All Things Ayton

[In2ition]

In fairness, DA did put up good numbers in that game, and Portland seemed headed for a possible upset through the first 3 quarters before Jokic and the Nuggets came roaring back. It wasn't a bad overall game for DA despite that one lowlight play.

And of course this play doesn’t get posted:



Joker doesn’t even bother getting back on defense.

Tbh, it looked like a foul on Ayton with a hand on Jokic's back.

[Wally_West]

lol god dayum

[Wally_West]

The Ayton trade was A+++++ for us.

The trade wasn’t a home run but a grand slam.

It’s pretty insane to imagine how this team would be if we didn’t make the trade.

[Wally_West]

Allen > Ayton

Nurk + Allen >>>>>>>>>> Ayton

[Superbone]

Wow. It's worse than I imagined. I noticed he didn't play last night. He also seems to have taken a step back injury-wise.

[ShelC]

Live look at Monty

[TOO]

He doesn't like basketball. It's been obvious since day 1. Only Jeremy can't see it.

Elite all NBA talent wanted nothing to do with him, that says everything. Look at KD mentoring Bol.

[Superbone]

He doesn't like basketball. It's been obvious since day 1. Only Jeremy can't see it.

Come on. He loves it! In video game form.

[Kryptonic]

lol god dayum

I hear Nurk complains all the time too... but at least shows up and plays for his team and not himself.

[Split T]

Yikes…glad it’s not our problem anymore

[specialsauce]

Hahahayhahahauahahahaha

[BKinSJC]

Here's the whole paragraph from the article by Jason Quick, who is a Blazers beat writer for the Athletic. He spends several paragraphs on the lack of activity at the trade deadline and the team's failure to start a turnaround, essentially three years into a rebuild, and then adds:

But I would have liked something bold. A trade of Deandre Ayton, for starters. Although his play has spiked for the better in the past month, his first months in Portland were defined by tardiness and tantrums according to team sources. And there has been an eerie resemblance to Hassan Whiteside, the former Blazers’ center whose statistics looked nice, but had little to no impact on a game. The quicker the Blazers can move off Ayton, the sooner I will believe this franchise is headed in the right direction.

Just one person's opinion, obviously, but it's somewhat telling that a member of the team media is so vocally done with Ayton already. That being said, I'm not sure the Portland front office could really do anything at this point. His trade value relative to his contract is likely negative right now, and they couldn't viably spend assets to get off him just half a season after making him one of the featured players brought back in a trade where they lost a beloved hometown superstar; the PR hit would be too much.

[Split T]

I can’t believe they held onto Brogdon and Grant. Not sure what they are doing.

[MightyMoog]

There is value to having a competent nba player mentoring your young star. Looking at Shai and CP3.

Grant’s overpaid. Hard to move off that.

[Split T]

Ya you’re right

[Flagrant Fowl]

A lot of Blazers fans will claim Jason Quick has an axe to grind against the organization. That may be true, but I'm confident that a lot of people who've worked with Ayton have been frustrated by the same stuff Quick wrote about and we've seen instances of it throughout Ayton's career.

[Shabazz]

I don't think it's fair to say Ayton is Hassan Whiteside. Hassan Whiteside would block shots and get to the free throw line.

[Flagrant Fowl]

What did Hassan Whiteside shoot from the mid-range?

Checkmate.

[iLLmatic]

Dude is so far in my rear view now. Good to see his shit attitude carry over to his new employer.

[Mori Chu]

The article comes across as something of a hit piece. But I think all involved would admit that Ayton hasn't exactly been a smashing success in Portland. I am so, sooooooo happy we got rid of him (and happy for the great return we got for him!).