Phoenix Suns rookie center Deandre Ayton had a sub-par shooting night against the Brooklyn Nets, finishing 6-of-17 from the floor en route to 15 points and 13 boards. The first overall pick of the 2018 draft spoke about his performance today, and guaranteed that he'll never shoot like that again, per Gina Mizell of The Athletic.
“I'm so used to shooting that shot, but I just felt like a robot today. I really was overthinking everything on my jump shot, but I guarantee you that's the last time you guys will see me shoot like that.”
Brooklyn took a gamble on their defensive scheme, and sagged off of Ayton whenever he was near the top of the key. The strategy worked as Ayton looked baffled with all the space the Nets were giving him.
Ayton is accustomed to executing dribble hand-offs at the mid to high post area, where he would eventually roll to the basket. However, with Brooklyn's game plan in place, the Suns big man did not get the opportunity to that last night. It was clear that the Nets were daring Ayton to either make a play around the basket, or take the mid-range jumper.
Brooklyn definitely took a swing on their scheme last night, as Ayton is a good knock-down shooter in the mid-range, as he displayed last season in Arizona. However, the shots just weren't falling for him tonight, and he clearly looked bothered with the different look the Nets gave him.
Despite the bad shooting night, Ayton is still having an efficient rookie season, connecting on 59 percent of his shots from the field, good for 10th among qualified leaders for field goal percentage.
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