New Phoenix Suns coach Frank Vogel intent on ‘restoring’ Deandre Ayton to an ‘All-Star level player’
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Video: Phoenix Suns coach Frank Vogel on Deandre Ayton’s full potential
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Deandre Ayton’s future may or may not be in Phoenix, but new head coach Frank Vogel vividly remembers how the Suns big played against the Lakers in the playoffs two years ago.
“He shot about 80% from the field and deterred every drive, every cut, every effort to attack the basket,” Vogel said during Tuesday’s introductory news conference at Footprint Center.
Not quite. Make it 76.9% in the first round the Suns won over the then-defending NBA champions on their way to the 2021 NBA Finals.
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If the Suns don’t deal Ayton this summer, Vogel believes he’ll have a player who can be “one of the best centers” in the NBA and an “All-Star level” player.
“He’s shown that at times throughout his career,” Vogel said. “I know he showed it when we played them in the playoffs a couple of years back.”
Ayton is averaging a double-double of 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds over the course of his five NBA seasons. The top overall pick in the 2018 draft out of Arizona has size, athleticism, skills and can knock down the 15 to 18-foot jump shot, but Ayton hasn’t shown the consistency to become one of the game’s top big men.
He also didn’t have the best relationship with Monty Williams, who was fired after the Suns lost Game 6 to No. 1-seeded Denver, 125-100, in the Western Conference semifinals in Phoenix.
Ayton and Williams had a heated exchange in Game 7 against Dallas that ended with the top overall-seeded Suns losing by 33 points in the 2022 West semifinals. Then Ayton said the first day of the following season’s training camp he and Williams hadn’t talked since that Game 7 in Phoenix.
James Jones, the team’s general manager and president of basketball operations, addressed the firing of Williams on Tuesday, saying he felt the Suns needed “a different voice” coaching the team.
“A hard decision had to be made about where do we go next,” Jones said. “Moving forward, I just felt we needed an injection of a different voice, a different energy. It’s really just that simple. As we evaluated what we were and where we wanted to go, we just saw a gap and we needed to fill it.”
With Williams now in Detroit on a record six-year, $78.5-million deal to make him the highest-paid head coach in NBA history, Ayton will start fresh with Vogel if he remains in Phoenix.
“There’s still areas he can grow offensively, but I’m intent on really connecting with him and restoring him to an All-Star level player,” Vogel said.
When Phoenix matched Indiana’s offer sheet of four years, $133 million last summer to keep Ayton, who was a restricted free agent, Ayton had veto power over a trade for a year.
That’ll end next month.
Ayton averaged 18 points and 10 rebounds in his fifth season to mark a fifth straight year of averaging a double-double, but two-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic dominated him in the West semifinals series Phoenix lost to Denver in six games.
Ayton averaged just 10.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in the series. He scored a career playoff-low four points in Game 3 the Suns won, had just eight points in Game 4 and didn’t play in Game 6 after taking a knee to his ribs from a driving Bruce Brown in the Game 5 loss in Denver.
The day after Phoenix ended a second straight playoff run in embarrassing fashion at home, the Suns had exit interviews with Jones.
Ayton remained in pain from the rib contusion, but he smiled when talking about his talk with Jones.
“It was fun,” Ayton said about his meeting with Jones. “Just me being a better basketball player, how I can get better. Things that he’d love to help me with. Why can’t I do more. I told him and we both agreed on that end. I just can’t wait to see it. Get started this summer.”
The 6-11 Ayton, who will turn 25 years old next month, has the potential to be one of the game’s best big men, but the Suns could get some value in return in a trade in the form of draft picks and players.
Vogel has had a history of having big men excel as rim protectors in his defensive system. Roy Hibbert averaged career highs in blocks when the Pacers led the league in defensive rating for two straight seasons.
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Hibbert averaged a career-high 2.6 blocks in the 2012-13 season and 2.2 the next season.
Ayton is averaging one block a game for his career and averaged 0.8 in the 2022-23 season, but Vogel talked about the strengths of his defenses beginning with the center.
“I think it starts with the big fella,” Vogel said. “I’ve always had elite rim protectors and you can get the job done without that, but boy, when you got a guy like that in front of the basket deterring everything that comes to the rim, you just get stronger in everything because the perimeter can push up more and be aggressive.”
The Suns are 13th in defensive rating among the 16 playoff teams this year. Vogel says Ayton has the potential to be a “big-time deterrent” on defense.
“I have a scheme that I believe is the best in the league at tailoring those strengths into the group,” Vogel added.
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Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: New Phoenix Suns coach Frank Vogel intent on ‘restoring’ Deandre Ayton to an ‘All-Star level player’