The Phoenix Suns selected Deandre Ayton with the No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft. Now, with training camp under way for his rookie season, the franchise seems to have an idea of what sort of role the 7'1″ center will be playing.
According to a report from Evan Sidery of The Bright Side, the Suns are looking for Ayton to become an on-court defensive coordinator of sorts, and he's completely buying in to the suggestions of newly-appointed head coach Igor Kokoškov.
Igor says Ayton’s role this year will be defensive coordinator. Said they spoke last night of sacrificing, which will later lead to dominating. Ayton’s completely buying into what Igor is coaching him.
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) September 26, 2018
Sidery also notes that the Suns will be doing a lot of switching on defense in the coming season. Ayton will be the team's anchor.
In the following training camp clip, you'll hear a lot of defensive communication going through Ayton.
Article Continues BelowThe Suns are going to be switching absolutely everything this year. Look at how much communication is going on with Ayton anchoring. pic.twitter.com/FRgNWv02G0
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) September 26, 2018
Ayton, now 20 years of age, made 35 appearances with the Arizona Wildcats during his one season of collegiate play, racking up averages of 20.1 points on 61.2 percent shooting from the field (34.3 percent from beyond the arc), 11.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.9 blocks in 33.5 minutes per outing.
Suns GM Ryan McDonough feels that Deandre Ayton will create a variety of problems for opposing sides.
“At a minimum, (Ayton) will score around the basket,” McDonough recently stated. “He'll catch lobs, he'll get put-backs, get to the free-throw line, and put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses.”
Suns GM Ryan McDonough on No. 1 overall pick Deandre Ayton: “He does some things not a lot of guys in the NBA can do.” pic.twitter.com/GZrVfCjySU
— The Wildcaster (@TheWildcaster) September 24, 2018
The Suns finished the 2017-18 regular season with a 21-61 overall record, which resulted in a 15th place finish in the Western Conference standings. Needless to say, Phoenix is a team that will be looking for improvement this season, and Ayton will likely play a big role in that process.