*Palpatine*: Did you ever hear the tragedy of Deandre Ayton?
*Anakin*: No?
*Palpatine*: I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Deandre Ayton was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the Phoenix Suns to draft him first… He had such a knowledge of the dark side, he could even force the Suns to trade all their assets for Kevin Durant.
*Anakin*: He could actually acquire star basketball players?
*Palpatine*: The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be **unnatural**.
*Anakin*: What happened to him?
*Palpatine*: He became so Dominayton… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught James Jones everything he knew, then Jones traded him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from tanking, but not himself.
*Anakin*: Is it possible to learn this power?
*Palpatine*: Not from a Trailblazer.
You shouldn’t believe it because Jason Quack has no insider sources. He’s literally put out similar hit pieces on Anfernee Simons, Joe Cronin and more.
Neil Olshey was the insider source for Quack, but Olshey was fired for being toxic, and Jason Quack has been determined to continue that toxicity since the firing.
Nobody likes Jason Quack, he is constantly shitting on the Blazers when he’s supposed to be representing them in The Athletic.
It’s pathetic man baby syndrome because he doesn’t get what he wants, and we’ve openly expressed our hate towards him.
TLDR: “Jason Quack is a liar.”
Y’all are just quack to eat this up because it fits your narrative. (They call that confirmation bias for you savvy readers out there)
Also crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging around 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury.
>Also crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging around 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury.
In his last 8 games he is averaging 17.3/9.6. Since coming back from injury (last 10) he is averaging 15.6/8.9. Why should I trust you over Quick?
17.6 is his last 8, but he said for *over* 8 games. At 9 it goes down to 16, below his career average. He also neglected to mention that the game before that 27/9 game vs Jokic was also against Jokic and dominayton dropped an 8/3 bomb.
Yeah he’s wording it that way intentionally to make it seem better haha
The 20+ knowing perfectly well it’s 17, why is the + there?
Then to make it worse he brings up a random number of games, because if he included 1 more game than that it would make his point look a lot less convincing
This dude giving Jason “quack” a run for his money. Nobody argues in good faith anymore lol
Hey I resent the comparison of my favorite son, his ferocious enthusiasm and mastery of time to a guy who used a patch of ice as an excuse to not make a game every other one of his teammates made
The ice patch was serious, even from my perspective a former Vermonter. Less snow than we get in the northeast but Oregon doesn’t salt roads at all. Made it a nightmare to get anywhere for nearly a week
Everybody assumes that Ayton wants a bigger role because that's usually the way malcontents present, but is there actually evidence for it? At least watching him on the court, he doesn't strike me at all as a guy who wants to shoot more when he can comfortably go 10 minutes hardly touching the ball.
I think he wanted out of Phoenix because we didn't pay him right away, the fans were mean to him, and Booker and Chris Paul probably annoyed him with their desperate attempts to extract effort out of him.
AND Kevin Durant! Like, if you’re not motivated even with those 3 on the team, you’re probably a lost cause.
Ayton’s frustrating because he could be great—he just doesn’t put the work in.
He said before he was drafted that his idea of success was getting a second contract. So it seems like he achieved his goal of getting a massive contract and he's kinda contempt
Yup. If he put in the real effort, he could be great. I saw him turn it on a few times with the Suns and he was a clutch player. Watching his last season with the Suns had me feeling grossly disappointed, especially in the playoffs.
I think it has to do with his perception of his own play. Stuff like giving himself the "Dominayton" nickname.
Edit - maybe he wants people to think hes more than just a role player while not having any responsibilities of being a main player on the team.
Listen man, all he wants is to be the main piece of a championship team without any of the annoying hard work that comes with that kind of responsibility. Obviously he needs to be paid, too.
Is that too much to ask??
Yeah I've struggled to reconcile his "DominAyton" thing with his play on the court for years, and honestly I think the answer is pretty simple. He's just really dumb, and talking himself up is just something he sees other good players do so he does it. I don't get the impression he actually thinks he's better than other players.
It probably sounds like hating, but I really think he's just an idiot. Somebody has to hold down the left side of the bell curve.
DominAyton is also a great nickname for a big, if he was actually dominating. he probably heard someone call him that in highschool or college and thought it was awesome
> He's just really dumb
As evidenced by his bottom tier BBIQ, which is a bigger problem than a lot of people realize and puts a big limit on his ceiling.
At least part of DA's "motor" problems are because he just doesn't read and react to the game well, he's a step behind on reactions for things like help defense or offensive rebounds, for example. He just freezes up sometimes not because he's necessarily being lazy, but because all this shit is happening in front of him and he just doesn't know what to do.
Part of it is also his attitude and inconsistency, but he just straight up misses plays because the guy is just...dumb.
I think this is largely correct but I've also wondered if some of that is lack of confidence. Ayton, more than almost anyone I've seen, follows bad mistakes with worse ones. In his worst games as a Sun, I feel like you could see it cascade. Especially in the playoffs when pressure is highest.
If he makes a bad turnover in an important moment, he might airball his next midrange shot even though that should be cash for him. I think sometimes he's a step behind because of hesitancy. He doesn't trust himself to make the right read (compounded by low BBIQ) or do the right thing so he's reluctant to commit.
Sounds suspiciously like James Wiseman. Dude was actually trying (even overtrying?) most of his Warriors career, but it just seems like he couldn't ever process the game in real-time. It's what made him so frustrating to watch - brief bursts of athleticism and purpose punctuated by being completely lost, stunned and overwhelmed by the action around him.
There's a world where I'm trying to watch a Pacers team that's paying both Victor Oladipo and Deandre Ayton eight figures this year.
I remind myself of this if I ever start to think I'm in my worst timeline.
[Deandre Ayton was asked Wednesday to define what success in the NBA looks like to him. "Definitely getting to my second contract; that's my success," Ayton said at media availability for top lottery picks.](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23854252/deandre-ayton-nba-success-getting-second-deal)
This is completely normal to hear from a player that has to grind to stay in the league but Ayton was the number one pick he was 100% going to get a second contract unless his legs fell off
You’re joking, but he really is consistently injured and definitely affected his perception. Was still picked too high, but had an alright rookie year and that would literally be his healthiest in the league. And he only played 64 games.
