When I spoke to Archie Goodwin at the D-League Showcase in Santa Cruz, I saw a player that was lost. Goodwin had no idea of his role on the team. Heck, he didn’t even know he was going to be playing in the Showcase until the day before it started.
However, since that time, things have started to click, and Goodwin has become a pretty productive player, which some were starting to question would happen in the near future.
He also was kind of the voice of reason for the Suns down the stretch, which, for a 20-year-old, is kind of impressive.
Archie Goodwin points out void left by departure of @Channing_Frye http://t.co/Rfu6gcDB30
— Chillin in my Bacta (@DarthAmin) April 7, 2015
From a numbers perspective, Goodwin improved quite a bit from his first season to his second. His points, assists and rebounds per game all increased, as did his Player Efficiency Rating and free throw rate — although some of those numbers are still (clearly) not where he would like them to be.
However, as you’ll read through this player evaluation, the one thing that Goodwin does have is time.
And lots of it.
Next: Weaknesses
Weaknesses
Most of Archie Goodwin’s current weaknesses spurn from the fact that he is still a fairly raw player in need of development. For example, Goodwin has never really had a niche area on the court where he is most comfortable. Case in point, if you look at his shot chart, there wasn’t really an area that he took a lot of shots in, save right around the hoop, but even that only accounted for 48 percent of his field goal makes.
At times, Goodwin looked lost in the offense, although he seemed to find himself after an extended stint in the D-League. However, even that didn’t lead to an amazing resurgence, as Goodwin posted just 6.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game after the All Star break, shooting just a hair over 40 percent from the field and 30 percent from three.
Additionally, Goodwin’s defensive rating of 108 was 14 points worse than his offensive rating, meaning that for every 10 possessions he was on the court, the Suns were outscored by 1.4 points on average. Goodwin’s defensive rating actually got worse, albeit marginally, from the year before, although he did show improvement in basically every other area across the board.
Regardless, the fact remains that Archie Goodwin just isn’t an efficient player right now. A PER of just 11.2 and a True Shooting Percentage of 48.6 isn’t good at all, and considering that Goodwin still has a higher turnover rate (16.8 percent) than assist rate (12.6 percent), there’s still plenty of work to be done.
However, as I mentioned earlier, the good news is that Goodwin is just 20 years old. Time is certainly on his side.
Next: Strengths
Strengths
For the Suns, Goodwin provides a few different things, ranging from depth in the backcourt to a slashing ability unlike most players his age, although that’s not saying much considering most players his age are in college or struggling to find minutes.
Since the Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas trades, Goodwin managed to give the Suns strong minutes as the third backcourt member, and he was definitely effective on the offensive side of the ball, at least in certain areas.
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For example, on pull-up jumpers, Goodwin shot 50.0 percent from the field, despite his average jump shot attempt coming between 15-and-25 feet away from the hoop.
While it still wasn’t great offense, it was good enough for Goodwin, who also developed a bit as a passer as the season went on. Over the last three months of the season, Goodwin recorded more three, four and five assist games (seven) than he had in the first 11 months of his career (two).
Finally, Goodwin did a good job of avoiding selfish shots. More than 91.5 percent of his three-point makes came off of assists, including 100 percent of his corner threes. Overall, more than 82 percent of his jumpers came off of assists, showing that he wasn’t the type of guy to iso up and throw up a ton of bricks, which for a young guy, is certainly commendable.
After all, take a guy like Andrew Wiggins. While Wiggins is obviously a great player, less than 55 percent of his jump shots came off of assists this year. Considering how many times the offense would go through him, that statistic is quite telling, meaning that he is less of a cog in the offense, and more of the offense all by himself.
Next: Lowlights
Lowlights
Increased opportunities led to increased highlights for Goodwin, but as is often the case, the more you play, the easier it is to screw something up.
For that reason, Goodwin’s 2014-15 season was far from perfect, although no play was worse for the second-year guard out of Kentucky than this play, when Dennis Schröder decided to thröw döwn right on top of him.
Ööps.
