Memphis Grizzlies: Comparing Jaren Jackson Jr. With Other Top Picks
By Chris Kern
Deandre Ayton
Deandre Ayton has been playing good basketball to start the season but the Suns just don’t have the overall talent to compete in the western conference.
He has shown off his talent and Phoenix seems to have another building block for the future in addition to Booker.
The Suns played the Grizzlies twice early in the season as they did with the Kings. The home team won both of the meetings in these two games as well.
Ayton had his most efficient game of the season in the Grizzlies home win over Phoenix. He had what still is a career-high 24 points on 12-13 shooting.
Memphis decided to come in and shut everybody else down and they allowed him to get open free-throw line jumpers and he knocked them down all game long.
That was the only thing the Suns had going for them that game. The Grizzlies would win that game by 21.
The next game was much more competitive but Ayton didn’t have much of an impact. He did still finish with nine points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
Phoenix would win that game by two points after Booker hit a game-winning jumper with 1.7 seconds left.
Ayton might end up being a better pro than Jackson but he wouldn’t fit close to as well as Jackson does with this Memphis team. Both of these young bigs went to the perfect situation for themselves.