The Phoenix Suns weren’t expected to do much this season, but expecting to have a down year and actually going through a down year are two different things. The Suns fell on Thursday night to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a 111-98 loss to a squad that marked their 16th defeat in a row.
Phoenix is a young team trying to build towards the future, so while every team is judged on wins and losses, the Suns are working to establish a culture and set a foundation going forward. For Deandre Ayton, though, all of this losing is starting to get old, and the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NBA Draft is ready to start doing whatever is needed to get his team on track.
Ayton told the press after the loss that he’s prepared to impose himself on opponents, going out on a nightly basis and trying to “take over.”
“It’s just tough,” Ayton said when asked about the losing skid, according to Duane Rankin of azcentral.com. “It’s not easy to deal with. I’m going to try my best to take over. Real talk.”
The former standout at the University of Arizona has put up solid numbers this year — 16.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in 31 minutes per game — but it hasn’t been enough to translate to wins for his team. Phoenix sits at 11-49 on the season, the worst mark in the league, and while Ayton has been really good, he hasn’t consistently dominated.
“I want to see him more involved,” Suns coach Kokoskov said. “I want to see him grow and be a better player. It’s a process. It requires time.”
Still, Ayton is beyond waiting, and now, he’s at a point where he plans on going for broke.
“I gave them enough time to let them run what they got to run,” Ayton said. “Now I’m about to just take over now. It’s about that time to take over and not really look back.”
Ayton will get his first chance to show that he’s ready to make a mini-leap on Saturday afternoon, when the Suns travel to Atlanta to face the Hawks.