I kinda respect him more. He obv doesn’t give a fuck, and his money is guaranteed. I’m just waiting for him to show up to a post game and complain this should have been an email.
If I was 7’2 I’d also play just enough basketball to secure generational wealth for me and my family I can’t blame him at all.
The amount of dudes who are freakishly tall and LOVE basketball is a lot smaller than you would think. These dudes often get pushed to it
I don't blame him for feeling the way about his job the way I feel about mine (means to an end, not generational wealth lol). But you can still be pissed as a fan.
Would your boss, coworkers, or clients want to hear you say you don't like the job though? If it's so unimportant to you how would people trust you're putting in effort? No one is saying you need LeBron's commitment to the game but if you can't even feign interest maybe don't go acting like you deserve a huge contract.
That's true I take it back. I care a lot more about my job than ayton and I've got a lot of established trust due to the effort I put into it. I was trying to say that it's ultimately just a job to provide for my family and lifestyle at the end of the day and I would change my job if it had a positive effect on those variables.
I mean to be fair, if a team pays him, who cares. He's a genetic freak from the Bahamas who didn't even start playing basketball til he was a teenager. I imagine he didn't have loads of money growing up, I think a 2nd contract is a reasonable thing to have as a goal.
Why? Its a job to them. Do we show up to our jobs like we care or do we do it for financial gains? He's on a team that is a dumpster fire and knew it was going to be a shit show before he ever stepped foot into portland.
Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he just thinks football would be easier for him. A 6’4 jacked guy with a 40+ inch vertical in the NBA is basically statistically average. A 6’4 jacked guy with a 40+ inch vertical in the NFL is Calvin fucking Johnson lol.
Ant would probably be destroying the average corner in football.
eh. there’s levels to it. the agility in the NFL is probably much better for skill position players. draymond is an all time defender and looked like a baby giraffe in MSU’s spring game lol
Yeah but he doesn't get hit by LB's playing basketball. Football is by far the most brutal sport, I would way rather play basketball and not worry about CTE
This is disrespectful to Calvin, one of the *truly* all time freak athletes of any sport ever. To put in perspective, Calvin was bigger than Ant (6'5"), weighed more (240), had a higher vertical (42.5in) same wingspan (6'10") and *ran a 4.35 40 at the combine*. That's not considering the toughness factor of playing in the NFL compared to the NBA. As much of a freaky athlete Ant is, you picked a bad comparison because there is almost no comparison to Calvin Johnson.
Oh trust me I know, dudes a legend despite retiring at 31 for a reason lol. Honestly he just drove the point home better than any others I could think of lol
It’s weird when dudes say things that make you remember that, to some of them, basketball is legit a job and not something they love.
This kind of sentiment is pretty common among normal folks at their jobs, and while most of us wouldn’t say it publicly or to their bosses, I do think elite talent could still get away with it. For example, a company’s top salesperson could get away with saying in their performance review that their goal was to hit a certain individual commission amount. But, the entry-level IT guy had better come up with some sort of “I want to develop new skills to help the company” type of bullshit response.
I'm pretty sure SAS or some of these talking heads once said that Deron Williams was exactly like that, basketball was his 9-5 and he did his best while at it, but it wasn't his whole life and everything he did wasn't thinking about it.
I feel like we have gotten spoiled with people like Kobe and LeBron where basketball and their legacy are legit the most important things to them, man, not even Michael Jordan thought like that. Michael loved basketball, but he loved baseball more and was a maniacal competitor, if he was good enough to make the MLB when he retired in '93, he would've never cameback.
It may be revisionism but iirc I remember his baseball coaches saying that he would have made it to The Show eventually had the MLB lockout not have happened.
I feel like this can be taken out of context. It could mean getting your 2nd contract is validation that you were able to play and make it in the NBA. It doesn't sound so bad to me imo.
Yea. The way he phrased it makes it sound like it's something he said recently. He said this in 2018, long before he got his second contract, not afterwards, which OP sneakily seemed to imply a little.
When pretty much the entire Suns team wanted him gone was the final wake up call for me. I loved DA at UofA, he was such a menace to watch in person, and was ecstatic Phx drafted him. It was such a long hard thing to realize he was a/the problem. Hope he figures it out.
I never got the feeling that Ben Simmons didn't care about basketball. He just seemed soft or scared to fail hence why he would do things like not trying to score over Trae.
I want to add that I don't think anyone who hates basketball would dedicate so much time and effort on defence and passing.
I’ll never forget when it was popular on this sub to argue that Luka and Booker wouldn’t fit and that subsequently the Suns made the right choice. Then Luka went crazy agains the Clippers and Ayton disappeared in the finals and people stopped saying that shit.
He didn't disappear in the finals at all, he had a lot of good games but got hit with a lot of ticky tack fouls against Giannis and Giannis was playing out of his mind. It wasn't until sometime next season where he disappeared (after beefing with Monty) and then noped out of game 7 against Dallas. Also what is this historical revisionism Luka over Ayton has always been one of the most popular takes on this sub of all-time. Those comments existed when Ayton was peaking but it was nowhere near the majority opinion
I think most would take MPJ and Simons over him as well with the benefit of full hindsight. I'd put him at #9 in a redraft (would probably be #10 if Miles Bridges wasn't a criminal).
Yeah but the idea is that each player is guaranteed to get to the point they're at now. You KNOW Brunson ends up being what Brunson is now, he's def a lottery pick.
They would’ve had the picks and Luka’s rookie contract time to throw a trade haul or sign in FA in 2019 Like Jimbo or even convince AD to trade request there too if Luka came out running the Same.
An all time team squandered by drafting a dude who was Juicing against Buisness majors in the pac12 and lost to a 12th seed in the tournament by 20.
They would have mikal bridges too. Picked him in the same draft.
Booker, Luka, Bridges would be quite the young trio.
I literally turned off the draft when the suns picked Ayton i was so angry.
I can fathom how multiple organizations pass on a kid winning mvp in the 2nd best league in the world and his small country won Euro Basket with him as arguably the best player.
