NEW YORK — In 1969, the Phoenix Suns lost a coin flip, landed the second overall pick in the NBA draft … and missed out on Lew Alcindor. In 1987, the Suns rose from the No. 7 spot in the draft lottery, but finished landed one pick shy of No. 1 … and wound up missing out on David Robinson. This year, for the first time in franchise history, the Suns got the chance to pick first. And this time, they made sure they didn’t miss out on a player they hope can be a franchise-shaping big man for years to come. Given the pick of the litter in the 2018 NBA draft, the Suns stayed in-state, beginning Thursday night’s festivities at Barclays Center in Brooklyn by using the No. 1 overall pick on Arizona center Deandre Ayton. Phoenix general manager Ryan McDonough will pair Ayton — a 7-foot, 250-pound center who was a dominant physical force during his lone year of college basketball — with high-scoring guard Devin Booker in hopes of creating a potent inside-out combo that can lift the Suns out of the doldrums of eight consecutive seasons without a playoff berth. “Having my name called to be the first pick for the Phoenix Suns was mind-blowing,” Ayton told reporters at Barclays Center after his selection. “Having all that confidence and leading up to that point when I saw Adam Silver came out, I was just waiting for my name, and when he called it, my mind went blank. I just did the routine everyone else was supposed to do, and I just got up there and enjoyed the moment, and I saw the reaction on my mom’s face. It was just priceless.” The Bahamas-born big man, a self-professed “entertainer” with personality to spare, has been talking up that possibility for months, touting an Ayton-Booker pairing as a reboot of the two-man power trip that hung three banners in the rafters in Los Angeles: Deandre Ayton on @CBSSportsRadio earlier today about which team he would like to play for: “Honestly, I could see myself in Phoenix. I could see a little Shaq and Kobe 2.0.” cc: @DevinBook — The Bright Side (@BrightSideSun) March 31, 2018 Asked to elaborate on the comparison during Wednesday’s predraft media session, Ayton doubled down. Story continues “The two-man game is really lethal in the NBA today and the spacing of the floor,” he told reporters. “In transition, having that pick-and-roll early in the game is crazy. I can pick-and-pop and Devin is a threat coming off the pick, so that’d be pretty hard to guard.” You’d be forgiven for thinking that inviting comparisons to Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal seems awfully bold for a 19-year-old who’s yet to suit up for an NBA game, and who’s joining a franchise that has had more head coaches (five) than 35-win seasons (three) since 2010. But Ayton’s combination of size, strength, athleticism and offensive polish — a marriage of sheer brute force with skill and fluidity — have led some evaluators to believe a Hall-of-Fame ceiling really might not be out of the question. Deandre Ayton’s got the tools and the talent to make a major impact for the Phoenix Suns. (Getty) They look at Ayton and see a player who, only a few years after arriving in the U.S. and after being bounced around a grassroots basketball system in which his development was often an afterthought to his future earning potential, proved to be a point-scoring, board-crashing monster. They see a prototypical modern big man — 7 feet tall with a 7-foot-5 wingspan, with quick enough feet to guard in space and hold up when switched onto guards — who averaged 20.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game en route to Pac-12 Player of the Year honors, as well as recognition as a consensus First-Team All-American. They see a dominating rebounder, one capable of using his bulk to bull his way into advantageous positions and his quickness and second jump to generate more chances for contested caroms, pulling down 13.5 percent of available offensive boards and 28.2 percent of defensive rebounding opportunities during his time on the court at Arizona last season. They see a killer interior finisher, one who shot 82.1 percent on attempts at the rim, and who’s also got the touch to shoot 73.3 percent from the free-throw line and the range to shoot a shade 41.6 percent on jumpers, according to Hoop-Math.com. There are also concerns. Some skeptics wonder how a player who figured prominently in an Arizona unit that finished 83rd in the nation last year in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com, can be expected to serve as a badly needed defensive anchor for a Suns team that has ranked in the bottom third of the league in points allowed per possession in six of the past eight seasons, and finished dead last for last season. (The optimist’s contention: Ayton played largely out of position at power forward last season, rather than at center, and his shot-blocking and defensive impact numbers will play better at his natural position in the pros.) Others wonder whether Ayton’s got the