I have. Many times. I've seen him effectively guard all 5 positions and I've seen all 5 positions take advantage of him. He is nowhere near a true DPOY candidate though and I hate that it's even something he's been approached on. He can be the DPOY if he gets a little better and far more consistent but right now, all told, this season to date, he's been just better than average IMO.
The key here is "he's been approached on." He's not announcing to the world that he is DPOY on his own. He's a 22-year-old kid who has been doing very well on defense this season. Blame the person asking the question for his answer.
Yeah, it's actually a defensive tactic the team uses with some frequency off of p&r where Ayton switches on the ball handler. Compared to Gobert who basically just plays drop coverage if his teammate can't go under on the screen.
The Euro step that Jones did last night to get around Ayton at the rim was borderline abusive. He has his warts..... but when he applies himself, he is at least a 10th to 15th level defensive player at his position. That's all he's getting from me.
Curious what’s going on with Ayton’s rebounding. After averaging 14.1 rebounds per game for a 12 game stretch he’s been averaging 8.8 rebounds per game over the last 9 games during which 6 were single digit games. I know two of those he had fewer minutes, but it seems like a big difference.
I suspect Ayton worries about getting early fouls in the game. It almost seems when he is not strapped with fouls entering the fourth quarter, he feels free to play more aggressive. I'm liking fourth quarter Ayton. As long as he keeps doing this I'm not going to be overly concerned with stats.
I agree he worries about fouls but I just can't buy this excuse. And he doesn't come alive in the 4th every game. He's only done it maybe 4 or 5 times. I agree about not being concerned about his stats if he can defend like this but I am concerned about his impact on the defense when he plays like he did in the early quarters last night. Our defense was a joke for much of the game in large part because of him. Our defense was stellar for the last 10 or 15 minutes of the game almost entirely because of him. When he plays like that, the refs give him a lot of respect. He's far more likely to pick up fouls when he's giving less than full effort IMO. And I'm confident that's been pointed out to him.
Is Mark Bryant still our big man coach? I feel like if he worked with someone like Olajuwan or Timmy D he’d be more likely live up to his potential with finesse and skill type play since he doesn’t look like he’ll ever be punisher in the post...
Maybe but he wasn't a force in the Duncan or Olajuwan mold last night and yet the Ayton we saw in the 4th quarter had just as much of an impact on the game as Tim or Hakeem ever had. On offense he cut to the basket aggressively and on D he was just everywhere. Make last night's 4th quarter Ayton our full time center and we'll be a legitimate championship contender.
He has a PER of 18.3, which makes him the 24th ranked center, so no one is overreacting when they criticize his game. He has all the potential in the world, but your max players shouldn't disappear as much as he does, and that's why ppl get on him so much. Also, there's a reason why other teams will put much smaller defenders on him, because they know he's clueless in the paint. If he played to 80% of his potential this thread wouldn't exist, but he's just mentally not there.
I think you may have fairy memories of those guys. They reached averaged 7 free throws per game through their first three seasons in the league. We’re they shaq? No. But despite their skill they did a LOT of damage in the post.
