DeAndre Ayton: The Lakers’ real "savior" and Doncic’s career partner?

How can the Lakers strengthen in the offseason? The answer in most people's minds is probably to send Reeves away and replace the center, gradually changing the Lakers from the model of building a team around James and Mei to a shape with Doncic as the core.

There is no problem to change the center. This year's four teams in the eastern and western regions have at least two insiders and high forwards that can be based on the basket, which also allows teams in the league to have a reference in their team building ideas next season. The teams with ideas for the championship are not even enough. Only when there are two insiders with different styles and characteristics can they be guaranteed.

Speaking of the Lakers, many people questioned the combat power level of the "Zhan Dongli Eight Fans" set of small ball five-man formations this year. Not only did they not play a counter-attack against Gobert, but the former "Doncic royal sandbag" finally stood up. Even though coach Timberwolves replaced Reid with the baguette to play the small team, the team still lost (G3, G4).

This is also why so many people nowadays look down on Reeves, who performed well in the playoffs in the past two years.

But let's look at the group data:

This year's playoffs against the Timberwolves, Zhan Dongli averaged 17.3 minutes per game, and the five players played 192 minutes per game (a total of 240 minutes per game).

Last year's playoffs, Ham's favorite "James Lira Eight" was on the court for 18.6 minutes at the same time, and the five players played for 184.2 minutes in each game.

Taking the most famous 18-year Warriors' "Death Five" in recent years as an example, Kudu chased Tang Yi and the five players played 14.4 minutes per game, and the five players played 180 minutes in total.

The peak of the Warriors Durant + 73-win Warriors, Cole only dares to spend more than one quarter per game, and also uses other substitutes to try to fill their "non-combination time".

And on the Lakers, neither Redick nor Ham actually trusts other substitutes.

The Lakers in the past two years, whether James is surrounded by Thick Brows or Doncic, have faced a difficult problem. They have too many rotations and too few people outside the core five.

In this year's G4 loss to the Timberwolves, I also sneered at Redick's approach of letting the five-man play the whole second half, believing that this was a performance of the head coach's incompetence and timidity, fear of adjusting the lineup, and fear of taking responsibility.

But then looking back at the entire series, Vanderbilt's poor offensive performance, without three-point shooting, and unable to finish the inside. Goodwin lived a dwarf in front of the tall and big timberwolves.

The only center Hayes, the playoff reserve requirement ratio reduction rate is a funny 16.9% (it means that under his defense, the opponent's shooting percentage has increased by 16.9% compared to usual)

Look at the chart below his list of reserve requirement ratio reductions, which is the worst among the starting centers of the 16 teams in the entire playoffs. How do you use Redick?

The only regret is probably Kneckett, but if you think back to his defensive performance in the regular season (extremely dislike physical confrontation), and his 1.98-meter-old white figure, will it be eaten alive by Randall/McDaniels?

Of course, you can say that Redick is not good at his level and cannot turn into gold like Carlisle, but if the Lakers still trust Redick, they must find a way to expand the rotation for him, either introduce new players or tap internal potential to allow players who were unable to play on the court next season.

ok, now we can finally introduce the protagonist of this article - DeAndre Ayton, known as "Dunbao".

The next picture below is another picture. This is the great four-year three-mvp, the first person in the league today, and the statistics of the single series of the playoffs in the league.

Since he won the MVP in 2021 (using this as the dividing line for his great achievements), in the eight rounds of series so far, they have the lowest score (25.7 points) against the Suns in 21 years, and the worst shooting percentage (47.7%). The main match against him in this series is Ayton.

Of course, you can use various reasons to explain the accidentality of that time, such as Jokic did not have Murray around that year, such as Bridges, Crowder and other defensive gates around Ayton, plus the ghost Chris old cannon interfering at any time.

But if you still remember the Suns who reached the Finals in 2021-22 and won the league's No. 1, you will understand the importance of Aiton in that team.

He can provide solid rebounds (10.4), efficient finishes (15.0 points per game, 65.5% true shooting percentage), basket drop rate reaches -6.7%, and playoffs soar to -11.8%.

More importantly, he was one of the few centers in the league at that time who could not only play shields in the inside, but also briefly compete against the outside, and single-pointed.

In that sun, he was not as dazzling as Booker and Paul, nor as rebellious as Claude and Bridges, but in terms of importance, he was still an unshakable third-in-command.

After talking about the advantages and highlights, let’s talk about the problem of Dunbao.

The most criticized thing about his seven-year career is his mentality and the gradual decline in the game's influence after lacking enough bullet supply players.

Dunbao's current landslide mainly originated in the 21-22 season.

The background at that time was that after the Suns entered the finals in a row and won the first place in the regular season league in the 21-22 season, they were reluctant to renew their contract with Ayton, and the rift between him and the management was getting deeper.

