2018 NBA Prospect Report Part 1: DeAndre Ayton

Finishing Pick and Rolls

The first, arguably most important part of a pick and roll is the initial ball screen. Ayton’s screen-setting is inconsistent at this point, as he does not always make solid contact. But that can be improved as his increases his offensive feel with more experience.

That said, he has rolled to the basket on only 15 possessions this season. The rest of his “roll man” possessions — about 70 percent of them — are pick and pops, where he generates a national-average 0.892 points per possession. He generates 1.067 on rolls, which is worse than the average.

Perhaps when the sample sizes increase his efficiency as a roller will normalize, but it could also have to do with the fact that he frequently plays with a second big man, Dusan Rstic, clogging the paint. He would likely fare better on a spaced NBA floor.

He sets a lot of flat ball screens at Arizona, which are designed primarily to get the ball handler a look at the basket going downhill. Oftentimes, when he rolls, he does not receive the ball and instead sets up on the block for a post-up. He rolls more frequently than his play-type data would indicate. But it does not show up on Synergy because he does not receive the ball that often in this offensive scheme.

But we can still draw some conclusions, albeit with the sample size caveat.

In this clip, Ayton rises up in traffic for a one-handed lob. The biggest thing to note here is that although he slows down near the rim, he barely needs to load up to get off the floor.

This is a textbook example of both his catch radius and standstill leaping ability, both of which will serve him well as an NBA roll man.

You see a similar concept in this next clip, where Ayton again is at the rim before the late-arriving lob. He still manages to get up to throw it down, though.

There is no reason to believe his lob-catching will not translate. But a larger sample of roll-man possessions might help us figure out whether he will be able to make passes on short rolls.

But because Arizona’s ball handlers tend to get him the ball so late in their pick-and-roll possessions, and because he has had so few pick-and-roll possessions in general, he has not had the opportunity to conclusively show one way or the other if he is capable.

His quick-twitch leaping ability also benefits him on the glass, where he is a force to be reckoned with.