Deandre Ayton ‘phenomenal’ in versatility-focused workout with Suns

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns wanted to focus on versatility on Wednesday during Arizona center and potential No. 1 pick Deandre Ayton’s workout.

“Just had a phenomenal 1-on-0 workout,” Suns general manager Ryan McDonough said. “It’s everything that we expected from Deandre.”

While the Suns have seen endless amounts of tape on Ayton, they were in control of the workout and could select what they wanted to see him do.

“Just the ability to put him in different scenarios,” McDonough said of what they valued the most from the workout. “We saw him finish a lot around the basket, we put him out to the midrange and the NBA three, offensively. Defensively, we put him in some different pick-and-roll coverage situations, saw how he guarded the pick-and-roll and how he moved his feet in different ways.”

Ayton played as a power forward, but on Wednesday there was a spotlight on his versatility as a center in the workout that went nearly an hour.

“The workout was pretty intense,” Ayton said. “I learned a lot. The big key on that was versatility. Basically, a lot of switches in the league, there’s a lot of small-ball played — we did a lot of switches in the workout, really guarding small guards in 1-on-1 situations, tie-game situations, things like that.”

Ayton said he was actually happy with that role at Arizona because of how much it diversified his game on both ends and prepared him for playing as a small-ball center at times.

“I’m happy that coach Miller really had me on the court at Arizona guarding teams’ best guards and this will really help me because I’m really good at sliding my feet and staying up playing the guards and using my length,” he said. “I can score inside and out. It will be a lot of mismatches because if I guard them they have to guard me at the end of the day.”

That might be what the Suns were locked in on seeing with Ayton, but the prospect himself wanted to show his mentality and demeanor as a player.

“I want to be the best two-way player coming into the league,” Ayton said.

“That workout showed me this is the league. This is how the league works. That 1-on-1 attention was amazing. I learned a lot from coach and other coaches around me and I’m just ready.”

Ayton won’t get to have that experience anywhere else, as he said his workout in Phoenix will be his only one with an NBA team.

While the media wasn’t allowed access to the workout, McDonough said it was a busy crowd. Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender, Brandon Knight and Isaiah Canaan were among the players to hang around after their work in the morning to see how Ayton performed.

McDonough said the group plans to get together Wednesday night and watch the NBA Finals.

Ayton impressed in all aspects, including how he processed the scenarios and adapted.

“He seemed to be able to pick it up and integrate it into his game very quickly and that’s because I think he’s a pretty bright guy and a quick learner,” McDonough said.

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