Are We Reading Too Much Into Deandre Ayton's Media Day?
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NBA Media Day is the perfect opportunity for players and coaches to talk about the upcoming season, how the offseason went and discuss anything that happened in-between.
In a reporter-filled press conference room, Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton took the stage and set a vibe that would make him go viral, but not for a ton of great reasons.
The short answers didn't stop there, as Ayton's entire span of responses felt more like Kevin's "Why waste time say lot word, when few word do trick?" bit from The Office.
Perhaps Ayton felt burned by his prior experience with the media, which prompted a wholly negative response to him staying up to the late hours of the morning playing video games.
“I’ve been working on everything,” Ayton said. “I’m just trying to be the most dominant person right now and I feel like I can do that.
"We are a lot older now. There are no more baby steps. We know the task at hand.”
Or perhaps Ayton just feels happy to be back and wants to prove himself on the court rather than talking.
The good people of Bleacher Report aren't buying that.
"With this coming on the heels of the aforementioned playoff collapse and Jae Crowder publicly angling for a trade, it's hard to buy into whatever chemistry Phoenix might have left," said B/R.
"If that continues to deteriorate, Ayton isn't likely to feel better about his situation. That means trade rumors could surface again. Or, like Gordon Hayward back in 2017, he might take his first opportunity to bolt after powering through the current deal.
"Barring an 'exorcise the demons'-type run like the 2014 San Antonio Spurs had, it's hard to buy Ayton's passionate response from media day."
This came a couple days after ESPN's Tim MacMahon said, "I don't know how ecstatic Deandre Ayton is about being in Phoenix where he was essentially scapegoated in a Game 7 where the All-Stars no-showed, somehow Deandre Ayton was a scapegoat."
Maybe Ayton feels that way. Maybe he doesn't.
Sitting in the room, it didn't feel as if Ayton's tone was geared towards the "I'm out to prove everybody wrong" mantra, but more so he was simply trying to avoid giving the entire basketball world something to hold against him.
And yet, here we are. Are we reading too much into Ayton's demeanor?
It feels as if Ayton can't win sometimes, as his playful temperament also wasn't well received by some.
Time will tell if he's turned a new leaf, but his first impression for the upcoming season was one to remember.
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