Barring a draft day shocker, Deandre Ayton is going to be the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. Who exactly would the Phoenix Suns be drafting?
It seems like a forgone conclusion that the first player called on Thursday will be Deandre Ayton. After Luka Doncic appeared the frontrunner, Arizona’s super freshman gained plenty of momentum. Ayton had a monster sole season under Sean Miller, pairing next-level athleticism and size into a human wrecking ball.
En route to winning Pac-12 Player of the Year, Ayton put up 20.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. In addition, he did his thing efficiently. His true shooting percentage of 65 percent on a usage rate of 26.6 percent just shows he didn’t need a few months in college. He’s NBA-ready.
Ayton also showed a knack for knocking down a mid-range jumper. 3-pointers were fewer and far between, but it seems that range is a real possibility. Being a legitimate stretch-5 is really what puts him over the top as one of the better big man prospects to come around since Anthony Davis.
The potential No. 1 pick was able to dominate despite being played out of position at power forward. He played with a non-shooting center and had no true point guard on Arizona to get him easy looks. Allonzo Trier’s shot selection didn’t help either. With all that in mind, Ayton could easily have not been as productive or efficient as he was. He put up those numbers nonetheless.
Related Story: Phoenix Suns - Pros and cons of drafting Deandre Ayton
Still, Ayton is not the same type of clear consensus top pick that Ben Simmons and Anthony Davis were. We’ll dive into his strengths and weaknesses before coming to a conclusion on how good a prospect Ayton is and whether he should be the top pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.