Deandre Ayton Discussion: This Is A Platform I Can't Run From

He’s a former Number 1 pick for a reason. Talent is there, it’s his desire that is always questioned just like Parish when he was still in Golden State.

 

great vibes, glad he's here and happy.

Having a solid center makes such a huge difference

 

Hopefully happy enough to stay at a slightly cut rate next year.

We’re gonna have to do a bit of cap gymnastics to bring all of Reaves, Rui, Ayton, Smart and Lebron back.

 

LeBron back? Like hell we are.

 

Vet minimum who says no?



heck, we'll draft your other kid in the 2nd round. No guaranteed contract this time, but all 3 of ya'all can play in a game.

 

Yeah... but you're both wrong haha. If Lebron can play 50-60 games a year plus the playoffs at an All NBA level, he is definitely someone to bring back. The question only remains, at what price point?

Not to derail the Ayton thread because I'd like to bring him back as a 20-25m role player.

 

Held his ground physically vs Giannis and Turner. He’s deceptively strong. Just a great, great addition to this team.

 

DA again helps us to win the rebound battle

Another solid game from him

I like that he's consistently having good game

20 pts 10 reb 2 stl 1 blk

 

Is it possible the "rust" colored hair is another player's attempt to honor Laker gold but wanting to stay closer to the old Forum gold than later years canary yellow, and the execution was off just a bit?

 

Agreed. I just cringe at the constant posting of “Shaq Numbers” here since it just diminishes the truth of Shaq’s dominance as a Laker.
Ayton has been very good as a Laker, but in no way, shape, or form should he ever be considered Shaq-like.
Gasol is a much better comp due to their similarities in a finesse based game.

 

Isn't just like one person doing that lol

 

Yup, after every single game.

 

AR and DA are the 4th best assist combo this year, but if you add AR + DA and LD + DA we will be leading the league and then consider that our guys are still learning to play together. They are going to get better!!

 

In combination with the Luka trade which I think is fair since no assets were given up for Ayton - this is the biggest reason for optimism and a deep playoff run this year versus last. Yes Luka is healthy and is in shape and of course we have to see if Lebron can still be an all NBA player but Ayton is giving you about 70% of what AD is giving you.

So you get Luka and an above average center for AD and Max basically. That's just a massive jump in offense while you haven't lost that much in defense as you are expecting because you got Ayton giving you about 70-80% what AD brough on D. If Lakers can flip Gabe for Ellis or Thybulle this is a championship caliber team

 

Agree with most of this EXCEPT the caliber of wings you mentioned when making this a championship caliber team; I like both of them, but I think if we want to get where want want to go and succeed, we're going to need more than that or both of those players, IMO. I would say a Trey Murphy III can probably get us there or an engaged Wiggins.

Both of those will require more assets & we just don't have that. Despite that, I think, because of Ayton's presence and his continued quality of play, we can get farther this year in the POs.