Phoenix Suns: The pros and cons of drafting Deandre Ayton No. 1 overall
Pro: NBA-ready body
At 7’1″ and about 250 pounds, that David Robinson comparison was not in jest. Ayton doesn’t turn 20 until July, but he already has an NBA-ready body. Some guys are muscular; not many look like they’re chiseled from stone before an NBA weight training regimen kicks in.
With a 7’5″ wingspan, great lateral quickness and both the height and weight to bang bodies down low from day one, there’s no question the reigning Pac-12 Player of the Year is a gifted physical specimen. It’s unreasonable to expect him to keep growing (right?), but he’s only going to get bulkier and stronger once he adjusts to more rigorous training and an 82-game NBA schedule.
There will be an adjustment period as Ayton adapts to the speed and physicality of the game, as you’d expect from any rookie. However, he’s as physically well-suited to take his lumps and dish them right back as anyone, not only in this draft class, but in the last 10 NBA Draft classes.
"“It’s pretty rare,” McDonough said after Ayton’s pre-draft workout. “I think this is my 16th draft in the NBA and you could probably count on one hand the number of guys with his size, athleticism, footwork, balance, touch. It’s a unique package, and the fact that he hasn’t been playing the game all that long, I think makes it more impressive. He seems to pick things up very quickly, even in the workouts today and the drills today.”"
Con: The small-ball takeover
Ayton has all the makings of a more physical unicorn (a centaur, perhaps? A minotaur?), but that might not do him much good given the way the NBA is trending.
Small-ball is in, and if you take a look at the four teams that reached the conference finals this year, only one of them had a more traditional center (Clint Capela of the Houston Rockets), and even his proficiency in switching onto guards on the perimeter was targeted, eventually playing him right off the floor when the opposition went small.
The name of the game is having as many rangy, multi-positional, sharpshooting wings as possible. The NBA is a copycat league that’s constantly changing, so who knows? Maybe five years from now guys like Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid, Kristaps Porzingis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Karl-Anthony Towns, Nikola Jokic and Capela will have spearheaded a big man revival.
However, at this point in time, it looks like those bigs’ ability to be more than regular season superstars will depend on whether they can avoid getting abused on the defensive end by small-ball lineups.
"“The league is starting to go more with a lot of guys playing small-ball,” Ayton acknowledged. “I’m happy that coach [Sean] Miller had me out a lot on the perimeter guarding team’s best guards at the 4 and this will really help me because I’m really good at sliding my feet and staying in front of guards and using my length.”"
The center position isn’t dead, but it requires a far larger skill-set than it ever has. Only time will tell if Ayton’s defensive flaws can be improved to help him contribute to an NBA transition into a new era run by unicorns.