Weaknesses
Ball Screen Coverage
Everybody reading this knew it was coming. It’s impossible to try and speak negatively about Deandre Ayton and not mention his horrendous pick-and-roll coverage. Mostly because there isn’t really many other significant gripes to make on his game.
However, this is a huge area of improvement for Ayton. Big men in the modern NBA need to be able to defend the pick-and-roll or pick-and-pop. It’s amazing that Ayton cannot understand how to correctly guard a ball screen given all his amazing athletic tools.
This clip is of Deandre Ayton losing his man in ball screen coverage. The first one is against Alabama, Ayton is defending a pick and pop between Colin Sexton and Riley Norris. Ayton is guarding Norris, as he did for most of the game. When Norris comes to set a screen, Ayton hedges lazily off the screen as Sexton blows right by him.
Ayton is completely unaware of where Norris is once Sexton passes the ball and gives up a wide open three to Norris. Also, you can find defensive lapses from Ayton like this, in every game this season.