Deandre Ayton appreciation post

that Fred Meyer commercial from quite a few years ago fits this place like a glove:

you're a bubble off plumb
there's a screw loose somewhere
your elevator doesn't quite make it to the highest floor
somethings missing from your toolbox
the porch light's on but nobody's home
it kind of appears to me you're out of your tree

all time favorite jingle!

 

That should be the official S2 theme song.

 

I am on board the D A train.

 

Amazing how productive a player can be when you ACTUALLY MAKE A POINT OF USING HIM ON OFFENSE

 

And have an actual PG. Not a SG in a PGs body.

 

I thought you despised Ayton?

 

That was a silly thought. Why would I despise him? He seems like a nice guy.

 

in searching for moving screen stats I saw that Ayton ranked 12th in the NBA in screen assists and 13th in screen assist points. This surprised me a bit. I know he attempts a lot of screens but I also can't recall a big who has set so many matador screens. He's more effective at this than I thought

https://www.nba.com/stats/players/hustle?dir=D&sort=SCREEN_ASSISTS

 

I think Ayton's recent PPG numbers have to be viewed with some important context:

his career FGA/game mark is 12.5; his mark for this season is 13.7, but that's accounting for his recent splurge; before that it was 11.6 FGA. In the last 14 games he's averaged 19.6 FGA; in the last 7 games it's 21.3; in the last 5 games, 23.2 FGA. So, in the last 14 games he's had a 57% increase in shots over his career mark; in the last 7 games a 70% increase; in the last 5 games, an 86% increase. That's a huge jump in usage

there are only 3 C's who average more than 16 shots: Embiid at 21.8; Jokic at 18.0; and Wemby at 16.6. Ayton is using an elite level of possessions over the last part of the season. Simons was shooting a lot when he was playing and his average was 18.2 FGA.

for comparison: Ayton averaging 23.6 points on those 19.6 FGA. If Nurkic had 19.6 FGA/game at his current production, he would average 25.8 points; Wemby 25.2 points; Jokic 28.9 points; Sengun 26.6 points

 

Sometime jumper go in, sometime not.

 

Ha Ha Ha hahaha! Yep.

 

Deandre Ayton shoots higher from midrange than he does in the paint. 51% to 47%. That's actually so impressive.

 

Increasing Ayton's usage was exactly what I was hoping for and expecting as a result of the trade. The secret to Ayton has always been to get him involved, and the earlier the better. I am sure his percentages will go up when he is surrounded by players that move the ball and hit open shots. In Phoenix he was always a fourth or fifth option. He should be the first option on this bad Portland team UNTIL they develop a first option better at it than him. If Portland commits to the full rebuild, Ayton should average 25/12 next season, Scoot should average 10 assists and hopefully cut down on his turnovers. No idea what to expect from Shaedon and of course we have no idea what Portland will get out of the draft. I am not against Walker getting burn as a starter with Ayton. They seem to work well here at the end of the season. Ideally, he is a roll player in the future, but give him the minutes that nobody else is earning or deserving.

 

the Blazers were 7-27 (.259) without Ayton starting at Center last season.

the only "good team" Portland beat w/out Ayton was 1 victory over Sacramento (the Kings bricked up the farm, 10-42 from deep 23%)

the other 6 victories with no DA:
Utah
San Antonio
Brooklyn ×2
Memphis (in tank mode) ×2

while I'm not an analytics guru, and I don't understand advanced metrics. The eye test showed quite clearly ... the Blazers couldn't get much done without Deandre Ayton in the lineup.

 

I'm not an analytics guru either and I think Deandre is a solid starting C. That being said your post says that we were at .259 without DA and for the season we were .256. That means as far as wins and losses are concerned we were better without him. Obviously we were better with DA on the floor and a ton of things including the hard tank to end the season skews the numbers. I just don't think you can look at wins and losses last season as an indicator of who our best guys are going forward.

 

Are we back to not wanting to flip DA for a second for salary relief?? God I can’t keep up with our fan base anymore

 

Or any fanbase for that matter

 

DA is a keeper in my view...between him and our new rookie big we should be able to really match up with any style of play. He's not even in his prime yet and I think with the right 9 man rotation he's going to win us ball games. This season will say a lot about his leadership on and off the court. I think he seems really happy to be in Blazer culture for a change. I think it speaks volumes that Chauncey and many Blazer front office staff went to see him play for the Bahamas in the Olympics. The guy is really talented. Paired with Clingan in the paint he slides right into Lamarcus Aldridge slot with the elbow jumper but he's a lot more mobile than LTrain was.