The only thing that throws a wrench in this thought is that he was drafted by the prior regime. James Jones may not feel any need to vindicate the organization by signing Ayton to a max deal, he's not his guy.
Good grief. Do you all really believe that front offices really make their decisions about "saving face" etc? I can see a front office hanging on to a guy because they believe in his future, but not just so they don't look bad. James Jones (and Sarver too) have to know that the quickest way to actually BEING bad is to be worried about LOOKING bad.
Ayton is a top 10 center in the league. His skill set fits this present team and is contributing to its success. If there is another deal out there that makes the TEAM better and gets them closer to competing for a championship, fine, do it. Its time to forget about where he was drafted and just look at the player and the fit. But be very careful about tinkering with success and throwing away talent too early. Ayton was not the best #1 pick ever, but he wasnt a bust pick either. You can build a very good team by having good but not great draft picks.
Jerry Colangelo was a gambler and a tinkerer. He was always trying to get better and many times made it worse, not better, when trying to fine-tune.
McDonough was like a kid with trading cards. He was always trying to win deals, but did not seem to understand the concept of a team at all.
James Jones seems to understand the concept of a team and will make everything else subject to that. He wants good deals, but making the team better seems to be what defines a good deal to him. We have a small sample set on him so far, but he has done pretty well for a rookie GM. It will be interesting to see what his view of Ayton really is. I don't think he will care at all where Ayton was picked, and I don't think he will care if Ayton puts up superstar numbers or not. He will want the player that fits the team.
