What We Learned About the Suns in March
By Andrew Clark
The Suns decided to sit the vets, play the kids, and focus on increasing their future. In the process, we learned a few things:
Marquese Chriss
Chriss has really improved every month this season and March was his best yet. He averaged 13 points, 6 rebounds, a block and a half, and about a steal/assist each per game.
What made the month so impressive for Chriss is the efficiency he displayed in posting those numbers. Throughout March he shot 49% from the field and an impressive 38% from deep. These are the kinds of numbers that only Serge Ibaka is putting up in the league today. Not bad for a 19-year old rookie.
Over the summer Chriss will obviously need to work on his food speed and add some weight to help with his defense. He is averaging way too many fouls a game (4.1 for the month) and this leading to foul trouble early in games that will limit his ability to be an impact late. Some long hours spent at the free throw line will also be a huge step forward to prevent teams from simply hacking at him when he blows by. His current 62% isn’t going to get it done and he wasn’t shown any improvement over the year.
What we have learned is that Chriss is this team’s power forward of the future. We have every reason to expect that in two years he’ll be a 20/10 player and lockdown defender. Ryan McDonough should send Vlade Divac a thank you letter every draft day. And if he hasn’t yet, allow me to start.
April 1st, 2017
Thank you, Vlade Divac.
Signed the Valley of the Suns
T.J. Warren
In classic T.J. fashion, he has quietly had an impressive month. Warren has always been able to get buckets, but what he has shown in March in particular is his ability to play a really well-rounded game. For the month he averaged 17 points, 8 rebounds, almost 2 assists, a block, and a steal per game. That improvement on defense in particular is a really encouraging sign.
There are only four players in the NBA who average that kind of statistically well-rounded game in March and they are: Anthony Davis, Boogie Cousins, Kevin Durant, and the Greek Freak. What’s even more encouraging is that T.J. did all of this shooting 54%, which is impressive considering he clanked most of his three-point shots. That’s efficiency on par with Duran and Antetokounmpo, who shoot 54% and 53% respectively. When you consider that T.J. is shooting 17% from deep it’s scary to think what is capable of putting up if he could make a shot from three.
That’s not to jump to conclusions that T.J. is the long-term answer at small forward. He still struggles mightily on defense with particular issues keeping his man in front of him. His 75% from the free throw line is respectable, but surprisingly low for a shooter with his overall talents. If T.J. can join Chriss in the faster feet and stronger body camp, he could be a really viable 20/10 starting small forward quickly as well. To get there though he needs to do everything Chriss needs to do, but also needs to spend long hours working on that three-point shot.
Devin Booker
What did we learn about the 20 year old who scored 70 in one game? He’s an offensive killer who even got the respect of the Mamba. It wasn’t anything we haven’t seen before, it was just everything we had seen before over two games compressed into one. The not yet 21-year old man has the talent to be one of the all-time great scorers at the shooting guard position.
Lost in the noise of that game is just how much Booker has improved in every non-defensive related area of his game. For the month he increased his scoring average to 25 points a game, but more impressively he increased his rebounds and assists to four a game each and nearly averaged a steal per outing as well.
How good is that all around improvement? Good enough that if he had done it for the year he’d be one of only seven players doing it. That list is Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Boogie, Steph Curry, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. Almost all of whom are in the discussion for MVP.
Now, that’s not to say he’s even All-Star worthy. That won’t happen as long as he continues to be one of the worst defenders in the league. He also has to find a way to become more efficient – he’s average from the field and the three-point line. There’s something to be said for volume scorers, but Booker is capable of being more than that. His shooting percentages remain largely unchanged since last year. While he gets a small pass for not having teammates to get him a lot of open shots, he still should be learning how to be more selective and efficient as he matures.
Booker is the best player on this team and we all knew that coming into the month. Coming out of the league knows he’s the best player on the team and that he’s capable of being a Hall of Fame-type player. Let’s see if he can grow enough on defense and efficiency to start making the All-Star team next year.
Oh, and Book? See you in the Chriss and Warren foot and body drills this summer as well.
Tyler Ulis
No one has benefited more from playing time than Ulis. In March he averaged 33 minutes a game and has delivered a respectable stat line of 12 points, 8 assists, 3 rebounds, and over a steal a game. Not bad work for a rookie and that would have put him in the same company as Westbrook, LeBron, Harden, John Wall, and Chris Paul with stat lines as good or better. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that we’ve learned that Ulis might have unbelievable handles and lines of sight, but he struggles to finish over taller defenders. He made just 40% of his shots and is a horrid 13% from deep as a starter, which actually makes T.J. Warren’s outside shooting seem slightly less inept. He is by far the worst shooting guard in the NBA from deep since he was inserted into the starting lineup. Add in the fact that he lacks the weight or height necessary to stop players on the other end of the court and you have one really inefficient player.
Ulis always projected to be a backup point guard because of his small size. His month has been good for him to grow but he must demonstrate a reliable three-point shot to make it in the NBA at all. The passing skills are there and he can be an annoyance on defense, but if he can’t shoot, there won’t be a lot of NBA teams that could use his talents.
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Conclusion
The Suns made the right decision when they sat their veterans and went full tank. Although even with all the losing, the odds favor the team getting the fifth overall pick. That would be depressing to fans. Regardless of where the draft pick ends up happening, the chance to develop their young players has been invaluable. There is no doubt that the organization and the fans are upset that Dragan Bender wasn’t able to capitalize on this opportunity. But even without Bender, the young core has shown some great signs of improvement and that makes the future even more exciting.