Deandre Ayton was the subject of a lot of criticism after the Los Angeles Lakers’ season opening loss to the Golden State Warriors due to his lack of aggression.
He was able to flip the script in the Lakers’ second game though, finishing with 15 points and eight rebounds on 7-of-11 shooting to help the team earn its first victory of the year against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
While everyone wants Ayton to be more aggressive though, he explained how he takes a different approach.
“I’m super poised when it comes to the game,” he said after the win. “Everybody wants me to be this number guy, but I let the game come to me. These teams are watching some film on us and they know what we want and they’re making us play a different way. I’m glad they’re showing coverages like this early in the season as well where we can’t just get to a pick-and-roll and execute it. We have to move the ball quite a bit and Luka has to really dissect their defense to really open up the floor.
“So being poised is really all I can do and getting my guards open and rolling to the rim. Seeing shooters like my guy Rui really makes teams be honest. I’m just glad they’re respecting the roll still though, I’m seeing how much gravity me and Luka pull as well, including AR. That’s Lakers basketball right now, running the pick-and-roll and getting the ball moving.”
The Lakers didn’t have a true center when they lost to the Timberwolves in the playoffs last year and after just one matchup between them this season, it’s clear how big of an impact Ayton can make.
Deandre Ayton still building chemistry with Luka Doncic & Austin Reaves
Deandre Ayton looked good on Friday night, but him building chemistry with Lakers guards Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves is admittedly still a work in progress.
“I was realizing, I’m probably a confusing big whether I can roll and stand in the pocket, probably gets a little difficult for them sometimes,” Ayton recently said. “I’m so used to having that low man on me. Sometimes I can’t even finish a roll, and I tiny bit linger around the free-throw area just to be available for him.
“There’s times where I can finish my roll. We just gotta play some more and play against some more great teams, like how we did [on Tuesday], to really see what’s the common coverage of these teams, really trying to put us on their personnel, what they got on us.”
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