Zach Harper on Ayton and the Lakers in general

[msgkings322]

DominAyton?

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Luiza Moraes / Getty Images

You, sir, are no Clint Capela

"They're trying to make me Clint Capela. I'm not no Clint Capela!" That was the Deandre Ayton quote circulating on social media yesterday. You may have seen it in a group chat. You may have seen it on an infographic from an aggregation account. The Los Angeles Lakers center and former No. 1 pick was immortalized on the internet for comparing himself to Capela, the Houston Rockets’ backup center (and former No. 25 pick). The internet agreed with Ayton — but not in the way he’d hope. The quote came from an ESPN article asserting that the Lakers’ season would come down to Ayton’s play on the court. I disagree, but we’ll get to that in a second. Ayton said it as he walked to the showers after a media scrum in the locker room, following the Lakers’ last-second loss to Orlando on Tuesday. Ayton gave a professional answer about the ball finding energy, and that’s why he was able to find his way to a 21-point, 13-rebound game. His true thoughts came away from the media, but loud enough for them to hear. Capela has absolutely been a better player in his career than Ayton. Capela has twice received Defensive Player of the Year votes and has career averages of 11 points and 10 rebounds. Ayton has career averages of 16 points and 10 rebounds, but he also takes four more shots per game than Capela. However, Capela has always known the role he needs to fill; Ayton simply doesn’t get it. According to the article, the Lakers have tried to help fuel Ayton’s ego. It’s probably to keep him engaged as much as possible, which has been an issue in his career: “The Lakers have stoked that ego, too: Rob Pelinka, team president of basketball operations and general manager, commissioned a black T-shirt with a gold screen print depicting half of a lion's face and half of Ayton's face that he presented to the 27-year-old. Members of the training staff wrap Ayton's water bottle in athletic tape and write ‘DA's Crunk Juice — Drink this to unleash the beast’ in black marker on it before games.” This reads like a rejected “Key and Peele” sketch. Funny enough, yesterday was a terrible day for Ayton to have this quote hit the internet. The self-proclaimed and nicknamed “DominAyton” had two points and four rebounds in 23 minutes in a loss to his former Suns team. The Lakers were minus-24 in those minutes. They lost by three points. On the flip side, Capela (now just a role player in Houston in his second stint) had four points, six boards, three assists and four blocks in 17 minutes in a Rockets win. Houston had a neutral plus-minus with Capela on the floor. The reason I don’t agree that Ayton will be the difference-maker in this season for the Lakers is that they’re already cooked. This team is worse with Ayton on the floor (minus-1.9 net rating) than with him on the floor (plus-0.4). As the Lakers have struggled to find their footing (despite a 34-24 record), the battle cry has been that they will get better because they’ve been dealing with key injuries. The problem with that is this team is awful when their three best players (LeBron James, Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves) are on the floor together. Going into last night, they were minus-8.4 per 100 possessions in 13 games together. Add Ayton to the mix, and that drops to a minus-12.5 net rating. The Lakers can’t find any consistency because their defense is so awful, and their offense doesn’t know what to do with their “best options” sharing the court. Yes, Ayton could end up getting more touches and then engaging defensively better, but that won’t take them from mediocre to great. It’ll just make them a slightly more difficult out in the first round. They actually could really use a Clint Capela or two.

 

[shopson67]

Claims that Capela is clearly the better player, then shows stats that he isn't. Great argument (with himself).

 

[tlance]

Claims that Capela is clearly the better player, then shows stats that he isn't. Great argument (with himself).

Not even close.

Everything Ayton does better than Capella are things that the Lakers don’t really need.

What they do need is a defensive presence and a rim runner.

Ayton doesn’t do either.

 

[Hotel Security]

Who the heck is Zach Harper?

And, yeah, the Ayton move was bad but we all kinda knew it wouldn't be great when they made it.

 

[msgkings322]

Who the heck is Zach Harper?

NBA pundit for The Athletic

And, yeah, the Ayton move was bad but we all kinda knew it wouldn't be great when they made it.

Eh, pretty sure some Lakers fans thought otherwise

 

[tlance]

Who the heck is Zach Harper?

And, yeah, the Ayton move was bad but we all kinda knew it wouldn't be great when they made it.

A couple Laker fans on here were pretty pumped about it.

We tried to tell them.

 

[Hotel Security]

>Eh, pretty sure some Lakers fans thought otherwise

Well we can find anyone anywhere who will defend any move. I like to think these don't count.

 

[shopson67]

Not even close.

Everything Ayton does better than Capella are things that the Lakers don’t really need.

What they do need is a defensive presence and a rim runner.

Ayton doesn’t do either.

Better fit and better player are two different things.

 

[shopson67]

A couple Laker fans on here were pretty pumped about it.

We tried to tell them.

Anything was better than what the Lakers have had at the position over the past few years. Hayes is best as a backup in shorter runs. They were using Len, Koloko and Jemison last year, Castleton the year prior.

What better option at center did they have for half the MLE? Ayton was a get at that price.

 

[tlance]

Anything was better than what the Lakers have had at the position over the past few years. Hayes is best as a backup in shorter runs. They were using Len, Koloko and Jemison last year, Castleton the year prior.

What better option at center did they have for half the MLE? Ayton was a get at that price.

I’m not going to look at centers who were available.

Ayton was the biggest name.

Not the player the Lakers needed.

That should have been obvious to all Laker fans when the signing happened.

It wasn’t.

 

[trojanfan12]

Ayton is what he is.

Offensively and to a lesser extent, rebounding...he's an upgrade over what they had last year.

While the rebounding upgrade is nice, the offensive upgrade was basically unnecessary as offense was never going to be the Lakers issue.

The biggest problem is that his effort level seems to be tied to his "touches". If he's not getting the ball enough, he tends to disappear.

I'm sure the hope was that they could get more defensive effort out of him. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case.

Too bad, because on those rare occasions when he puts forth some effort on defense, he's been solid.

 

[shopson67]

I’m not going to look at centers who were available.

Ayton was the biggest name.

Not the player the Lakers needed.

That should have been obvious to all Laker fans when the signing happened.

It wasn’t.

Yeah, why look at context when you can make broad statements?

 

[shopson67]

Ayton is what he is.

Offensively and to a lesser extent, rebounding...he's an upgrade over what they had last year.

While the rebounding upgrade is nice, the offensive upgrade was basically unnecessary as offense was never going to be the Lakers issue.

The biggest problem is that his effort level seems to be tied to his "touches". If he's not getting the ball enough, he tends to disappear.

I'm sure the hope was that they could get more defensive effort out of him. Unfortunately, that hasn't been the case.

Too bad, because on those rare occasions when he puts forth some effort on defense, he's been solid.

If his value is on offense, then of course his performance is tied to touches.

 

[trojanfan12]

If his value is on offense, then of course his performance is tied to touches.

Yeah, that's what I said. Thanks.

 

[shopson67]

Yeah, that's what I said. Thanks.

Sure seemed like you were implying that if he doesn't get his touches, he pouts and doesn't try.

 

[trojanfan12]

Sure seemed like you were implying that if he doesn't get his touches, he pouts and doesn't try.

I wasn't implying it, I was saying it. He doesn't try on defense and his rebounding suffers.

 

[shopson67]

I wasn't implying it, I was saying it. He doesn't try on defense and his rebounding suffers.

I was giving you some leeway lol