Suns: Big men Aron Baynes and Deandre Ayton team up.
Aron Baynes had a New Year’s Day revelation related to the Phoenix Suns having everyone finally healthy and available.
“I think we’re pretty versatile,” Baynes said Wednesday morning before the Suns played in Los Angeles against the Lakers. “We can play big, we can play small. We can do a number of different things. With coach having that in his arsenal, it’s going to expand his game as well and give him a lot more options.”
This was before Monty Williams and general manager James Jones talked Thursday about doing what may be a game changing move for the Suns – start Baynes and Deandre Ayton together.
“We’ve been having discussions about it,” Williams said. “James and I had a long talk (Thursday). I had been thinking about it, but James kind of pushed me in the corner on the phone and started talking about DA (Ayton) and his ability to not just dive, but pick-and-pop and do some things a lot of fours can do.”
Ayton was bound to eventually start as Friday was his third game back from an ankle injury.
So, it wasn’t a surprise Williams put him back in the starting lineup Friday night, but he put Ayton at the four to replace Dario Saric and kept Baynes, who is having a career year, at center.
“I was leaning that way and then I came into the office and all the coaches, when I brought it up, they all were like, yes, let’s do it,” Williams said. “It’s tough to do it with a day of practice, but I thought we had a good session (Friday morning). A little longer than normal and it’s a work in progress, but when you look at the teams around the league defensively get after it and rebound, some of them have two bigs.”
‘I love it’
Williams made the move to give them a better defensive presence to start the game against the physical New York Knicks. That didn’t happen right away, but they eventually made a difference on both ends as the two posted double-doubles in Phoenix’s 120-112 win to begin a five-game homestand.
Baynes finished with 20 points with 14 coming in the fourth quarter and 12 rebounds while Ayton added 15 and 13 to go along with five assists.
“I love it,” Suns wing Kelly Oubre Jr. said. “A lot of size. A lot of length, athleticism. You got athletes. You got strong, physical specimens like Aron Baynes. It’s just amazing we can switch up the lineups and still play the right way.”
The Suns (14-21) will look to see if this lineup can work again Sunday against Memphis (13-22).
“You got to figure out what’s best for the team,” Suns point guard Ricky Rubio said. “It’s adjustments. Baynes has been playing really well and DA, we need him. So, we just try to find a way where both can play at the same time so they can share the court. It’s going to be a good weapon for us.”
The decision
Williams said he brought the team in early Friday morning to go over sets with Ayton and Baynes in the starting lineup. Baynes and Ayton have been on opposite sides going back as far as training camp.
“In camp, you don’t know what kind of team you’re going to be,” Williams said. “We had those guys going against each other. We had two bigs, but not those two. Sometimes it was Dario (Saric) and DA and it was Frank (Kaminsky) and Aron on one group, but never those two guys.”
Baynes said Williams gave them “a heads up” on Thursday, the same day Williams said he and Jones talked, about the lineup change. Phoenix was given Thursday off.
“Just saying, ‘Look, this is something I want to try, and we’ll see how it goes,’” Baynes said.
It went well.
“Before I even came in the NBA, they always said the game is about adjustments,” Devin Booker said. “And Jamal Crawford used to say, ‘Keep doing the same thing over and over, that’s the definition of insanity.’ That’s the part of coaching. Figuring it out and just making those adjustments. What you feel is better for the team. That’s why he’s in that position. We’re 100% behind him whatever he does for us.”
Another element that came out of the move was Phoenix playing Booker at the point with Oubre and Mikal Bridges on the wings to go along with Ayton and Baynes.
“I like that unit a lot, man,” Booker said. “Actually, me and AB (Baynes) were just talking about it. We have a lot of length defensively with Mikal and Kelly on the wings and rebounding the ball with the two big fellas inside. That’s a really big lineup and it was effective for us tonight.”
‘Coach is smart’
Ayton played power forward in college in is one-and-done year at Arizona, but he’s wondering if he’s really in that position Friday night.
“Coach is smart,” Ayton said with a wide grin. “He did it in a way where I’m a four on paper, but on the court, I’m still a five in a way. I guard the fours, but I still do the five offense, not shooting.”
The four man picks and pops on offense while the five dives to the basket. The two did both in posting and impacted the game in more ways besides scoring and rebounding.
Oubre credited Ayton’s dives to the rim opening up 3-point shooting as he went 5-of-7 from 3 in scoring 29 points. Phoenix went from going 0-for-9 from 3 in the first half to 10-of-19 in the second.
“Us putting pressure on the rim, I can see with my own eyes how people are closing in on me,” Ayton said. “I’m getting bumped and I’m like, yeah, there go the 3-ball buddy.”
Defensively, Ayton has the foot quickness to guard bigs on the perimeter while Baynes can battle post-oriented power players.
“Their bigs did a good job of shooting the ball tonight so we ended up getting a little higher and more up when the guy came off,” Baynes said. “That was an adjustment we had to make in game. Just little things like that. We were able to switch.”
‘That bothers me a little bit’
Another domino effect to the move was Saric came off the bench for the first time this season. He played just 3 minutes, 58 seconds and didn’t score on 0for-1 shooting.
“Look, I’m not playing guys that have worked their tails off and that bothers me a little bit just because I want to see guys have long careers,” Williams said. “I know my decisions affect those guys. I struggle with that a little bit.”
Williams said he made the move to give Phoenix size against the league’s top offensive rebounding team.
The Knicks still racked up 13 offensive rebounds, outrebounded the Suns by four, 52-48, but Phoenix held the board edge in the second half, 29-22, in outscoring New York by 18 points.
“It was even easier to me (to rebound),” Ayton said. “I don’t know it’s easier, but it’s even easier. Guards are more timid to come down in the paint.”
The two collaborated on one of the biggest plays of the night when Ayton found Baynes with a long pass for a layup – and one as Bobby Portis fouled on the play late in the fourth quarter.
“I didn’t know he got an And 1,” Ayton said. “I was still looking at the screen. He finished and converted. It was a blessing. It was fun.”
The 3-point play gave Phoenix a 107103 lead with 4:42 left.
“They made us pay on a few run outs,” Baynes said. “Getting them back in the fourth was a good one.”
Wonder if Williams saw that when envisioning Baynes and Ayton starting together.
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.