‘There’s nobody like Deandre’: Ayton clear choice as top pick in NBA draft, if you ask Sean Miller

“There’s nobody like Deandre. Nobody.”

As far as Sean Miller is concerned, the Sacramento Kings are on the clock.

The Phoenix Suns, who own the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA draft, should do their due diligence, of course. But if they select anyone other than Arizona Wildcats one-and-done star Deandre Ayton, Miller said, it would be a mistake.

“I look at the NBA as trying to figure out who they’re going to pick from No. 2 to 60. I think the No. 1 pick’s in,” Miller said on May 31, his first media availability since Arizona lost in the NCAA Tournament on March 15.

“There’s nobody like Deandre. Nobody.”

Miller praising Ayton is nothing new. But Miller went out of his way Thursday to emphasize the ways Ayton will flourish in the NBA. The coach also defended the 7-footer’s defensive skills.

Miller said the more spread-out, perimeter-oriented NBA game will free Ayton on the offensive end. By Miller’s estimate, Ayton saw some form of zone defense about 70 percent of the time last season, when he averaged 20.1 points and shot 61.2 percent from the field. About 30 percent of the time, Miller said, Ayton faced a double-team. That didn’t leave many one-on-one opportunities.

“In the NBA … they’re going to play with a court that’s more spread out, with no zone,” Miller said. “He’s going to be a monster.”

Miller said that if you substituted Ayton for any of the centers on the NBA semifinalists, he’d average 20 points per game. If Ayton played Clint Capela’s role for the Houston Rockets, Miller said, “I don’t know how you could ever stop them.”

How will Ayton's game translate?

Ayton clearly demonstrated during his one season at Arizona that he could score, and he remains the heavy favorite to be the top pick in the June 21 draft. But can Ayton help the Suns, or whatever team he joins, stop others from scoring?

Defense is undeniably the top concern draft analysts have regarding Ayton. In his latest mock draft, ESPN.com’s Jonathan Givony projected Ayton to be the first pick. But Givony also wrote that “Phoenix, the worst defensive team in the NBA, will be right to question his impact on that end of the floor.”

In his draft profile of Ayton, Ben Parker of NBAdraft.net wrote that the Bahamian big man needs to improve his defensive awareness, his shot-blocking, his help defense and his footwork.

All of that might be true. But Miller steadfastly disputes the notion that Ayton isn’t a strong defender.

“Anybody that criticizes his defense doesn’t know the game,” Miller said, noting that Ayton frequently played power forward and had to switch onto smaller players.

“He guarded a face-up player. He switched ball screens at 7-foot-1. He guarded 3-point shooters. He played pick-and-roll defense, transition defense. He guarded every type of player that he will see in the NBA.

“They’ll be better in the NBA. But in college, a senior, 6-foot-5, great 3-point shooter is very difficult to defend. He played (them), and he did it exceptionally well. I’ve never seen a big guy, ever — a lot of the players that I coached in USA Basketball included — that moves quicker and has a better command 20-30 feet away from the basket than Deandre.”

Miller added that where Ayton played on the defensive end — he rarely camped out in the lane — suppressed his shot-blocking totals. Ayton averaged 1.9 blocks per game.

Miller compared the way some are underestimating Ayton’s defense to the way Lauri Markkanen’s rebounding was criticized heading into the 2017 draft.

Ayton’s predecessor lasted until the seventh pick but outperformed five of the six players taken ahead of him. Markkanen averaged 15.2 points — and 7.5 rebounds — as a rookie for the Chicago Bulls.

“If they could do the draft over again, I don’t think he make it to No. 7,” Miller said. “They underestimated how physical and strong he was. The knock on him this time a year ago was that he didn’t mix it up around the rim. That’s what he was working on to become better at.”

Miller believes Ayton will do the same — that “whatever those perceived weaknesses are, he’ll address right way.”

Season ‘took a toll’

If Ayton truly was a generational talent, how did Arizona, as a No. 4 seed, lose to 13th-seeded Buffalo in the first round of the NCAA Tournament?

Miller has given that game a lot of thought over the past two-plus months.

“I think the totality of our season, beginning in the fall and getting through the Pac-12 Tournament, took a toll on all of us,” Miller said. “I don’t know if we necessarily entered this year’s NCAA Tournament the most excited, eager, ready, happy that we could have been as a group.”

Arizona lost 89-68. Miller described the Bulls as “a very difficult matchup” and said the Wildcats never were able to fix the flaws that were evident from the start of the season, including team defense.

“I give them all the respect in the world,” Miller said. “They beat us. I’m not sure they weren’t the better team. They had a lot of answers.

“Game in, game out, we were very inconsistent.”

Arizona seemed to be peaking at the right time after winning the Pac-12 Tournament in convincing fashion, but the Wildcats couldn’t sustain their momentum. Was something lost in the succeeding five days?

“It’s really hard to explain,” Miller said. “If I had the answer, I would give it to you.”

Miller didn’t specifically reference off-the-court issues as part of the “totality of our season.” Arizona was one of the schools named in the FBI’s investigation into corruption in college basketball, and assistant coach Book Richardson was arrested in September after federal agents said he arranged to pay a player to come to Arizona. The UA fired Richardson and opened an internal investigation into the basketball program. He faces multiple federal bribery charges.

In February, guard Allonzo Trier was suspended briefly after a positive test for a banned performance-enhancing substance. The school appealed the suspension, and Trier returned to play against Stanford on March 1.

And Miller sat out a game while the university investigated an ESPN report that he had discussed a $100,000 payment to Ayton. Miller refuted the report.

Miller declined to reveal what, if anything, he’s been saying to recruits and their families about the FBI investigation.

“I’m not going to speak on that,” he said.

Asked how feels about the program as a whole in light of all the controversy that has swirled about it, Miller said: “I feel good. I’m very much looking forward to the future.”

Athletic director Dave Heeke said he’s “very bullish” about UA basketball and feels “very confident in our leadership.”

Miller did allude to “things that you can’t control that pop up” while running a program.

“You have to fight through them,” he said, “and come out the other side.”

Miller also referred to this spring — when he had to patch together a recruiting class thinned by defections in the wake of the FBI investigation — as a “desperate time.”

New coaches, new players

Miller officially welcomed two assistant coaches and five players.

He said the relative youth of Danny Peters, 31, and Justin Gainey, 41, was among the factors that made them attractive candidates. Miller believes that will lead to stability and continuity within the staff, describing Peters and Gainey as “younger coaches that are going to build their track record here at Arizona and are here for multiple years.”

“I like the group that we have,” said Miller, whose staff also includes veteran assistant Mark Phelps.

The five additions to the roster are 5-10 point guard Justin Coleman, a graduate transfer from Samford; 6-9 power forward Ryan Luther, a grad transfer from Pitt; 6-5 combo guard Devonaire Doutrive, a freshman from Los Angeles; 6-7 forward Omar Thielemans, a freshman from Belgium; and 6-2 point guard Brandon Williams, a freshman from Encino, California.

Miller also considers 6-10 big man Chase Jeter to be part of this year’s class. Jeter sat out last season but practiced daily with the Wildcats after transferring from Duke.