2018 NBA Mock Draft: What do playoff teams need?

Suns fans on the internet are desperate to get Ayton this June because they see him as the best fit on this draft. I presume they believe him to be the best fit of the guys at the top because they see the gaping hole in the middle of the Suns’ defense and their inability to score around the rim, and believe Ayton is their best hope for repairing their broken lineup.

According to Cleaning the Glass, opponents attempted 36 percent of their total shots at the rim this season, and made over 62 percent of those shots. The Suns had almost no chance at competing this year when they were ceding points in the paint and forfeiting that area of the game each night. Ayton certainly represents one option to even that out on the offensive end, bringing balance to the Suns’ offense and hopefully doing so efficiently.

However, the bigger problem is that this particular draft doesn’t feature a surefire two-way big. Ayton’s defensive struggles are well-documented, meaning a team like the Suns searching for a deterrent at the rim can’t really find hope in him.

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Yet he has a connection with Phoenix owner Robert Sarver through their shared alma mater, Arizona, and fans are understandably psyched about the idea of a somewhat homegrown talent (Ayton also went to high school in Phoenix for a time) turning their team around. It just might not happen that way.