The 2018 NBA opening night did not disappoint. There were huge storylines all over the league.
We saw Kawhi Leonard’s season debut with the Toronto Raptors. The new-look Spurs featured in a thriller against the drama-filled Timberwolves.
Speaking of thrillers, how about King James and Damian Lillard trading dunks out west? Gosh, that was some good stuff.
More importantly, though, it was all about those rookies.
Collin Sexton had a rough night alongside Kevin Love and the Cavs. Trae Young played 33 minutes in his debut despite the Hawks getting blown out. There’s been some buzz swarming around Miles Bridges in his Hornets debut, but his play wasn’t loud enough to help sting the Bucks with only one lousy point.
The two rookies we’re going to focus on here were both top-three picks in the 2018 NBA Draft. Deandre Ayton was the number-one overall pick that Phoenix took, and Luka Doncic went two spots later, falling to Dallas at number three overall.
Let’s take a look at what these two studs did on opening night and what we can expect for these rising stars going forward.
No matter what position you play in any sport, if your name is going to be called number one in the draft, high expectations will always follow you.
Deandre Ayton did not disappoint for the home crowd on Wednesday night. An ecstatic Phoenix crowd went nuts watching the 7’1” center power through the Dallas Mavericks. He did it all on both sides of the ball.
The former Wildcat opened up the season with a double-double in his first game as a pro. Ayton posted a stat line of 18 points on eight-of-eleven shooting from the field, ten rebounds, and six assists.
At the end of the first quarter, Ayton had eight points, and he finished the first half with ten points, making all three of his shot attempts from the field.
For a team that’s in rebuild mode and not even being brought up when it comes to teams to beat in the West, the Suns shined in their impressive win.
Dallas has their own issues as well, but who would’ve thought that Deandre Ayton would have such a dominant night when going up against an NBA All-Star and veteran in DeAndre Jordan?
The big man casually eased into his role, but what I loved watching is that he helped open up the floor for everybody. He wasn’t stingy when it came to passing the ball around.
We saw long-time veteran Trevor Ariza get in on the fun, and Devin Booker seemed to have no issues playing alongside Ayton, as Booker had a huge game himself, dishing out 35 points.
I do believe that Ayton is the real deal and will continue to build on this impressive week, but I want to see how reliable his jumper is. His former coach gave some interesting comments, stating that Ayton is basically David Robinson with a jumper.
That’s a pretty huge compliment for a guy we don’t know too much about just yet in the pros. I want to see Ayton under some pressure on the road and see how the rookie reacts with some stiffer competition.
Overall, he’s already a lovable guy with his teammates. During his post-game interview in the locker room, Trevor Ariza interrupted him in a hilarious big-brother-to-little-brother situation, asking him where the towels were.
It was a great moment, with Ayton putting his interview on pause to get a stack of towels for his teammates. He was even a good sport about it, although Ariza was only joking.
Apparently, no matter how good your debut was, you still have to pay your dues as a rookie.
Luka Doncic, on the other side, probably wants to forget about his season debut.
He’s definitely a competitor, though. We’ve seen the Slovenian superstar wow us and ball out several times overseas. Even in the preseason, people who hardly knew about the kid started to generate some interest after watching him in action.
Early on, it looked like Doncic was about to have a great night. In the first seven minutes of game time, Doncic had already racked up six points, three assists, and two rebounds.
Unfortunately, as the game went on, Doncic quickly found himself in foul trouble, and that was the big story that ruined his debut.
Personally, I’m not worried at all about what I saw. It was a tough road game. Just imagine all the butterflies the guy was trying to fight off before tip-off. Especially on the road with a team that’s loaded with a bunch of young guys and an aging star in Dirk Nowitzki.
We did see a taste of what Doncic could do with his highlight reel, especially the no-look behind-the-back pass to DeAndre Jordan as he finished the play in his usual dominant style with the slam dunk.
Turnovers for me were also a concern throughout the game.
I get that Doncic certainly wants to please the crowd, but in the NBA, there has to be a minimal margin for errors. You can’t be on the road against a team like the Jazz and hope to come out victorious if you’re going to be giving your opponents easy points by mishandling the ball.
Even after a rough start, I could see that Doncic will grow on the Mavs. His ball handling skills are so smooth. Offensively, he opened up the playbook for his teammates, which was excellent to see. The chemistry with Jordan will only continue to improve, and it’s already looking good as it is.
The bench players were also able to cash in some easy layups in the paint. When Doncic had no chance because he was surrounded by defenders, he was quick to kick the ball over to his teammates in the corner for wide-open threes.
That’s what you want to see as a fan of the game – getting everybody involved in the game flow and not just as individuals racking up stats.
On Saturday, we saw these two rookies back in action for the second time.
The Phoenix Suns were on the road as they took on the Denver Nuggets. The expectation was that Deandre Ayton might regress a little in his first road game, but I did not think it would be this bad.
