USA TODAY International Edition
See Arizona’s Ayton while you can
Wildcats freshman may be top pick in NBA draft in June
TUCSON – Deandre Ayton is not here for your average back-to-the-basket post play.
Drop steps on the baseline? Boring. Hook shots in the middle? Yawn. Turnaround jumpers without a countermove? Ayton snoozes thinking about it.
“Everybody in the league can do the back-to-basket stuff,” said Ayton, the 7-1, 250-pound Bahamian who might be the top pick in the NBA draft in June. “Let’s do something different — let’s face up, let’s put the ball on the floor. If I’m watching a big dude in the post, I want to see something else besides him backing down a defender. I’m here for entertainment.”
As such, the NBA will be a perfect fit. Ayton, 19, who grew up in Nassau, Bahamas, but played high school ball in the USA (San Diego and Phoenix), has been open about his desire to be a one-anddone player. It’s easy to see why that will be his path. NBA scouts drool over his athleticism, mobility, body control and instincts. He is a genetic freak, boasting just 5% body fat, and swears he did not lift a weight until arriving on Arizona’s campus last summer.
During the Pac-12 tournament in Las Vegas last week, Bill Walton said Ayton is the best talent he’s seen “at this age, on this stage, in 28 years,” when Shaquille O’Neal entered the league. Walton called Ayton “a once-in-a-generation player.” Shortly after he was hired as Arizona’s football coach, Kevin Sumlin joked during a broadcast that he’d like to use Ayton to rush the passer and play tight end.
NBA scouts who spoke to USA TODAY on the condition of anonymity praised Ayton’s footwork and array of post moves, also noting that he’s a terrific offensive rebounder. They also said there’s no consensus he’ll be the No. 1 overall pick, partially because he’s still learning how to use his physical ability for an entire game.
Ayton has been mired in controversy in recent weeks after an ESPN report that coach Sean Miller was caught on an FBI wiretap discussing a $100,000 payment to secure Ayton’s attendance, an allegation Miller and Ayton deny. The gossip hasn’t seemed to affect his play.
Against UCLA in the Pac-12 Ayton scored 13 consecutive points, a span that stretched from regulation to overtime and featured a mix of putbacks, short jumpers, powerful post moves and a smooth stroke at the free throw line.
He finished with a career-high 32 points, 14 rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Then he was spectacular in the title game, finishing with 32 points (14-for-20 shooting) and 18 rebounds in a 75-61 win against Southern California.
Entertaining is one way to describe Ayton’s play in Las Vegas. But those tasked with containing him came close to using another word: unguardable.
Said USC’s Nick Rakocevic after Ayton’s commanding performance: “I don’t think you’re going to stop a guy like that.”
The college basketball world nods in agreement.
Ayton has dominated, evidenced by his selection as Pac-12 player of the year, Pac-12 freshman of the year and a smattering of All-American honors.
And even though Arizona (27-7) practically guaranteed a double-double when he steps on the floor, Ayton told USA TODAY that adjusting to college basketball took time. Not because of the physicality; in that department, he is almost always superior. But there’s nothing like veteran experience.
“Maybe you’re not getting hyped or maybe people aren’t talking about you, but those dudes who have stayed for a few years, they know how to play,” Ayton said of upperclassmen. “Those sophisticated dudes, the veterans, they know all types of stuff, how to get under your skin, how to win. I’ve learned a lot from that.”
One of those seasoned vets is his teammate, senior Dusan Ristic. A 7-foot center from Serbia who goes up against Ayton regularly in practice, Ristic called Ayton “probably the best player I’ve ever played against.”
Because of Ristic’s presence, Ayton often has to guard the opposing team’s No. 4, which has allowed him to show off his defensive skills. Bringing someone of his size out to the perimeter would seem like an advantage, but when you learn of Ayton’s soccer background and exceptional footwork, you understand why it’s almost impossible to score on him in any one-on-one situation.
“He says he wants to put on a show, but I think what he really means is that he’s a much more versatile and wellrounded player than people have given him credit for,” Miller said. “He’s not just somebody who blocks shots, rebounds and scores around the rim. And by the way, that would be perfectly fine, and that would get him far. But he can pass, defend smaller players, handle the ball, shoot facing the basket.
“He is always effective. There’s nothing you can do to him (defensively) that can take away his game.”
Ayton is most often compared with Hall of Famer Hakeem Olajuwon, another mobile big man with a soccer background and tremendous footwork. Ayton studied Olajuwon via dozens of YouTube highlights asking himself, “How did he get open? How did he play when facing the basket? How does he create lift, and separation, on shots?”
He also loves Kevin Garnett. “He’s crazy, but I’m crazy, too,” Ayton said. “His energy and intensity that he brought to games, the way he was competing all the time, in everything, that’s contagious.”
By the end of 2015 Ayton was the top prospect in the 2017 class. He turned heads at last year’s Jordan Brand Classic, tallying 19 points and eight rebounds. Now he is in prime position to lead Arizona to college basketball’s promised land, where the Wildcats haven’t been since 2001. It would be the first Final Four for Miller, now in his ninth season in Tucson.
To do that, Ayton will have to continue putting on a show. But he’s used to that pressure — and he likes it.
As a 6-10, 14-year-old, Ayton decided he’d work to be the most dominant player in his class after he saw himself on YouTube for the first time in a highlight reel titled, “The best 8th grader in the world.”
The video, he says, was highly entertaining.
“I’m watching myself do these crazy things, dunks and stuff,” Ayton said. “I didn’t know what rankings were or anything. I just knew I was the best, and I was like, ‘Let’s keep it that way.’ ”