.28 Ayton 1.24 Vucevic 1.10 (yikes!) (we all know why Ayton lags significantly in points/shot, but it's a stat category that really seems to rankle the hell out of some people when mentioned) to be sure, you need to gauge those numbers by usage and assisted FG rate; how much of their offense they create for themselves. And where the players rank in the hierarchy of defensive priority by opponents and obviously, for bigs & C's, there are other gauges of value like rebounding (where Ayton is bordering on elite: 17th in off reb rate; 7th in def reb rate; 9th in total reb rate); defense (where Ayton is average); and passing/facilitation (where Ayton is weak)
