Suns Know Deandre Ayton Can be Great
When it comes to polarizing players, look no further than Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton.
Ayton has now registered five full seasons in the NBA since arriving as the team's No. 1 pick back in 2018. There was hope that he could form a dynamite 1-2 punch with Devin Booker and emerge as a force around the rim, though that hasn't exactly come to fruition.
Ayton knows he's fallen short of expectations - or at least that's what he hears/sees on social media. In a recent trip to the Bahamas, he opened up about the fairly good amount of hate sent his way and said he felt like he had no fans (you can read more here).
Suns general manager James Jones recently did an interview with The Arizona Republic and was asked about Ayton's comments:
“He’s just aware, self aware. I think a lot of times, our guys pay too much attention to social media and the noise I would say, but they can’t avoid it because they're the ones people talk about. Deandre is extremely self aware. I think what gets lost is his desire to be great and how much winning matters to him," said Jones.
"I’ll say it again, he’s not even 25 years old (turns 25 Sunday) and he’s six years into his NBA career. He’s an 18 (points per game) and 10 (rebounds per game) player and if you were to ask the game’s greatest players how easy it is to do that, they’ll tell you it’s extremely difficult, but even that bar isn’t high enough for him and others.
“He’s challenging himself to change the narrative. Rightfully or unrightfully, whatever the word would be, he hears and he senses and he feels, but the outside opinion, I think, and I know internally, that he has change the narrative because if you look at the impact that he’s had on this team over the last three or four years is undeniable and without him playing at the level that he’s playing at, we’re not nearly as good as we’ve been.
"If he can take it to a level that I know he wants to, he makes us special and I think that’s the driver for him. The internal, external motivations will always be there and I think he’s just trying to harness that now.”
Now surrounded with stars such as Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker, Ayton should see plenty of opportunities to make his mark on both ends of the court when the 2023-24 season gets underway.
