Heading into his third season, with heightened expectations for the Phoenix Suns and Chris Paul alongside him, it’s gut-check time for Deandre Ayton.
The Phoenix Suns‘ 8-0 run in the NBA bubble gets more and more remarkable with each passing day, not only because it helped make the organization look more attractive to established, talented veterans like Chris Paul and Jae Crowder, but also because of how shorthanded they were.
Kelly Oubre Jr. was sidelined. Aron Baynes was out too. And flying in very low under the radar because of all that excitement, the Suns really didn’t get much out of their second franchise pillar, Deandre Ayton.
Heading into Year 3, with heightened expectations, CP3 joining the fold and a revamped supporting cast providing Phoenix with legitimate depth, Ayton is facing a season where his numbers might decrease, but his impact must shoot up.
The bubble provided a rough (and brief) blueprint of what that might look like, with Devin Booker being flanked by shooters and the bench coming to life in ways it hadn’t all season. Ayton’s numbers, post-up opportunities and overall impact decreased in Orlando, yet the team continued to win:
- Pre-bubble: 30 games, 19.0 PPG, 12.0 RPG, 1.9 APG and 1.7 BPG in 33.2 MPG, 54.8 FG%, 76.9 FT%, +1.2 plus/minus
- Bubble: 8 games, 15.0 PPG, 9.5 RPG, 1.9 APG and 0.9 BPG in 30.0 MPG, 53.4 FG%, 63.6 FT%, +7.6 plus/minus
The drastic spike in Ayton’s plus/minus is slightly misleading; while the Suns boasted an impressive 11.6 Net Rating in the bubble with the big fella on the court, they were actually even better when he rested, jumping to a Net Rating of 14.3. Ayton wasn’t bad, and he even knocked down three of his 10 long-range attempts, showcasing a part of his game Phoenix had been dying to see.
But it wasn’t Ayton at his best, and as much fun as the bubble was, it was slightly disappointing that such an important component of the franchise’s future wasn’t playing a more prominent role in that success — especially after a 25-game suspension early in the year, which wound up being the difference between Phoenix making the play-in game and just missing the cut.
Even with the small sample size, all of this is a long-winded way of restating the synopsis of Deandre Ayton’s career to this point: The guy can put up numbers. Will he be able to focus and put it all together to impact winning next?
What can Deandre Ayton accomplish this season for the Phoenix Suns?
The 2020-21 season will provide the first definitive response in answering that question. Ayton, who said he was so excited about the Chris Paul trade when it became official that he “wanted to do a backflip,” understands this is gut-check time for him and the rest of the Suns.
“I know he’s gonna be on my tail,” he said on a Zoom call last week. “And I need that. Me and Book need that. This team needs that. So I’m a dude who’s very amped up and just wants to destroy everything. Having somebody who can channel all of that, lead us the right way, it’s amazing.”
The first step will be building that chemistry, trust and familiarity between a Hall-of-Fame point guard and his big man. Despite his enthusiasm over what he’s added to his game in recent months, Ayton said he’s excited to just be able to contribute positively to Paul’s legacy.
“I can get the ball wherever and score the way I’ve been working, and I can’t wait to show my talents, but it’s all about what this team needs,” he said. “It’s just knowing his terminology and what him and I can communicate on. He’s the leader and he’s the vet. If he wants me to jump, you know I got it. Whatever he wants, we’re locked and we’re buying in on it, no questions asked.”
That may require fewer post-ups this year, which were already down in Monty Williams‘ 0.5 offense compared to Ayton’s rookie season under Igor Kokoskov. It will almost certainly require fewer mid-range jumpers, especially with Booker and Paul both capable of dominating from that area of the floor. It could call for one or two 3-pointers per night too. But mostly, it will ask Ayton to be aggressive on the interior, where his two All-Star guards will be feeding him, where the shooters will open up his most opportunities and where his prowess as an offensive rebounder will shine through as the Suns’ bevy of long-range gunners look to fire away from deep.
Defensively, Ayton improved leaps and bounds in his second season, showing he could switch onto the perimeter with his lateral quickness and be a legitimate rim deterrent when he was fully locked in. The mental lapses were fewer and further between, but playing alongside Paul, on a team with playoff expectations, they’ll need to be stamped out.
Paul is known for his fiery competitive nature, which can come off as abrasive for those who aren’t mentally prepared. Everyone remembers how often CP3 would yell at a confused DeAndre Jordan, whom Paul joked “couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time” early in his career. Now the two are great friends, and Jordan’s career was ultimately much better off for it.
Ayton seems aware that kind of grating leadership is coming but also that it’s good for him in the long run. His workout regimen this summer has reflected that, carrying over the focus and momentum from Phoenix’s bubble run.
“I’m working so hard right now, on what’s in front of me, that I know these results are gonna make their way,” he said. “Coming out of that bubble, it did something to me, like, working every day, having this professionalism of being the professional I am and just embracing that and actually approaching my craft seriously.”
Last year, the table was set for Ayton to feast between Booker and Ricky Rubio, but he showed up late to the banquet hall. This year, after James Jones added even more shooting to the roster between CP3, Crowder, E’Twaun Moore, Langston Galloway and even rookie Jalen Smith, Ayton is practically being carried to his seat and spoon-fed an entire three-course meal.
“Seeing all these shooters on the team, it’s gonna be a lot of space to dunk on people,” Ayton said. “So for me, I can shoot, but I’ve got so many shooters on the team, like, what do you want me to do? I’m gonna get a couple here or there, on trails or pops, but I’ve got dudes on the team that’s really certified snipers. And I’m so blessed to have so much space on that floor.”
We’ve heard this type of talk from Ayton before, and the 22-year-old very rarely plays with the kind of aggression where he’s dunking on people. If anything, his passing awareness on the short roll, kicking out to shooters when met with little resistance inside, has almost become a fault. But this host of shooters can reward him for those passes when his natural gravity sucks in help defenders, and if anyone were to harness that “inner dog” mentality that Suns players have been touting all offseason, CP3 and a fully empowered Booker are as good a bet as anyone.
According to Ayton, he and Booker had a talk early in the bubble about staying the course, staying locked in and continuing to play the way they were, because the results were coming.
“We were always brothers, but on the court there was still some stuff that we really had to figure out,” Ayton said. “And I think he was waiting for me to figure it out, to be honest. Because he’s been waiting.”
Like Booker, the Suns have been waiting — waiting for him to justify his status as the No. 1 pick in a draft with Luka Doncic and Trae Young after he posted good rookie numbers; waiting for him to get back on the court after a bone-headed decision cost him 25 games; waiting for him to build on the defensive strides he showed last year in a season that puts all his God-given abilities together for an actual playoff team.
Over the next 1-2 years, alongside a Hall-of-Famer who has neither the time nor the patience to wait much longer, Ayton will get his chance to reward everyone’s faith. It may not result in a career year on the stat sheet, but if he can stay locked in and contribute to winning basketball on both ends of the floor for a playoff squad, it’ll have been worth the wait.