requisite awareness — of how, where and when to rotate as a help defender, of how best to leverage his mass to serve as a screener to pop his teammates open — to become an elite two-way player at the next level. That Ayton’s lone collegiate season ended in stunning blowout upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament in March didn’t exactly dispel fears over Ayton’s capacity to elevate a team on both ends of the floor, rather than merely getting his own numbers. But March failings only matter so much come June; after all, the last two No. 1 overall picks didn’t even play in the tournament. To NBA decision-makers, what you can do next matters more than what you’ve done before. When the Suns look at Ayton, they see a player who already has so much in the bag at age 19 — who’s already shown flashes of making plays out of double teams and improving on the defensive end — and they start to salivate at the prospect or what they might see when they look at him in a couple of years’ time, when a core of Ayton, Booker, versatile swingman Josh Jackson and steady-scoring forward T.J. Warren might be ready to make some noise in the Western Conference. Ayton’s well aware of the criticisms of his game, and the broader notion that banking hopes for a championship future on a 7-footer might be a fool’s errand in an era where the teams vying for titles tend to be going smaller earlier and more often than ever. He is, as you might expect, not overly concerned. “Smallball? What is smallball? I play basketball,” Ayton told Sports Illustrated’s Andrew Sharp. “I play center, and if you haven’t watched me play, I’m not a regular big man. I can move my feet. Not saying I can stop anyone out there who’s in front of me, but trust me, I can really be a problem on the perimeter guarding somebody. I can switch from the center to the guards. “The game is evolving. You got dudes like Joel Embiid, Anthony Davis, all these 7-footers, doing everything. They’re unstoppable. We can grab the board, take it down the floor and then score just as well. There’s no stopping us.” We’ll find out soon enough whether Ayton’s able to back up that bold talk. If he can, for the first time since Steve Nash left town, the Suns might just be on the rise once again. “Let’s start a winning legacy,” Ayton said Wednesday. “That’s about it. Let’s start a winning legacy. If we just win games, that would be great.” More NBA coverage: – – – – – – – Dan Devine is a writer and editor for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoosports.com or follow him on Twitter! More from Yahoo Sports: • Female reporter sexually assaulted during live World Cup broadcast • Sources: Charlotte ships Dwight Howard to Brooklyn for Timofey Mozgov • Report: Top NBA prospects really don’t want to get drafted by the Kings • Shams Charania: Kawhi Leonard meets with Coach Pop in Calif.<doc-sep>In a surprising outcome, Rawle Alkins was not selected in the 2018 NBA Draft. Most mock drafts predicted the Arizona Wildcats guard would be picked in the early- to mid-second round. The good news is he will be signing with the Toronto Raptors, and still has a chance to earn an NBA roster spot. Ex-teammate Allonzo Trier was not drafted, either, though that was expected. They join Brandon Ashley, Kobi Simmons, and Chance Comanche as Wildcats who left school early only to go undrafted. Interestingly enough, Colorado’s George King and UCLA’s Thomas Welsh were selected. Alkins averaged 13.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game as a sophomore at Arizona. He shot 43 percent from the field, 36 percent from 3, and 72 percent from the free-throw line. Those shooting percentages were slightly lower than the ones he posted as a freshman, though part of that can probably be attributed to a foot injury. Alkins broke his foot in late September, which forced him to miss the first nine games of the season and a few more later in the season after he experienced soreness. It took a while for Alkins to get up to full speed after the injury, and he was noticeably slower on defense as a sophomore. Still, Alkins displayed a well-rounded game at Arizona. He could pass, shoot, and drive, and rebounds well for his size. And when he was healthy, he showed flashes of being a tenacious perimeter defender, using his 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame to his advantage. Perhaps Alkins’ biggest weakness is that he does not have an elite skill, so it will be interesting to see what kind of role he carves out at the next level — if he gets there. Before the draft, Chris Vernon of The Ringer said he is 100 percent confident Alkins “will not fail” in the NBA. “He had a foot issue that hampered his career at Arizona, but this kid has so many attributes that I love,” he wrote. “Unstoppable motor, built like a linebacker, good-looking shot, and do-or-die playing style. He has been projected too low since this process started. Alkins will be a fan favorite