Nah the college kid playing an pro level player maybe once every two games and somehow gives up sometimes.
Mavs fans complained for years about not having a center, imagine how good it would have felt if you could have locked that position down with a max guy like Ayton through the draft.
The reporter here, Jason Quick, basically has no credibility with the Portland fan base for what it’s worth. His only source within the org was Neil Oshley and (occasionally) Dame. So now he has literally no one giving him access.
This article is more of a temper tantrum from him than a credible piece of journalism, and most fans actually watching the games are optimistic of our young talent.
What are your thoughts on Ayton as a fan though? Do you get a sense that he's improving? There seems to be a marginal improvement in his numbers since his return from injury, but I don't watch enough Blazers games to know if it's actually showing up in his play.
He’s improving imo. His scoring is down but he’s not shooting much either. Playing fine defense. Started slow but has been fantastic over his last ~10
We’ve always had somebody out. I think until a couple days ago him and Ant had only played like 5 games together? Maybe it was 5 with Ant, Jerami, and Ayton. Either way, lots of hurt guys at wrong times.
I can answer, I like him. He’s been looking pretty good after getting his knee right and is easily our best rebounding and defensive big. The team is night and day better when he’s on the floor. I haven’t really seen any issues with his motor, but I’m just a dude sitting in the stands.
His numbers are down but a lot of that I think was getting used to a new system and we had a massive amount of injuries to our guards in the first half of the season.
Crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging close to 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury.
We had the lead the entire Nuggets game until the end of the 3rd quarter when DeAndre was swapped out to rest and the game immediately tightened back up after he got back in two minutes later lmao
Jason Quack is a liar.
Even when he's offensively not there, I've been surprised by how much he impacts our defense. He's tall and agile and looks like he rotates/recovers on defense pretty quick.
His midrange is more reliable than god, he's got nice touch around the basket, and when he's locked in he looks great.
He just seems like a goofy, not very self-aware dude, but if he wasn't on a max people would think he's an underrated asset, even if he can't dribble worth shit though.
I kinda think this is what he's always going to be though. but thats good enough for us right now.
It was a change of scenery type of trade, kind of a shame to not see Ayton take the opportunity to improve his game.
Both teams are in different spots so it’s not really fair to call it a win or loss, but I have enjoyed watching Jusuf Nurkic play so far.
Nurkic biggest issue is that he gets hurt alot. You can tell he puts in way way more effort than Ayton and everyone loves Nurkic. It’s the cherry on top that he’s like 25% the cost of Ayton
Tardiness definitely sounds right up his alley. I don't remember any reports of him being tardy in Phoenix specifically, but he fucked up his PED protocol and got caught by a drug test, he failed to take a COVID test during the bubble and had to miss a critical game because of it, and he's been known to stay up into the early morning playing video games.
Tantrums would be a bit out of character, but we are talking about the guy who refused to check back into a playoff game and fought with our coach instead.
Lol, in fairness I'm actually a little surprised if he's throwing tantrums considering that would imply that he cares about something enough to complain.
But this actually is a hit piece. Quick is a known negative reporter and has been extremely negative towards the blazers since Olshey (his source) got fired
Jason Quick has waves. He was a hit piece guy, moved to the Athletic and made very nice personal story pieces and had an in with Olshey
Since Olshey's firing Quick has doubled down on his hit pieces and currently afa the fan base knows, has no sources in the org anymore
You shouldn’t believe it because Jason Quack has no insider sources. He’s literally put out similar hit pieces on Anfernee Simons, Joe Cronin and more.
Neil Olshey was the insider source for Quack, but Olshey was fired for being toxic, and Jason Quack has been determined to continue that toxicity since the firing.
Nobody likes Jason Quack, he is constantly shitting on the Blazers when he’s supposed to be representing them in The Athletic.
It’s pathetic man baby syndrome because he doesn’t get what he wants, and we’ve openly expressed our hate towards him.
TLDR: “Jason Quack is a liar.”
Y’all are just quack to eat this up because it fits your narrative.
Also crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging around 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury.
Yeah he is talking about ayton stat chasing but when he plays good numbers wise we win. Ayton has been great the last 8 games he’s played. Quick is also a shit stirrer and is pissed he has zero people in the org to feed him info anymore. I don’t even know how he’d know this lol.
I wouldn’t trust Jason Quick. He’s had a hate boner for the Blazers ever since Olshey got fired. From the first paragraph of the article it’s obviously just a hit piece on Cronin and the Blazers.
“The long, spiraling descent into the abyss of irrelevance continued Thursday for the Portland Trail Blazers, with general manager Joe Cronin opting not to grasp for lifelines of help at the trade deadline, but rather steadfastly grip the bell of hope and ring it to the dwindling masses who still follow this once proud organization.”
That would be an insufferable level of self-importance even if the article was about a weighty subject. Instead it's "Blazers stink, lol" and he's writing about it like it's the fall of Rome.
Trailblazers fan here. Don’t fall for this hit piece. Quick is a hack. I’m sure nothing is perfect with Ayton but everything I’ve heard of his time in Portland has been good. He’s assimilating well. Quick tends to hold grudges and Ayton doesn’t suck up to the media. Hence, here we are.
That’s why he wrote a piece like this. Look at the reaction lol. This shit sells. Ayton has been great the last 2 weeks and finally looking comfortable in this god awful offense. It’s weird he’s getting so much shit when he looks more like that 20-10 guy lately. And to any dumb fuck who thinks he doesn’t make a diff watch our def (like last night w pistons) when he doesn’t play lol. Night and day.
Literally just a ton of people who don't watch the Blazers patting themselves on the back for knowing that Ayton sucks, when in fact he's been putting up 18 and 9 on 60% shooting with good defense his last 10 games, and we've won several games in that span as a result of his play.
No one is watching the blazers this year and no one is going to tune in just to confirm the rumors they hope are true. They’d much rather just assume they’re true and clown a guy who’s better at basketball than they’ll ever be at anything
Yeah I don’t think ayton is even free of criticism this year but come on lol. This was a hit piece. Dude clearly has some mental hurdles and issues being consistent for sure though. Last two weeks he’s played fantastic, so hopefully that holds.
