While their relationship seemed severely scratched, after the Suns’ elimination against the Mavericks in the second round of the playoffs last spring, so much so that they had not spoken to each other all summer, Monty Williams and Deandre Ayton seem to have found more cordial terms since the start of the season.
While the Suns are on a good dynamic after a month in the 2022/23 fiscal year (8 wins and 4 losses, 3rd place in the Western Conference), the pivot still has the confidence of his coach, even if his time game this season is the lowest of his career so far (27 minutes).
Monty Williams even recently stepped up to defend him, railing against a lack of consideration for him on the part of the refereeing body, while the pivot only went to the free-throw line twice ( 1.9 to be exact) on average this season.
” Deandre never takes advantage of all the contacts he makes and receives. If a player normally attacks the circle and gets pushed around like [Ayton], then he will probably go to the line more often” he said thus. “But it’s a different treatment for the big ones. However, he takes it for his rank in painting. »
Then the coach of the Suns, well aware of the limits of his player, to qualify his remarks, by sharing the faults. ” Of course, he must do more violence to himself when he is down. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that he takes a beating. adds Monty Williams, while the Nassau native center shoots only 2.5 shots per game, on average since the start of his career.
Because the reality is there: the judgment of the referees concerning the interiors is probably more influenced by body language than on the other positions, because the contacts are more frequent and important. And too often, Deandre Ayton’s body language doesn’t match his physical dominance.
And what does the main interested party think? Not much, obviously, judging by the seemingly fatalistic tone of his response.
” I have experienced situations where the referees do not see the action the same way as me. But in these cases, it’s hard to complain that the game continues. And then, I’m not really a player who spends a lot of time on the line anyway. he admits. ” Sometimes it annoys me, but most of the time I make sure it doesn’t get to me, and I go back to my own half to defend. »
| Deandre Ayton | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2018-19 | PHX | 71 | 31 | 58.5 | 0.0 | 74.6 | 3.1 | 7.1 | 10.3 | 1.8 | 2.9 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 0.9 | 16.3 |
| 2019-20 | PHX | 38 | 33 | 54.6 | 23.1 | 75.3 | 3.9 | 7.6 | 11.5 | 1.9 | 3.1 | 0.7 | 2.1 | 1.5 | 18.2 |
| 2020-21 | PHX | 69 | 31 | 62.6 | 20.0 | 76.9 | 3.3 | 7.2 | 10.5 | 1.4 | 2.8 | 0.6 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 14.5 |
| 2021-22 | PHX | 58 | 30 | 63.4 | 36.8 | 74.6 | 2.6 | 7.7 | 10.2 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0.7 | 1.6 | 0.7 | 17.2 |
| 2022-23 | PHX | 10 | 27 | 55.7 | 42.9 | 73.7 | 2.2 | 5.1 | 7.3 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 0.6 | 14.5 |
| Total | 246 | 31 | 59.8 | 27.0 | 75.3 | 3.1 | 7.3 | 10.4 | 1.6 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 1.7 | 1.0 | 16.2 | |
