You make it sound like hamas is dead.

He has to go hard on them dudes as well

Lob city DeAndre Jordan efficiency while having more range is fantastic

If I had to name just one thing that DA does well it’s his sickeningly sweet mid range jumper, dude is a sniper with that shit

My only gripe with it when he was a Sun was that he would pull up and shoot close range jumpers when he should be attacking the rim

probably because he’s like the fourth flashiest player on a team that consistently generates highlights, so it gets drowned out or simply doesnt put up because of luka, reaves or bron clips.

Those have to be bots or something. I refuse to believe that any real person would say any team is better off with Jaxson Hayes as their starter

Saying Austin went from regular fire to blue fire from 3, telling people blue fire is hotter than orange.

Deandre Ayton on playing with Austin Reaves when he heats up: “I’m in these pick-and-rolls with him, and the fire tends to go from orange to blue. … You see the blue fire, don’t go near him, let him do his thing. … And I’m running back just telling him, ‘Yo, you a dawg’”

Here’s the thread, check it out lol

He was an extremely good pick up by the front office.

At 8 mil a season he’s an absolute steal.

At 35 million not so much. You guys got him after the buyout from the Trailblazers which allowed this to happen.

All that being said I’m glad he’s playing well for you.

I think a more aggressive lob threat would be better paired with the Lakers stars, but Ayton’s been damn near perfect in this role. He’s also been automatic in the short roll with his ft extended jumpers and floaters.

Rookie contract was like 10 mill a year then he signed a max for 30+ mill

Ya’ll are 15-4. That’s not really what I mean. I am genuinely happy for him if he’s turned that corner but I am just saying, it’s easy to say the right things and everyone to be happy when you’re winning.

His issues have always revolved around motor, attitude, and giving up on the team.

there are so many inverse narratives going on apologizing for this guy. First, it’s he’s not getting enough touches and not getting the support system. Then it’s oh he just didn’t want to be the alpha one or two option. Maybe he’ll grow up finally and be consistent but the guy has always been nothing but a soundbite with occasional flashes of greatness. Don’t tattoo DominAyton on your back then cry like a baby and quit on your team

You may say that in his time in Portland, Deandre Ayton “blended in” with the young players. However, none of those other players were paid off to cut ties with the team - only DA. That fact leads me to believe that the Blazers thought something that DA was bringing to the team wasn’t blending in - it was sticking out in a very noticeable and negative way.

Rodman had already won 2 rings tho, I mean I kinda see what you’re going for but Ayton ain’t no Rodman even now.

and a coach who knows to adjust his coaching style depending on who he is coaching

You mean when he was a valuable starting contributor to 3x playoff teams in a row with little to no drama, all while being on a rookie contract. Then he got lowballed on his rookie contract extension by a now-revealed to be racist ex-owner who openly admitted to insulting Ayton to his face in negotiations?

Ayton was then forced to go find a market rate contract from Indiana because the Suns ownership told him to his face that he wasn’t worth the money. Rick Carslile & the Indiana Pacers are not known for tolerating dramatic diva players and they were willing to commit top dollar to secure Ayton at the time. The Pacers are considered a good judge of winning players and aren’t known to invest big money in trades/free agents unless they have sincere faith in the player. They liked Ayton enough to make a max offer.

Ayton then signed the new max deal with Indiana and specifically asked Phoenix not to match, or force him to return because he didn’t feel valued by the team and they clearly didn’t want him around. The Suns ex-owner matched anyway and we learned since he was forced to sell the team that ownership matched just to show Ayton who was in charge and could force him to return against his will. So Ayton was both spurned and forced to return by the Suns ownership for petty non-basketball reasons and it was expressed to Ayton by ownership at the time explicitly.

Ayton was great for the Suns. The Suns weren’t good to Ayton. When the new owner showed up he promptly let Ayton leave, but there was no easy spot to match salaries. It was more cleaning up a mess than anything.

Monty Williams is a basketball terrorist. Would freeze Ayton out of games where he was hot on purpose because of their beef. All this while Ayton was tasked with anchoring the defense and got less touches than a lot of people. Not that Ayton wasn’t partially to blame for his lapses in effort and judgement at times. Not enough blame Monty though

Better vibes? Book and CP3 seem like assholes lmao; that whole stint with Monty Williams probably didn’t help either.. Just my guess, but I really can’t think of any other reason tbh.

I’m just glad it’s working out for us at the moment

Despite his issues, Ayton was awesome for Phoenix during their 2021 Finals run and a key reason they beat the Lakers and swept the Nuggets. He was a walking double-double and guarding bigs and guards extremely well.

Some guys are not looking to be the #1 guy on a team and the culture setter, especially before the age of 25. If you’re past the age of 25, put yourself in those shoes at that age. It’s a lot of pressure that comes with a big paycheck. He was VERY young still. Sometimes we don’t give NBA players the grace that they’re still in their early 20’s a lot of times in early stardom. That is still VERY young.

I know I didn’t start figuring things out professionally until about 26 or 27, the age Ayton is now.

Everyone in this thread is trying to find people to blame, but forgetting one thing. People can, and often do, grow and mature from their young 20s to their mid 20s. So yeah, maybe there was some personal beefs or something in Phoenix, but also maybe Ayton is maturing a bit, who knows. He seems happy, the Lakers seem happy to have him, life moves on.

He didn’t really have any, he got scapegoated and the team has only gotten worse since moving on from him. Dude was a good starting center on a finals team.

I never knew there was a word for this, learned something new today

It’s still moving the goalposts.

In the offseason it was “Lakers are going to hate Ayton by game 5”

Now it’s “Lol contract year. Lakers are going to hate Ayton after they max him this offseason”

He’s literally only had one contract year before lol it was 2022. He scored more in the regular season sure but he was a better player in the 2021 playoffs than 2022 playoffs so I’m not sure where this trope is even coming from.

Letting a secure center situation fall apart once again would be a large mistake. You’ll give him a few years on a deal. I still don’t think he’ll break the bank.

Him becoming a Celtic would make me very happy (I’m from Maine and theyre my East Coast team).

It would even make up for some of the pain he caused me by signing with the Lakers.

Motivated DA is probably worth the max.

The issue is he’s rarely motivated.