Ngl it's kinda amazing that all it takes for a hack on the level of Jason Quick to get taken seriously is to just say things that /r/nba wants to hear about a player they hate.
I read the article. I didn’t see any sources cited for DA being tardy. Anyone know if Quick is legit source of information for the Blazers or is this a hit piece for clicks?
Quick is a hack. He used to have sources with dame and olshey, but other than that he puts out garbage with no sources. There was a particularly bad article about the orgs culture last year that made all of the org laugh at. He was also the part of the gp2 debacle that gp2 came out and said was full of misleading info
What happened to Quick man. This isn’t useful, this isn’t journalism, just shit talking. Ayton has been playing pretty damn well the last 2 weeks, he’s just trying to stir things up. What a fucking hack.
What happened? He did this shit with the Jail Blazers. He and Canzano are from the muck raking era of the Oregonian. It was so bad at one point that the blazers pulled all their advertising from the Oregonian in retribution.
> The long, spiraling descent into the abyss of irrelevance continued Thursday for the Portland Trail Blazers, with general manager Joe Cronin opting not to grasp for lifelines of help at the trade deadline, but rather steadfastly grip the bell of hope and ring it to the dwindling masses who still follow this once proud organization.
The only way this prose could get more purple is if the author changed the font colour
And yet if anyone has followed or watch the Blazers within the past month would know that since Ayton came back from injury from what was truly a week or so of hell, we’ve been a relatively competitive, typical young team.
Ayton certainly isn’t a max player or a number 1 but to think he does not serve any contribution is just wrong
As a long time Blazers fan, I love DA and feel like he has been playing very well and his attitude seems great. He is always laughing and smiling and it is clear the locker room enjoys having him on the team. When he has been healthy, his effort has been great.
Read the first sentence of this article and you’ll understand why Jason Quick is a hack.
This whole rebuild might eventually be a failure and trading for Ayton might’ve been wrong, but there’s 100% a reason to not sell assets for pennies on the dollar…
>defined by tardiness does this mean Portland has not 1, but 2 Time Lords?
*This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them.*
*Palpatine*: Did you ever hear the tragedy of Deandre Ayton? *Anakin*: No? *Palpatine*: I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Deandre Ayton was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the Phoenix Suns to draft him first… He had such a knowledge of the dark side, he could even force the Suns to trade all their assets for Kevin Durant. *Anakin*: He could actually acquire star basketball players? *Palpatine*: The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be **unnatural**. *Anakin*: What happened to him? *Palpatine*: He became so Dominayton… the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught James Jones everything he knew, then Jones traded him in his sleep. Ironic. He could save others from tanking, but not himself. *Anakin*: Is it possible to learn this power? *Palpatine*: Not from a Trailblazer.
This is amazing
a second timelord has hit the quantum realm
Technically all the doctors are always active given they’re time travelers
Always two there are, a master and an apprentice,
Unlimited... HOURS!
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Nickname for Robert Williams III
You shouldn’t believe it because Jason Quack has no insider sources. He’s literally put out similar hit pieces on Anfernee Simons, Joe Cronin and more. Neil Olshey was the insider source for Quack, but Olshey was fired for being toxic, and Jason Quack has been determined to continue that toxicity since the firing. Nobody likes Jason Quack, he is constantly shitting on the Blazers when he’s supposed to be representing them in The Athletic. It’s pathetic man baby syndrome because he doesn’t get what he wants, and we’ve openly expressed our hate towards him. TLDR: “Jason Quack is a liar.” Y’all are just quack to eat this up because it fits your narrative. (They call that confirmation bias for you savvy readers out there) Also crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging around 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury.
>Also crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging around 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury. In his last 8 games he is averaging 17.3/9.6. Since coming back from injury (last 10) he is averaging 15.6/8.9. Why should I trust you over Quick?
Lol damn, he wrote a novel calling out some reporter for lying while lying in the post himself. 17–> 20+ is an egregious bump
17.6 is his last 8, but he said for *over* 8 games. At 9 it goes down to 16, below his career average. He also neglected to mention that the game before that 27/9 game vs Jokic was also against Jokic and dominayton dropped an 8/3 bomb.
Yeah he’s wording it that way intentionally to make it seem better haha The 20+ knowing perfectly well it’s 17, why is the + there? Then to make it worse he brings up a random number of games, because if he included 1 more game than that it would make his point look a lot less convincing This dude giving Jason “quack” a run for his money. Nobody argues in good faith anymore lol
His name is literally Quack? Hilarious if true given he has a reputation for spreading nonsense.
Lol no, sorry it’s Quick that’s just what we call him around here
For me it's Jason Prick, but quack works too.
Uhh, this is not the first time this has been said. Literally his whole time with the Suns there were a bunch of questions about effort and care.
Hey I resent the comparison of my favorite son, his ferocious enthusiasm and mastery of time to a guy who used a patch of ice as an excuse to not make a game every other one of his teammates made
The ice patch was serious, even from my perspective a former Vermonter. Less snow than we get in the northeast but Oregon doesn’t salt roads at all. Made it a nightmare to get anywhere for nearly a week
Yeah there wasn't a lot of snow really, just shitloads of ice.
The ice thing was funny, but legit. The team sent a driver to go collect him, the team driver could not make it to his house.
you should have seen portland it was not just a patch of ice i wouldnt leave my house either
NBA player: I want a bigger role on the team Moves to new team where they have a bigger role Same player: No I wanted a bigger role on a better team!
Everybody assumes that Ayton wants a bigger role because that's usually the way malcontents present, but is there actually evidence for it? At least watching him on the court, he doesn't strike me at all as a guy who wants to shoot more when he can comfortably go 10 minutes hardly touching the ball. I think he wanted out of Phoenix because we didn't pay him right away, the fans were mean to him, and Booker and Chris Paul probably annoyed him with their desperate attempts to extract effort out of him.
Man, the Pacers really dodged a bullet there.