Although… If Archie Goodwin was secretly just trying to draw a technical foul, he actually nailed it. Maybe that was on purpose after all…
Other lowlights included Goodwin getting absolutely murdered by Gerald Green in a slam dunk contest, at least as far as the film is concerned:
Now, as far as actual intelligent commentary, Goodwin did have stretches where he struggled from the field, mostly coming from before the All Star break. However, following three of his better performances late in February, he had one of the rougher stretches of his brief playing career despite actually getting minutes.
Over a stretch of nine Suns games, Goodwin scored just 22 total points, despite playing double-digit minutes in three of those games. Goodwin shot just 6-of-24 from the field, with 11 turnovers to eight assists.
And as far as rough stretches are concerned, it’s also worth noting that the Suns finished the regular season going 1-10 in their last 11 games. Archie Goodwin played a significant role in almost all of those games, logging 14+ minutes 10 times and 20+ minutes five times.
Next: Highlights
Highlights
This is Archie Goodwin…
Yes, he can dunk really well…
Last night’s game against the Pelicans may have been a train wreck, but hey look! Archie Goodwin did something cool! https://t.co/gEN8iyLFjU
— Valley of the Suns (@ValleyoftheSuns) April 11, 2015
Sometimes he hits crazy three-pointers too…
And sometimes he prefers just to make clutch ones…
HIGHLIGHT: Archie Goodwin was pretty pumped after knocking down a clutch three last night:https://t.co/t8faF3kOX2
— Valley of the Suns (@ValleyoftheSuns) March 24, 2015
Welcome to Archie Goodwin’s 2014-15 season.
It would be incorrect to say Goodwin’s season came out of nowhere, considering the massive success he saw at the end of the 2013-14 campaign, when he dropped 29 points on 11-of-13 shooting against the Kings.
Goodwin followed that up with a solid stint in the D-League, before being called to action over the second half of the Suns’ season, where he certainly proved his worth. In fact, over a stretch of seven games, Goodwin averaged 9.3 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game, shooting 50 percent or better from the field four times.
The Suns went 4-2 over that stretch.
In fact, counting the preseason, when Goodwin made more than 50 percent of his field goals, the Suns won 70 percent of their games. Overall, Goodwin’s stats were a tad bit better in losses than in wins, because that was typically when he was played the most at the end of games, but two numbers stood out as being better in victories than in losses:
1. Field goal percentage
2. Turnovers per game
When Goodwin was efficient, the Suns played better and won more often, but truth be told, that wasn’t even the story of Goodwin’s season. In the 2014-15 season, he looked like he belonged on the court, and he made his fair share of memories.
What more can you ask for?
Next: Final Grade
Player Grade: C+
I think it’s quite fitting that Goodwin gets a similar grade to a guy like Brandan Wright, because like Wright, he filled his role on the team. Goodwin was asked to play both guard positions, and while he wasn’t absolutely out of this world, he certainly had his moments.
Struggling to fit in for much of the year, Archie Goodwin hung tough, which is more than could be said for certain Goran Dragic—I mean players. More than could be said for certain players.
You know… Typos and what not… Honest mistake.
Whoops. Another honest mistake there.
Anyway… Archie Goodwin had a fun season, and one that was far more memorable than his first, save one game at the end of the year. Goodwin was able to show flashes of the type of player he could become, and it’s worth mentioning that he is still just 20 years old.
It’s quite feasible that Goodwin will be playing the best basketball of his career 7-10 years from now, and that is one of few reasons why the future is so bright for the Suns.
Goodwin started out the season unsure of his role, and while it still is not paved in stone, the ambiguity has started to clear a bit. If the Suns re-sign Brandon Knight, the backcourt of the future will pretty much be set, and really, that’s the best thing that can happen to a guy like Goodwin:
To be in a stable situation.
To be in an organization with a plan.
To be in a place where he’s wanted.
More 2014-15 Phoenix Suns Player Grades:
Jerel McNeal
Danny Granger
Brandan Wright
Earl Barron
Marcus Thornton
T.J. Warren
Next: T.J. Warren: 2014-15 Phoenix Suns Player Grades