{"id":68834,"date":"2024-03-18T15:01:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:01:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=68834"},"modified":"2024-03-18T15:01:22","modified_gmt":"2024-03-18T19:01:22","slug":"portland-trail-blazers-starter-reveals-reason-for-slow-start-deandre-ayton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/03\/18\/portland-trail-blazers-starter-reveals-reason-for-slow-start-deandre-ayton\/","title":{"rendered":"Portland Trail Blazers Starter Reveals Reason for Slow Start"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Current Portland Trail Blazers starting center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/aytonde01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Deandre Ayton<\/a> has turned his game around recently and has been dominant. In his last five games, Ayton is averaging 27.2 points and 15 rebounds per game. Furthermore, the former Phoenix Suns big man is shooting 63.3% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc in that span. In a recent interview, Ayton spoke about the reason for his turnaround, pointing out that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oregonlive.com\/blazers\/2024\/03\/trail-blazers-deandre-ayton-opens-up-about-overcoming-personal-struggles-that-led-to-recent-success.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he slept on an air mattress<\/a> at the beginning of the season:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cMy body wasn\u2019t just my body,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople forget the humane difference of me adjusting to everything.\u201d That included something as routine as getting proper sleep. \u201cJust being comfortable in waking up,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a bed for quite some time. I was on an air mattress. Just trying to figure this out.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Trail Blazers acquired Ayton in the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/09\/27\/breaking-damian-lillard-traded-to-the-milwaukee-bucks\/\" target=\"_self\">monstrous three-team trade<\/a> that sent All-NBA guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lillada01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Damian Lillard<\/a> to the Milwaukee Bucks. In total, Ayton has played and started 45 games for Portland this season. In those games, the 25-year-old is averaging 15.7 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Deandre Ayton says that sleeping on an air mattress earlier in the season could have contributed to his early season struggles<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy body wasn\u2019t just my body. People forget the humane difference of me adjusting to everything. That included something as routine as getting proper\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/qkEglqQ14c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/qkEglqQ14c<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheDunkCentral\/status\/1769777078990164314?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 18, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>Portland Trail Blazers Starter Reveals Reason for Slow Start<\/h2>\n<h3>Deandre Ayton Acknowledges His Dominance<\/h3>\n<p>A few days ago, Ayton talked about &#8220;trying to do everything&#8221; in the games he plays. Furthermore, Ayton says this has led to him being &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/rumor\/deandre-ayton-im-more-dominant-people-like-to-laugh-at-it-but-its-the-truth\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">more dominant<\/a>&#8220;:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI\u2019m honestly going into these games, I\u2019m trying to do everything,\u201d Ayton told reporters Wednesday night. \u201cNot only do my requirements, my role for this team, but do a lot more and that\u2019s where I\u2019m at. I\u2019m more dominant. People like to laugh at it, but it\u2019s the truth.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Furthermore, head coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/billuch01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chauncey Billups<\/a> believes the team has &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/hoopshype.com\/rumor\/2757369\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">unlocked<\/a>&#8221; Ayton and allowing him to flourish:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cI think we\u2019ve unlocked him and we\u2019re getting the best version of him offensively, for sure,\u201d Blazers coach Chauncey Billups told reporters. \u201cHe\u2019s been a monster. He\u2019s been a monster on that glass. He\u2019s just been all over the place. Super, super efficient obviously. So, he\u2019s been awesome. And I think our guys are just kind of following his lead. He\u2019s given us so much.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>The Trail Blazers Can Build Around Deandre Ayton<\/h3>\n<p>Ayton has been in the NBA since the Suns drafted him first overall in the 2018 Draft. Because of how long he has been in the league, it&#8217;s easy to forget he is only 25 and still improving. The Trail Blazers have an exciting young core even beyond Ayton. Additionally, the team has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hendesc01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Scoot Henderson<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simonan01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anfernee Simons<\/a> in the backcourt and potential long-term options in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/murrakr01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kris Murray<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bantoda01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dalano Banton<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thybuma01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-03-18_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Matisse Thybulle<\/a>. This season, the Trail Blazers have a 19-48 record, the second-worst in the Western Conference. Furthermore, they have already been officially eliminated from playoff contention this season. Despite the team&#8217;s lack of success this season, there is a lot to be excited about in Portland, including Ayton and his new-look dominance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Current Portland Trail Blazers starting center Deandre Ayton has turned his game around recently and has been dominant. In his last five games, Ayton is averaging 27.2 points and 15 rebounds per game. Furthermore, the former Phoenix Suns big man is shooting 63.3% from the field and 33.3% from beyond the arc in that span. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":68835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,1608,15,62,3,28],"tags":[1559,115,49026,187,1419,4900,1963,4702],"class_list":["post-68834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trailblazers","category-basketball","category-bucks","category-nba","category-news","category-suns","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-chauncey-billups","tag-dalano-banton","tag-damian-lillard","tag-deandre-ayton","tag-kris-murray","tag-matisse-thybulle","tag-scoot-henderson"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}