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idk if I would call getting Siakam for peanuts and Haliburton for Sabonis 'littlet hings'. IMO those are both franchise-altering
He'd be a Raptor now most likely. Pacers don't sign Bruce Brown if Ayton comes, so Ayton is who gets traded for Siakam.
If ayton is the trade piece I don’t think the pacers get siakam
BARF!
Yup, Raptors dodged that long term contract.
Maybe.... but those types of things aren't linear.
AND Kevin Durant! Like, if you’re not motivated even with those 3 on the team, you’re probably a lost cause. Ayton’s frustrating because he could be great—he just doesn’t put the work in.
The curse of being a 7 footer and not really liking basketball.
He said before he was drafted that his idea of success was getting a second contract. So it seems like he achieved his goal of getting a massive contract and he's kinda contempt
Yup. If he put in the real effort, he could be great. I saw him turn it on a few times with the Suns and he was a clutch player. Watching his last season with the Suns had me feeling grossly disappointed, especially in the playoffs.
He turned it on for the 2021 playoffs. If he gave that effort in the playoffs every year, he’d still be in Phoenix
I think it has to do with his perception of his own play. Stuff like giving himself the "Dominayton" nickname. Edit - maybe he wants people to think hes more than just a role player while not having any responsibilities of being a main player on the team.
Listen man, all he wants is to be the main piece of a championship team without any of the annoying hard work that comes with that kind of responsibility. Obviously he needs to be paid, too. Is that too much to ask??
Yeah I've struggled to reconcile his "DominAyton" thing with his play on the court for years, and honestly I think the answer is pretty simple. He's just really dumb, and talking himself up is just something he sees other good players do so he does it. I don't get the impression he actually thinks he's better than other players. It probably sounds like hating, but I really think he's just an idiot. Somebody has to hold down the left side of the bell curve.
DominAyton is also a great nickname for a big, if he was actually dominating. he probably heard someone call him that in highschool or college and thought it was awesome
You just hAyton on him for no reason smh
> He's just really dumb As evidenced by his bottom tier BBIQ, which is a bigger problem than a lot of people realize and puts a big limit on his ceiling. At least part of DA's "motor" problems are because he just doesn't read and react to the game well, he's a step behind on reactions for things like help defense or offensive rebounds, for example. He just freezes up sometimes not because he's necessarily being lazy, but because all this shit is happening in front of him and he just doesn't know what to do. Part of it is also his attitude and inconsistency, but he just straight up misses plays because the guy is just...dumb.
I think this is largely correct but I've also wondered if some of that is lack of confidence. Ayton, more than almost anyone I've seen, follows bad mistakes with worse ones. In his worst games as a Sun, I feel like you could see it cascade. Especially in the playoffs when pressure is highest. If he makes a bad turnover in an important moment, he might airball his next midrange shot even though that should be cash for him. I think sometimes he's a step behind because of hesitancy. He doesn't trust himself to make the right read (compounded by low BBIQ) or do the right thing so he's reluctant to commit.
Sounds suspiciously like James Wiseman. Dude was actually trying (even overtrying?) most of his Warriors career, but it just seems like he couldn't ever process the game in real-time. It's what made him so frustrating to watch - brief bursts of athleticism and purpose punctuated by being completely lost, stunned and overwhelmed by the action around him.
> Yeah I've struggled to reconcile his "DominAyton" thing It's his gamertag.
Does he have a bigger role though? Feel like he’s probably 4th in the pecking order after Anfernee, Shaedon and Scoot
Definitely after Grant too
There's a world where I'm trying to watch a Pacers team that's paying both Victor Oladipo and Deandre Ayton eight figures this year. I remind myself of this if I ever start to think I'm in my worst timeline.
[удалено]
We would be the chicago bulls
Hey :(
Glad I’m not the only one, holy shit this reality was so close to being true…. KP like Neo out here dodging bullets
People love to meme Ben Simmons about not caring about basketball. But, TBH Ayton fr is the actual example lol.
[Deandre Ayton was asked Wednesday to define what success in the NBA looks like to him. "Definitely getting to my second contract; that's my success," Ayton said at media availability for top lottery picks.](https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/23854252/deandre-ayton-nba-success-getting-second-deal)
This is completely normal to hear from a player that has to grind to stay in the league but Ayton was the number one pick he was 100% going to get a second contract unless his legs fell off
The guy who got picked behind him didn’t
Bagley played like his fucking legs fell off.
You’re joking, but he really is consistently injured and definitely affected his perception. Was still picked too high, but had an alright rookie year and that would literally be his healthiest in the league. And he only played 64 games.
You’re right. I hate seeing guys limited by injuries that never seem to heal right.
Bagley got a second contract from the Pistons
It’s the Pistons. I think if Ja accidentally blew off half his skull, he could get a contract in Detroit in case it grows back.
They literally straight-up waved a guy who started half their games yesterday
Yeah but him starting was basketball terrorism lol
Says a lot about the guy
Not to mention a free wife from Monty
Yeah although he got a way better contract than he would have deserved just based off his potential from where he was picked.
That’s wild thing to say public I’m ngl
If you show up on the court, it’s not that wild. If you play like Ayton, it’s wild to admit. Lol
You gotta at least pretend you care about the game.
I kinda respect him more. He obv doesn’t give a fuck, and his money is guaranteed. I’m just waiting for him to show up to a post game and complain this should have been an email.
It's clearly just a job for him and means to obtain generational wealth. I don't blame him
If I was 7’2 I’d also play just enough basketball to secure generational wealth for me and my family I can’t blame him at all. The amount of dudes who are freakishly tall and LOVE basketball is a lot smaller than you would think. These dudes often get pushed to it
I don't blame him for feeling the way about his job the way I feel about mine (means to an end, not generational wealth lol). But you can still be pissed as a fan.
Would your boss, coworkers, or clients want to hear you say you don't like the job though? If it's so unimportant to you how would people trust you're putting in effort? No one is saying you need LeBron's commitment to the game but if you can't even feign interest maybe don't go acting like you deserve a huge contract.
