Did The Suns Just Reveal They Are Doing The Right Thing By Taking Deandre Ayton No. 1 Overall?
[ESPN] - “I think this is my 16th draft in the NBA,” McDonough said, “and you can probably count on one hand the number of guys with his size, athleticism, footwork, balance, touch. It’s a unique package.”
“The strength of our team right now are young perimeter players, led by Devin Booker, Josh Jackson and TJ Warren,” McDonough said. “We’ve been looking for a center to kind of anchor our team offensively and defensively. We think Deandre has that kind of potential.
I’ve been pretty vocal about thinking Deandre Ayton is the right guy for the No. 1 pick to the Suns in the NBA Draft. That seems to be what the Suns are leaning to doing right now as well. I know, it’s just quotes, but the more and more you look at it, the more and more Ayton makes sense to the Suns.
That second quote is the one that sticks out to me. It’s also wildly correct. The Suns do have a nice core of young perimeter players that they can build around. This isn’t a knock on Luka Doncic or anything like that, this is just Ayton fitting in with the Suns a bit better, especially with this group. Think about the core of Booker/Jackson/Warren/Ayton and then getting a wing or point at No. 16.
That’s the right play. You can get someone like Zhaire Smtih, Lonnie Walker or Aaron Holiday at that spot. I like that a lot better than taking Doncic and then someone like Troy Brown or Robert Williams at No. 16. McDonough already said the Suns don’t want to take two guys who play the same position at No. 1 and 16, so that eliminates taking another wing there – where the depth starts to come into play if Doncic goes No. 1.
The other telling part in the article was a quote by Ayton. He talks about how he’s not worried about his defense at the next level, because he sort of calls out Arizona’s scheme. He was playing out of position while at Arizona, stuck next to Dusan Ristic – another big, who couldn’t really move to guard on the perimeter. That’s accurate. I’m not incredibly worried about Ayton’s defensive ability at the next level. Does it need to improve? Yes. But, I don’t think it’s completely broken and a failure from the get go. Is he going to be able to switch everything like the Warriors? No. But, he also won’t have to. You can still hedge and recover.
Doncic won’t work out with the Suns, or any other team, due to his schedule with Real Madrid. By no means does that mean he’ll be disqualified, especially since the Suns new coach (Igor Kokoskov) coached Doncic with the Slovenian national team. But, it sure seems like McDonough is a big fan of Ayton, as he should be. I’m not ruling anything out just yet, but the Suns seem to be going more and more in the direction of Ayton.