This is a game that the coaching staff should use to show their young team what not to do going forward.
It was a rough Saturday night for the young center. As huge as Ayton is, he ended up being bullied all night by the bigger man, Nikola Jokic. Jokic took Ayton to school by ruining his gameplay and showing the rookie how it’s done in the paint.
After posting a double-double in Dallas, Ayton left the Mile High City with a horrendous final stat line of five points, eight rebounds, and five fouls.
Yup – he had just as many points as he did fouls.
It wasn’t all on Ayton, though. This team hasn’t had a winning culture in quite some time.
In fact, the last time Phoenix has even had a taste of the Playoffs was back in the 2009-2010 season, when the future NBA hall-of-famer Steve Nash was still around.
After allowing Jokic to finish with a monstrous game with 35 points, 12 rebounds, and 11 assists, Ayton hopefully took his struggling night as a lesson.
I will note that Ayton was listed as “probable” headed into the game. He had rolled his ankle during Friday’s practice, but he ended up playing.
I’m sure swelling was an issue for him on the road, but he’ll look to heal up fast, because Deandre Ayton and the Suns will head into Oakland on Monday night.
Phoenix will try and bounce back against the Warriors, but if we’re being honest here, their faith will be tested, because this game has blowout written all over it.
The reigning NBA champs just lost a nail-biter to the Denver Nuggets on Sunday, and now they’ll have a chance to bounce back at home against a less stellar Phoenix team.
Talking of bouncing back, the Dallas Mavericks were at home and facing the Minnesota Timberwolves this past weekend. Despite anticipation that Rick Carlisle and his team are in for another rough season, Dallas was able to get their first win of the season, and Doncic was a huge reason for that outcome.
Here’s how things panned out.
The Mavs dug deep on Saturday as they went to battle with the Timberwolves. After getting blown out by Phoenix on the road, Luka Doncic alongside DeAndre Jordan were able to turn things around at home. It wasn’t an easy win, though; the home team had to fight for this victory.
We’ve seen some high-scoring games all across the league lately, and this game was no different.
Minnesota would go on to score 136 points in a losing effort to Dallas’s 140. Thinking about that is ridiculous. 26 of those points belonged to Luka Doncic, and he left the crowd wanting more after his highlight reel of a night.
Doncic had 15 points alone in the second quarter. The chemistry with DeAndre Jordan continued as he set the big man up with dominant plays to the rim.
The step-back shot was a thing of beauty, and after going 0-5 from three-point range on Wednesday night, Doncic would go on to hit four three-point shots at home.
Doncic has already won over the home crowd, and his teammates have to appreciate that they have a true game-changer who’s only growing as the days go by.
It’s not that often that we see such an efficient shooter, and at the same time, that the player creates such crazy passes that are being cashed in for buckets.
Watching Doncic duke it out with former 2012 MVP Derrick Rose was one of the better storylines of the games. Rose has had his share of challenges trying to regain form, but we all still respect his game. That was just one of many battles we will see this season.
I believe Ayton will be a no-brainer ROY candidate, but Doncic will certainly make his case for the award as well, along with others.
This season is going to be a learning process for both players, but we’re just seeing flashes of what both of these guys can do when everything is going right for them.
Now that we know Ayton is dealing with an ankle injury so early into the season, that raises an eyebrow for some, and myself included. It could very well impact the way he’s used going forward.
Fortunately, it was nothing major, but the Suns know that they’re going to have a long night on the road in Oakland. To keep his ankle injury from lingering, they may try not to play Ayton for a long period of time. Just keep an eye out on Ayton’s health status going forward.
When I think about these two rookies and their roles on their teams, realistically on the Mavs, it’s going to be DeAndre Jordan who will be handling the majority of the rebounding. Dennis Smith Jr. will likely be the assists and scoring leader on the team when this season is over.
Doncic will have his share of ups and down this season, but watching if he’ll be consistent is the key.
For Deandre Ayton, the whole Suns team will be built around him and Devin Booker. For that reason alone, I believe that Ayton will be more the more efficient player early on.
The Suns need to know what they have in the big man going forward. Doncic doesn’t have that much pressure on him right away as a young player, but that doesn’t mean that Ayton will turn out to be the better player in the long run.
Doncic is right around the ballpark of what we should expect right now, scoring-wise, at least.
There will be a few nights when he’s blowing up the stat sheet, but we have to be patient with the Mavs. I don’t see this team being well equipped to get into shootouts with some of the more competitive teams on the road.
I’d say that we should expect the same scoring average for Ayton right now, too, but at a more consistent pace.
Watching these two will be fun as the season goes on, and I can’t wait to see what else these rookies have in store for us in their bright futures.
The post Deandre Ayton and Luka Doncic – What We’ve Learned About These Two NBA Rookies appeared first on GamblingSites.com.
0 comments:
Post a Comment