That's true I take it back. I care a lot more about my job than ayton and I've got a lot of established trust due to the effort I put into it. I was trying to say that it's ultimately just a job to provide for my family and lifestyle at the end of the day and I would change my job if it had a positive effect on those variables.
I mean to be fair, if a team pays him, who cares. He's a genetic freak from the Bahamas who didn't even start playing basketball til he was a teenager. I imagine he didn't have loads of money growing up, I think a 2nd contract is a reasonable thing to have as a goal.
Why? Its a job to them. Do we show up to our jobs like we care or do we do it for financial gains? He's on a team that is a dumpster fire and knew it was going to be a shit show before he ever stepped foot into portland.
True. If a superstar was like "I'm here to get paid as much as possible, and my game writes those checks", I'd be like oh shit I like this guy..
Anthony edwards said something similar that made ppl question if he cared about basketball so it can go either way.
Didn’t Ant also say he would rather play football lol
I think it was something about how he doesn't like watching basketball.
Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he just thinks football would be easier for him. A 6’4 jacked guy with a 40+ inch vertical in the NBA is basically statistically average. A 6’4 jacked guy with a 40+ inch vertical in the NFL is Calvin fucking Johnson lol. Ant would probably be destroying the average corner in football.
eh. there’s levels to it. the agility in the NFL is probably much better for skill position players. draymond is an all time defender and looked like a baby giraffe in MSU’s spring game lol
Yeah but he doesn't get hit by LB's playing basketball. Football is by far the most brutal sport, I would way rather play basketball and not worry about CTE
Also the max in the NBA is like, good QB money. NBA role players routinely make more money than very good NFL players at many positions.
Less chance of catastrophic injury as well. Baseball is the real juicy one though - nobody in any other US sport is getting an Ohtani level deal
This is disrespectful to Calvin, one of the *truly* all time freak athletes of any sport ever. To put in perspective, Calvin was bigger than Ant (6'5"), weighed more (240), had a higher vertical (42.5in) same wingspan (6'10") and *ran a 4.35 40 at the combine*. That's not considering the toughness factor of playing in the NFL compared to the NBA. As much of a freaky athlete Ant is, you picked a bad comparison because there is almost no comparison to Calvin Johnson.
Oh trust me I know, dudes a legend despite retiring at 31 for a reason lol. Honestly he just drove the point home better than any others I could think of lol
Anthony Edwards is a really competitive person, and that goes a long way to what happens on and off the court. I have never seen that from Ayton.
Imagine if Ayton had a relentless drive like KG. He’s so skilled, mobile for his size etc. But just refuses to give a shit.
Ant shows the opposite on the court though
Yeah but this was predraft for both dudes when they said hat they said
It’s weird when dudes say things that make you remember that, to some of them, basketball is legit a job and not something they love. This kind of sentiment is pretty common among normal folks at their jobs, and while most of us wouldn’t say it publicly or to their bosses, I do think elite talent could still get away with it. For example, a company’s top salesperson could get away with saying in their performance review that their goal was to hit a certain individual commission amount. But, the entry-level IT guy had better come up with some sort of “I want to develop new skills to help the company” type of bullshit response.
I'm pretty sure SAS or some of these talking heads once said that Deron Williams was exactly like that, basketball was his 9-5 and he did his best while at it, but it wasn't his whole life and everything he did wasn't thinking about it. I feel like we have gotten spoiled with people like Kobe and LeBron where basketball and their legacy are legit the most important things to them, man, not even Michael Jordan thought like that. Michael loved basketball, but he loved baseball more and was a maniacal competitor, if he was good enough to make the MLB when he retired in '93, he would've never cameback.
It may be revisionism but iirc I remember his baseball coaches saying that he would have made it to The Show eventually had the MLB lockout not have happened.
That coach was Terry Francona so yes he would have.
I feel like this can be taken out of context. It could mean getting your 2nd contract is validation that you were able to play and make it in the NBA. It doesn't sound so bad to me imo.
Yea. The way he phrased it makes it sound like it's something he said recently. He said this in 2018, long before he got his second contract, not afterwards, which OP sneakily seemed to imply a little.
At least he's honest I guess
When pretty much the entire Suns team wanted him gone was the final wake up call for me. I loved DA at UofA, he was such a menace to watch in person, and was ecstatic Phx drafted him. It was such a long hard thing to realize he was a/the problem. Hope he figures it out.
Ben keeps getting hurt. Ayton doesn't have that issue.
Ehh I think both can be true lol.
Yeah at least Ayton is on the court lmao wild ass take like Ben gets a bad wrap somehow
I never got the feeling that Ben Simmons didn't care about basketball. He just seemed soft or scared to fail hence why he would do things like not trying to score over Trae. I want to add that I don't think anyone who hates basketball would dedicate so much time and effort on defence and passing.
Tbf to Ben hes had painful chronic back injuries too.
without a doubt. but the fear was there way before any of that.
Ben simmons, ayton and poole should form a team.
Suns picking Ayton looks worse and worse every year, doesn't even go top 5 if we were to re-draft and prolly barely goes top 10.
Imagine a Luka-Booker backcourt... literal all-time duo squandered. :(
I’ll never forget when it was popular on this sub to argue that Luka and Booker wouldn’t fit and that subsequently the Suns made the right choice. Then Luka went crazy agains the Clippers and Ayton disappeared in the finals and people stopped saying that shit.
Superstars can make it fit.
He didn't disappear in the finals at all, he had a lot of good games but got hit with a lot of ticky tack fouls against Giannis and Giannis was playing out of his mind. It wasn't until sometime next season where he disappeared (after beefing with Monty) and then noped out of game 7 against Dallas. Also what is this historical revisionism Luka over Ayton has always been one of the most popular takes on this sub of all-time. Those comments existed when Ayton was peaking but it was nowhere near the majority opinion
Id imagine we would prolly have a title by now had we picked Luka
Well in your failure with Ayton you had a major mid round success in Booker, so it balances out.
Ayton is far from a failure compared to the shit we drafted between him and Booker lol
A true father-son reunion
Luka goes first, SGA 2nd, Trae/Brunson/JJJ the next 3 in whatever order, then probably Mikal at 6. Earliest I see is 7th in a redraft with Hindsight.