wherever he plays.” It’s hard to disagree with Vernon’s last point. Alkins, a Brooklyn native, endeared himself to Arizona fans from the get-go. He dunked over Sean Miller at his first Red-Blue game, rode a scooter with a broken foot in the second, and created the now-famous Savage Life movement (which will be a clothing line, by the way.) Even when Alkins wasn’t playing his best, effort was never the issue. “It’s very hard to judge this year because he missed so much time,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said in late May. “And although he had a very good season, I think he could have had a great season and some of that will really show itself out this summer in spring when he’s healthy and they (the NBA) really can compare his ability to others. I think he will be an NBA player for a long time.”<doc-sep>
After all the debate, speculation and insight, the Chosen Sun is here. With the first pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, the Phoenix Suns on Thursday selected Deandre Ayton out of Arizona. “This is a historic day for the Phoenix Suns franchise,” said general manager Ryan McDonough in a statement. “Deandre is a special player and we are thrilled to welcome him home to Phoenix. It is extremely rare for a player with his size, length and athleticism to be able to not only finish around the rim but also step away from the basket and make shots. At 7-1 and exceptionally strong, he is uniquely gifted with his hand-eye coordination and footwork. In addition, he has strong ties to this area and we can’t wait to see him in a Suns uniform.” Ayton, who has been linked to the Suns since the team won the NBA Draft Lottery, is the first Wildcat to ever be taken first overall. He’s the first player taken out of an in-state university by the Suns since Arizona’s Ben Davis was the 43rd overall pick by Phoenix in 1996. “It means a lot to me because you know the fans out there are amazing — they’re the best fans in the world,” said Ayton on ESPN’s broadcast. “I’m really happy to be a part of the Phoenix Suns now and we can really start a winning legacy with Devin Booker and Josh Jackson and all those other guys. We’re a young team and we’re ready. I’m just happy to be a Phoenix Sun.” The selection may come as little to no surprise to Suns fans, as Ayton called himself the No. 1 pick following a June 6 workout with the team. He also said his workout in Phoenix was his first and only formal meeting with a team prior to the draft. “Nobody told me (I’ll go first),” Ayton said following his workout at Talking Stick Resort Arena. “That’s just me. I think I deserve that. I’ve worked hard. I won’t say I’m the best player. I won’t say that. “I will say on the competitive level, I’m the best competitor.” For the Suns, Ayton fills a glaring short-term and long-term hole as a interior presence at center. Veteran Tyson Chandler is in place to serve as Ayton’s mentor, Alex Len — the No. 5 overall pick in 2013 — is an unrestricted free agent and Alan Williams has a non-guaranteed contract for the 2018-19 season. A native from the Bahamas, Ayton arrived in the states when he was 12 years old, competing in AAU basketball in San Diego. Ayton attended Hillcrest Prep in Phoenix after his mother moved to the Valley. A top recruit out of high school, Ayton then committed to Arizona, where he became the Pac-12 Player and Freshman of the Year in his only season after he averaged 20.1 points, 11.6 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. Ayton performed well despite being named in an ESPN report that linked Wildcats head coach Sean Miller to an FBI-recorded wiretap where Miller allegedly discussed impermissible payments to secure Ayton’s commitment to the school. That report was denied by Miller, Ayton and the school, and Ayton didn’t miss any playing time because of the allegation. He has been training in the Phoenix area since leaving Tucson. In a late March interview with CBS Sports Radio’s Tiki and Tierney, Ayton said he could see himself playing for the Suns and forming a duo with shooting guard Devin Booker. “Honestly, for my mother, I could see myself in Phoenix,” he said. “I could see a little Shaq and Kobe 2.0.” To make things even sweeter, members of the Suns are already familiar with the big man. Following his workout, Ayton watched the NBA Finals with Booker and Josh Jackson, among other Suns. But that’s not all. Suns veteran Jared Dudley has followed Ayton since he was a sophomore in high school with Ayton attended Dudley’s basketball camps in San Diego. “This is a guy with a unique skillset. When he was in high school in San Diego before Arizona he went to my basketball camp,” said Dudley on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s Doug & Wolf on June 7. “He was the MVP of my basketball camp for two years. I knew he was a one-and-done when he was a sophomore and he was dunking on every kid.” Next up for the Suns is pick No. 16, followed by pick Nos. 31 and 59.