NASSAU, Bahamas – After asking nearly every local I’ve encountered here so far if they’ve heard of or know Deandre Ayton, I always get one question asked of me.
“Where’s he gonna go in the draft?” they say.
Especially considering Michael Porter’s injury – and the way Ayton is playing so far – he just might have a chance to go No. 1. Or at least be among the top three (ESPN had him projected at No. 4 last month).
This week, before ESPN cameras at the Battle 4 Atlantis (OK, the first game is streaming only), Ayton will have his best chance yet to raise his profile.
As NCAA.com noted, “it’s either Ayton or Marvin Bagley Jr.” as the best freshman in the game, while Bleacher Report quoted an NBA executive saying considering Porter now will “give you some serious pause” because Ayton and Bagley are among the other potentially franchise-changing picks available.
While Arizona appears to have the three-games-in-three-days thing down by now, having won the 2014 Maui Invitational in an identical format as the Battle 4 Atlantis, the Wildcats’ high-powered offense may be severely tested this week.
First up Wednesday is N.C. State, with its array of presses under new coach Kevin Keatts.
“He really did an incredible job at UNC Wilmington, and Kevin brings a style that’s unique,” UA coach Sean Miller said. “He presses really the entire game, presses on made field goals. Very few teams do that. He changes his presses. It’s not just one type of press and right now they’re leading the nation in forced turnovers. … . hopefully, we have a confident group that can attack that press.”
Then on Thursday, the Wildcats could face SMU, which runs the eighth-slowest tempo in the country so far, according to Kenpom.com. The Mustangs ran the 333rd slowest tempo while winning 30 games last season.
NCAA.com’s Joe Boozel said if a UA-SMU matchup happens it “will be loads of fun."
Without a (horribly expensive) rental car this week, I was asked if I can just take Uber around the island this week since I'm not staying on (also expensive) Paradise Island.
Well... no. There is no Uber in the Bahamas, and one of the licensed taxi drivers I hired, Alvin, had trouble locating the school where Ayton and the Wildcats were appearing on Tuesday.
So I ran Google Maps for him on my phone.
“Oh, it's talking?” Alvin said.
We found the school finally and then Alvin, too, wondered where Ayton would go in the draft. Then he asked, “Which one is he?”
It was pretty obvious which one Ayton was, rising high over the rest of the children in a tight red shirt.
Alvin smiled. "I gotta get a look at him," he said. He dropped me off and then took a long, slow loop around the parking lot next to the court where Ayton was putting on a show.
The next glance he might have at Ayton will be if he watches the NBA Draft next June. Alvin probably won’t have to watch for long before the local kid’s name pops up.
We have a feature look at Ayton and his Bahamian background as part of our advance coverage this week along with a story on UA's no-nonsense approach to the Atlantis event and a scouting report.
In print, the Ayton feature will run on Thursday (coverage from Wednesday's game will only be online) while the other advance stories are in Wednesday's edition.
All three items are attached to this post.
