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

They don’t often both play well on the same night, but even rarer is it for both of them to play bad the same night. We always got one of them that’s doing well.

G1 was Ayton, G2 was Jax. G3 - Kleber?

Ayton this year has been a real roller coaster. I like him when he’s on and his ceiling is really high like top 10 center in the league on his best night. But I’d prefer if he opted out and we traded for a big instead.

But I’ll be rooting for him for the rest of the playoffs.

 

Buha mentioned on his pod that the media section he sits in is behind the bench and noticed DA sulking and pouting some after being pulled. Not engaged during the huddles after that or wasn't as excited as the rest of the guys that they were on the verge of going up 2-0.

I did notice a couple of times regarding his lack of bench cheerleading. A couple of bigger plays happened and he's sitting there with folded hands on the bench.



That's one thing I really loved about the McGee/Dwight duo. They were up and down, minutes and role fluctuated, but they were the best cheerleaders on that championship team regardless of their on the court role.

 

ayton's center dlo. the highs are high, but there are a lot of frustrating lows. and his own recognition of this does nothing to impact performance.

i'm with svtzr: i can totally live with ayton/hayes at center if we can upgrade everywhere else, but i'd rather move on from ayton. i'd take a less talented but more engaged player.

 

Well.... here's where Marcus or AR need to earn their keep. I'd prefer JJ to do that, but he's clearly not there yet.

Remember how Phil and them dudes handled Rodman? It was a different thing, but he adjusted to his persona. DA needs that too.

 

I'd keep him but I think he's got an ego where he will think he's worth more than $8-10 million and then get offended and cause friction with the Lakers. I just don't see many options out there.

I mean, Mitchell Robinson looks nice but just super injury prone.. not reliable if you're going to be highly dependent on your frontcourt defense.

Kessler is going to trigger a bidding war even if he is coming off an injury.

Mark Williams fits better with the Lakers, better defense, better rebounding, etc., but huge injury concerns again.

I've always liked Vucevic but he's going downhill in his career, not a good lob finisher, and not good defense. Not the right fit for the Lakers. As a backup big, sure, but not worth the price that he can get out there.

Ayton is young, fairly healthy, and somewhat consistent. At around $9 million, he's good value.

Only other option is draft which I think is always the best route for getting quality centers at a great price. Lots of these bigger dudes who aren't good individually running a team but put them in with great passers and just their size and athleticism alone could provide immediate value.

 

I still think Claxton is a dream matchup for our lakers, good rim protector, elite PNR defender (like bosh), and excellent when switching out on the perimeter. He finishes lobs with the best of them and developed a little hook shot.

Vando + Knecht and draft capital for Claxton if Ayton opts out is basically a wash cap wise. We replace those 3 with Claxton.

 

Sounds good, but I haven't followed Claxton enough - why has he fallen off so much since 2-3 years ago, efficiency wise, rebounding, blocks, DWS, DBPM, etc? Wouldn't think that age 23 to 26 there would be that drop on the same team with nearly the same minutes.

 

He was playing with Durant, Harden and Kyrie so both his effort levels and the opposite teams attention weren’t on him. He got to more boards and had a better pick and roll partner offensively.

Per 36 he is done one board but scoring at the same rate. I just think as a 5th starter rather than the 2nd or 3rd option a losing team he would look a lot better.

 

His team wants to lose so those stats always take hit. Even more now that the coach takes you out shamelessly if you're playing too well

He would be nice, just worried a bit with his rebounding, we really need a good rebounder at the 5

 

All those guys were gone by '23-24 (and half of '22-23), when he had his best years. And even besides scoring and rebs, his blocks and defensive stats have gone down significantly. I suppose being on a bad team affects that, but the '23-24 Nets were already pretty bad.

Yeah, I guess them purposefully tanking instead of just being bad, would make things look worse, but it still looks a tiny bit concerning. You're both probably right though, you know more than me here.