Plus, the Mavericks who met in the Western Conference Semi-Finals in 222 like to use space-type inside (Kleber), and have two top outside-level ball-holding celebrities (Doncic + Bronson), which made Ayton's performance in the playoffs that year was extremely poor..

In addition, Chris Paul's decline in his condition due to his age and injuries, Ayton has been in a slump since then. When he met Jokic again in 23 years, he was almost the same as other centers in the league (about teacher averaged 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists per game).

Many people attribute his problem to "soft". As an insider, he is afraid of physical confrontation, does not like to force himself on the offensive end, and is not fierce enough to block the position on the defensive end. He gives people the impression that the NBA is in the prey on the weak, just like a completely "sissy".

But if so, you can't explain his restrictions on Jokic in 21, and that year, the Western Conference Finals defeated Zubac (17.8 points, 13.7 rebounds, 12.8 rebounds, 11.0 rebounds, plus G2's dunk to win)

In fact, as the No. 18-year No. 1 pick, although Ayton does not have the core abilities of Doncic and Alexander of the same class, his hard talent and technical and tactical abilities are passing.

is just that his spiritual attributes and technical characteristics rely too much on the team's core guidance. There are many players like

, let’s talk about the spiritual attributes first.

Before joining the Lakers in 2008, Gasol was also recognized as a "soft egg" in the league. He lost to Duncan, Nowitzki and Sir for three consecutive years in the playoffs, which made Grizzlies fans so angry that they changed his name from "Gasol" to "Gaysol". After coming to the Lakers, he was also faced with military training in the finals in his first year. But after two years of leading by example, he finally beat the Celtics in the 10-year finals and became the MVP of G7 that year.

Recently, Porzingis, he couldn't beat Paul George and Batuta in the 21st playoffs and became a laughing stock, but when he went to the Celtics, under the influence of that championship culture, he could also become a surprise in the finals last year and defeated his old club Mavericks. Who would call him a softball now?

The same is true for Ayton. As a sensitive big man, he has a big brother to shelter from the wind and rain. In a champion team, he has a very different mood after living in a team that looks down on himself or has been playing badly for many years.

As a center forward who mainly ends with eating cakes, whether there is anyone around him who is willing to feed the ball is particularly important.

Zubac mentioned above is an example. In fact, it has been making continuous progress in recent years. Why has it been known in the past two seasons? Because of Harden's arrival.

Compare Gafford and Levley's condition after leaving Doncic, and you will know how much a pie-type center relies on a good defender.

When we observe Ayton's competitive curve in the sun, it is almost exactly the same as Chris Paul's state.

If Ayton comes to the Lakers, Doncic and James' ability to make goals will soon bring him back to the top and even break through the ceiling of his career.

More importantly, as a real first-line center in the league, he is truly capable of completing the frame protection and filling the inside of the defense.

Ayton's existence can also activate Knector, who currently has insufficient defensive ability, so that Ming's defensive ability obviously does not meet Redick's requirements, but has very distinctive offensive ends to find a position in the Lakers' core rotation.

Ayton + Kneckett, ideally, the Lakers are equivalent to introducing one player and having another rotation that can be played in the playoffs.

From this year's playoffs, we can see that there is no core rotation of more than eight people, and we are almost at a loss in physical fitness by our opponents, not to mention that there is a 40-year-old James in the Lakers. Ayton, who has the last year left (25-26 season) with a contract of 35.55 million, is currently the center with the strongest influence in the game that the Lakers can get without destroying their salary structure and core fives.

Under the ideal state, you can get

with Cleber (11 million) + Vincent (11 million) + Vanderbilt (11.57 million) + Milton (3 million non-guaranteed) + 2031 first round pick because the Trail Blazers already have the seventh pick last year, ncaa Kangda champion center Klingen and former Celtics inside Rowe, and even have the interest to choose another center (Yang Hansen has tried out before).

It is almost impossible for them to renew their contracts and continue to cooperate. Then it would be a profitable operation to obtain the Lakers' first round pick in 2031 using Ayton's expiration contract.

The only thing that hinders the transaction between the two parties is Vanderbilt's three-year contract, but since the Lakers are willing to give the first round pick, it seems that it is not unacceptable.

If you join the Lakers, it is almost the best choice for Ayton to save his career at the moment.

Continue to waste a year of waste in the Trail Blazers, and wait until they become free agents in the 26-27 season before moving, which is probably worth a full middle class price.

When coming to the Lakers, they can not only quickly occupy the starting position in this team that currently lacks centers in the league, but also enjoy top exposure and top outside support from Zhan Dongli.

The Lakers' attractiveness to him is obvious with the successful experiences of inside players such as Davis, Lefley, Gafford and even Powell.