The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Tribune Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

DEANDRE Ayton was challenged to assert himself physically while Chavano “Buddy” Hield’s defensive progression has been lauded in the NBA preseason thus far.

Ayton finished with four points and nine rebounds in the Suns’ 111-92 loss to the Utah Jazz on Monday in Salt Lake City, Utah, but head coach Monty Williams was more critical of Ayton’s effort against All-Star centre Rudy Gobert.

“DA [Deandre Ayton] has got to enforce and impose his will. He’s got to get in great shape so that he can be as dominant as he was in Orlando and in moments last season,” Williams said in his post game conference with reporters. “Deandre is a physical force, and when he gets in great, great shape, he’s going to show that, but tonight he didn’t.”

Led by Gobert’s 20, Utah outrebounded Phoenix 54-37.

“To watch Gobert and [Derrick] Favors push our bigs around tonight, that was disappointing,” Williams said. “I thought their bigs dominated the game,” Williams said. “Even when we had a great possession of defence, we gave up an offensive rebound. DA and DJ [Damion Jones] got pushed under the rim and that can’t happen.”

Ayton enters the 2020-21 season ranked at No.52 in the ESPN Top 100, and had his first opportunity to play alongside new Suns point guard Chris Paul.

“Today was our first time playing against somebody else. Usually you get all summer to play with one another, play pick up. Today was the first time me and DA had played pick-and-roll together,” Paul said. “We’re going to figure it out.”

Hield finished with 18 points and shot 5-10 from three-point range in his Sacramento Kings’ 114-113 win over the Golden State Warriors Tuesday night at the Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California.

Kings head coach Luke Walton cited Hield’s improvement on the defensive end of the floor as a noteworthy impact.

“I thought Buddy was very solid again on both ends of the court, so there were a lot of positives to take away from that,” Walton said post game. “I couldn’t be happier with his defensive alertness and the energy he’s been using on that end of the floor so far since we’ve gotten back together. He’s been much more consistent, he’s been locked into the gameplanning, so very happy with how he’s playing right now.”

Through the first three preseason games, Hield is averaging 23.4 points, five assists and three rebounds per game per 36 minutes splits on 39 percent shooting from the field and 43 percent from three-point range. His assist to turnover ratio is 10:1.