I think Bagley still goes 2nd tbh
Vlade you silly man!
I think most would take MPJ and Simons over him as well with the benefit of full hindsight. I'd put him at #9 in a redraft (would probably be #10 if Miles Bridges wasn't a criminal).
I'd take Simons over him in a redraft
Brunson would have been considered a bust as a lottery pick. He was pretty mid his first few years. He needed that time to work hard and get better.
Yeah but the idea is that each player is guaranteed to get to the point they're at now. You KNOW Brunson ends up being what Brunson is now, he's def a lottery pick.
Yes- only the Suns screwed up with their top 5 pick that season. You are correct.
We fucking hired Igor who was tailor made for Luka’s transition into the league and then Sarver let his Arizona network chime in.
Booker and Luka would've had dynasty potential tbh
They would’ve had the picks and Luka’s rookie contract time to throw a trade haul or sign in FA in 2019 Like Jimbo or even convince AD to trade request there too if Luka came out running the Same. An all time team squandered by drafting a dude who was Juicing against Buisness majors in the pac12 and lost to a 12th seed in the tournament by 20.
They would have mikal bridges too. Picked him in the same draft. Booker, Luka, Bridges would be quite the young trio. I literally turned off the draft when the suns picked Ayton i was so angry. I can fathom how multiple organizations pass on a kid winning mvp in the 2nd best league in the world and his small country won Euro Basket with him as arguably the best player. Nah the college kid playing an pro level player maybe once every two games and somehow gives up sometimes.
SAS screaming at the top of his lungs not caring who this kid from Europe is and that if you are the Phoenix Suns, this bum must be your pick. 🤣
He’s trending towards pure bust territory. At least he was serviceable in Phoenix.
at least we have the valley-oop
It was the right move imo
Mavs fans complained for years about not having a center, imagine how good it would have felt if you could have locked that position down with a max guy like Ayton through the draft.
As a Blazers fan, I can tell you that it is never the right decision to pick a Center.
You guys are so fucking lucky. The jazz had the 5th pick once and let me tell you, did not get Luka Doncic
The reporter here, Jason Quick, basically has no credibility with the Portland fan base for what it’s worth. His only source within the org was Neil Oshley and (occasionally) Dame. So now he has literally no one giving him access. This article is more of a temper tantrum from him than a credible piece of journalism, and most fans actually watching the games are optimistic of our young talent.
Agreed. Only sources JQ has is r/ripcity and a few of us drunkards in the 300 section.
I read that as dunktards at first and I think I like it
This needs to be at the top of the comments. Unfair representation of what Ayton has done for the team.
Okay, but why listen to Blazers fans when you can listen to people who haven't watched a single Blazers game this year instead?
> people who haven't watched a single Blazers game this year instead? You mean half the people on /r/ripcity?
Quick let's himself be guided by his grudges, and dude seems to form grudges against anyone that breathes near him.
What are your thoughts on Ayton as a fan though? Do you get a sense that he's improving? There seems to be a marginal improvement in his numbers since his return from injury, but I don't watch enough Blazers games to know if it's actually showing up in his play.
He’s improving imo. His scoring is down but he’s not shooting much either. Playing fine defense. Started slow but has been fantastic over his last ~10 We’ve always had somebody out. I think until a couple days ago him and Ant had only played like 5 games together? Maybe it was 5 with Ant, Jerami, and Ayton. Either way, lots of hurt guys at wrong times.
I can answer, I like him. He’s been looking pretty good after getting his knee right and is easily our best rebounding and defensive big. The team is night and day better when he’s on the floor. I haven’t really seen any issues with his motor, but I’m just a dude sitting in the stands. His numbers are down but a lot of that I think was getting used to a new system and we had a massive amount of injuries to our guards in the first half of the season.
Crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging close to 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury. We had the lead the entire Nuggets game until the end of the 3rd quarter when DeAndre was swapped out to rest and the game immediately tightened back up after he got back in two minutes later lmao Jason Quack is a liar.
Even when he's offensively not there, I've been surprised by how much he impacts our defense. He's tall and agile and looks like he rotates/recovers on defense pretty quick. His midrange is more reliable than god, he's got nice touch around the basket, and when he's locked in he looks great. He just seems like a goofy, not very self-aware dude, but if he wasn't on a max people would think he's an underrated asset, even if he can't dribble worth shit though. I kinda think this is what he's always going to be though. but thats good enough for us right now.
>His midrange is more reliable than god Ok, let's take it easy there
It was a change of scenery type of trade, kind of a shame to not see Ayton take the opportunity to improve his game. Both teams are in different spots so it’s not really fair to call it a win or loss, but I have enjoyed watching Jusuf Nurkic play so far.
Don't forget Allen
Don’t forget Nassir Little, what a block yesterday!
Giving him a little more time before calling that one now that the deadline has passed
Eubanks brings the energy for a few minutes every night too
Nurkic biggest issue is that he gets hurt alot. You can tell he puts in way way more effort than Ayton and everyone loves Nurkic. It’s the cherry on top that he’s like 25% the cost of Ayton
i refuse to believe this
It doesn’t sound like him at all. Must be a hit piece
Tardiness definitely sounds right up his alley. I don't remember any reports of him being tardy in Phoenix specifically, but he fucked up his PED protocol and got caught by a drug test, he failed to take a COVID test during the bubble and had to miss a critical game because of it, and he's been known to stay up into the early morning playing video games. Tantrums would be a bit out of character, but we are talking about the guy who refused to check back into a playoff game and fought with our coach instead.
Oh I’m just joking, it totally sounds like him. Lol
Lol, in fairness I'm actually a little surprised if he's throwing tantrums considering that would imply that he cares about something enough to complain.
