2018 NBA Mock Draft: Time for the Final Four

After an entire season of talking about how Deandre Ayton’s biggest flaws — defensive attentiveness and energy, consistent effort, playing within himself offensively — would be made better by the right coaching situation and organizational cohesiveness, the two most likely teams to draft him in the top two (Memphis and Phoenix) are the two teams in the lottery who this season fired their head coach.

That’s not to say that some new hire, from Villanova’s Jay Wright to a former NBA head coach like Mark Jackson, wouldn’t be an effective voice in Ayton’s ear, someone who would build the right habits into him and wring consistent energy out of him. All it means is that the concerns will be more pronounced entering his first NBA summer.

If Ayton were indeed to end up in Memphis, the roster fit would be equally unnerving. After a full season toiling out of position next to Dusan Ristic at Arizona, Ayton would join a team for which floor spacing has been a massive problem for years. Besides Marc Gasol occupying a spot in the starting lineup for however long he stays with the Grizzlies, the team also has JaMychal Green locked in for three more seasons, and has spent high second-round draft picks on big men Ivan Rabb and Deyonta Davis in recent years.

It would be an uneasy fit for Ayton. On top of the adjustments all young bigs have to make, from the speed of the game to the physicality of their opponents, Ayton would be again fighting against roster incoherence.

The gap between he and the field according to popular consensus is too wide to take someone else here, but Memphis would have their work cut out.