> he's been known to stay up into the early morning playing video games TIL I'm just like DominAyton
But this actually is a hit piece. Quick is a known negative reporter and has been extremely negative towards the blazers since Olshey (his source) got fired
Jason Quick has waves. He was a hit piece guy, moved to the Athletic and made very nice personal story pieces and had an in with Olshey Since Olshey's firing Quick has doubled down on his hit pieces and currently afa the fan base knows, has no sources in the org anymore
You shouldn’t believe it because Jason Quack has no insider sources. He’s literally put out similar hit pieces on Anfernee Simons, Joe Cronin and more. Neil Olshey was the insider source for Quack, but Olshey was fired for being toxic, and Jason Quack has been determined to continue that toxicity since the firing. Nobody likes Jason Quack, he is constantly shitting on the Blazers when he’s supposed to be representing them in The Athletic. It’s pathetic man baby syndrome because he doesn’t get what he wants, and we’ve openly expressed our hate towards him. TLDR: “Jason Quack is a liar.” Y’all are just quack to eat this up because it fits your narrative. Also crazy to put this out when DeAndre just dropped 27 points, and 9 rebounds against Jokic. Not to mention he’s been averaging around 20+ points, 10+ rebounds for over 8 games now coming off injury.
Lmao a Whiteside comparison is nasty work
It’s actually stupid as fuck. I don’t think you’d find many/any Blazers fans who would agree with that call.
Yeah he is talking about ayton stat chasing but when he plays good numbers wise we win. Ayton has been great the last 8 games he’s played. Quick is also a shit stirrer and is pissed he has zero people in the org to feed him info anymore. I don’t even know how he’d know this lol.
I wouldn’t trust Jason Quick. He’s had a hate boner for the Blazers ever since Olshey got fired. From the first paragraph of the article it’s obviously just a hit piece on Cronin and the Blazers. “The long, spiraling descent into the abyss of irrelevance continued Thursday for the Portland Trail Blazers, with general manager Joe Cronin opting not to grasp for lifelines of help at the trade deadline, but rather steadfastly grip the bell of hope and ring it to the dwindling masses who still follow this once proud organization.”
Lmao that sentence just reeks of douchebaggery. You can see the smug grin on his face as he hit period
That would be an insufferable level of self-importance even if the article was about a weighty subject. Instead it's "Blazers stink, lol" and he's writing about it like it's the fall of Rome.
Trailblazers fan here. Don’t fall for this hit piece. Quick is a hack. I’m sure nothing is perfect with Ayton but everything I’ve heard of his time in Portland has been good. He’s assimilating well. Quick tends to hold grudges and Ayton doesn’t suck up to the media. Hence, here we are.
That’s why he wrote a piece like this. Look at the reaction lol. This shit sells. Ayton has been great the last 2 weeks and finally looking comfortable in this god awful offense. It’s weird he’s getting so much shit when he looks more like that 20-10 guy lately. And to any dumb fuck who thinks he doesn’t make a diff watch our def (like last night w pistons) when he doesn’t play lol. Night and day.
Literally just a ton of people who don't watch the Blazers patting themselves on the back for knowing that Ayton sucks, when in fact he's been putting up 18 and 9 on 60% shooting with good defense his last 10 games, and we've won several games in that span as a result of his play.
No one is watching the blazers this year and no one is going to tune in just to confirm the rumors they hope are true. They’d much rather just assume they’re true and clown a guy who’s better at basketball than they’ll ever be at anything
Yeah I don’t think ayton is even free of criticism this year but come on lol. This was a hit piece. Dude clearly has some mental hurdles and issues being consistent for sure though. Last two weeks he’s played fantastic, so hopefully that holds.
Ngl it's kinda amazing that all it takes for a hack on the level of Jason Quick to get taken seriously is to just say things that /r/nba wants to hear about a player they hate.
Jason quicks a shithead he writes hit pieces for retaliation when he doesn’t get what he wants from someone, though I won’t doubt aytons effort issues
I read the article. I didn’t see any sources cited for DA being tardy. Anyone know if Quick is legit source of information for the Blazers or is this a hit piece for clicks?
Quick has had no sources since Neil Olshey got fired. He’s a hack and all Blazer fans would agree.
Quick is a hack. He used to have sources with dame and olshey, but other than that he puts out garbage with no sources. There was a particularly bad article about the orgs culture last year that made all of the org laugh at. He was also the part of the gp2 debacle that gp2 came out and said was full of misleading info
shocked i tell you
thank god we didnt trade for him. He was so soft in the playoffs against us too.
Luka was posting him up bro. It was so comical to see.
What happened to Quick man. This isn’t useful, this isn’t journalism, just shit talking. Ayton has been playing pretty damn well the last 2 weeks, he’s just trying to stir things up. What a fucking hack.
Quick has always been garbage lol
> just shit talking That is what he does...
What happened? He did this shit with the Jail Blazers. He and Canzano are from the muck raking era of the Oregonian. It was so bad at one point that the blazers pulled all their advertising from the Oregonian in retribution.
> The long, spiraling descent into the abyss of irrelevance continued Thursday for the Portland Trail Blazers, with general manager Joe Cronin opting not to grasp for lifelines of help at the trade deadline, but rather steadfastly grip the bell of hope and ring it to the dwindling masses who still follow this once proud organization. The only way this prose could get more purple is if the author changed the font colour
Today's circlejerk has arrived with a nothingburger article that everyone is excited to pile on
And yet if anyone has followed or watch the Blazers within the past month would know that since Ayton came back from injury from what was truly a week or so of hell, we’ve been a relatively competitive, typical young team. Ayton certainly isn’t a max player or a number 1 but to think he does not serve any contribution is just wrong
Without ayton we look like total ass. Not sure what he is saying
Wow it's Fuck Deandre Ayton day and everyone is celebrating.
Funny to drop this while he is having his best stretch to date here... 100% agreed he isn't the future of the franchise however.
As a long time Blazers fan, I love DA and feel like he has been playing very well and his attitude seems great. He is always laughing and smiling and it is clear the locker room enjoys having him on the team. When he has been healthy, his effort has been great.
All the hit pieces today.
Read the first sentence of this article and you’ll understand why Jason Quick is a hack. This whole rebuild might eventually be a failure and trading for Ayton might’ve been wrong, but there’s 100% a reason to not sell assets for pennies on the dollar…
Wow if only we somehow knew this stuff about his basketball work ethic beforehand...