In one of the most difficult seasons in Phoenix Suns history, the situation which was the most burdensome to deal with was the constant turnover at point guard.
When the regular season kicked off in October, the Phoenix Suns had a good starting point guard. One might have even called Eric Bledsoe a star. Statistically similar to players like Kyrie Irving and Kyle Lowry, Bledsoe had been the best point guard the Suns had had since Steve Nash, and was General Manager Ryan McDonough’s greatest trade acquisition – made even better with the re-acquisition of Jared Dudley in 2016 who at the time of the original trade was the best player sent to the Los Angeles Clippers for Bled.
But after only three games, in a moment of extraordinary passive aggressive immaturity, Bledsoe demanded a trade out of Phoenix, to which McDonough begrudgingly obliged.
Little did anyone know with that tweet, however, that Bledsoe would kick off a season-long struggle to fill a position that has historically been one of great strength for the franchise, yet in an instant became the heart of Interim Head Coach Jay Triano’s most rotational unrest.
Seven different players started games at point guard, with another, Josh Grey playing backup for a few games in February, although never earning a single start.
Outside of Devin Booker, it does not appear that the Suns have a player on their roster who could potentially play the starting point guard role by the start of next season. And while I have always been a strong proponent of Booker as the starting PG, the odds of this happening are slim, and as you’ll see soon, his starting point guard stats this season were not all that impressive.
We’ll see what the Suns can do this offseason to solidify the position, whether it being through free agency, trade, or the draft. In the meantime, let’s look back at just how the Suns’ seven starting point guards fared in 2017-18.
Eric Bledsoe – 3 starts
As mentioned in the intro, when the 2017-18 season began, Eric Bledsoe was the team’s starting point guard, a role he had held since 2013. Bledsoe had been a quite catch for the Suns, growing in skill over his 4+ seasons in Phoenix, developing into a true star at point guard, particularly as of 2016-17, developing into a legitimate scoring threat, breaking the 40-point barrier for the first three times in his career.
When this season began though, the Suns were dominated in two of their first three outings setting an NBA record for worst loss on opening night. But while the entire team looked absolutely awful as a whole overall, Bledsoe looked particularly bad in the two losses.
Initially nobody pointed a finger at him as either being the cause of the bad play or as having given up – especially since their second loss, (this one at the hands of Lonzo Ball and the Los Angeles Lakers), he did score 28 points, but when he tweeted out his request to leave, suddenly his poor play was placed squarely into focus.
In his final game as a Sun, Bledsoe scored only 4 points on four shots, dished out only 4 assists, and provided almost absolutely nothing to the team in a second 40+ point blowout loss. The quiet performance looked bad on the surface, but came under intense criticism on his way out..
Starting Stats: 15.7 points, 2.3 rebounds 3.0 assists, 3.3 turnovers, 40.0% FG%, 30.8% 3pt%, 78.6% FT%
Isaiah Canaan – 1 start
Isaiah Canaan took the Suns’ backcourt by storm. Following Eric Bledsoe’s tweet, Canaan was thrust into the reserve point guard role, a position that for the team’s first five games under Jay Triano in which they finished 3-2, it looked like he would have a strangle hold on all year.
Over that short stretch Isaiah averaged 13.4 points, 5.8 assists and 1.4 steals, while shooting 42.1% from 3. His play was energetic, his passing was spot on as he averaged only 2.5 turnovers per-36 minutes, and he actually looked like Eric Bledsoe, only a better ball-handler and outside shooter.
He even found his way into the starting lineup on January 29, in a game against Memphis. His play left much to be desired as he had a poor night, but his play up until that point had been enough for Triano to offer Canaan the opportunity, one that was well deserved.
Then disaster struck.
The following game against Dallas, while driving to the hole late in the first half, Canaan came down awkwardly and fractured his left ankle effectively ending his season – and possibly his Phoenix Suns career – in an instant.
Several days later, after successful surgery, Canaan was waived, leaving many to wonder if he would ever play again.
Starting Stats: 4 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, 20.0% FG%, 0.0% 3pt%, 100.0% FT%
Mike James – 10 starts
After Bledsoe was suspended prior to his trade, under new Head Coach Jay Triano, Mike James began what appeared to be an almost miraculous beginning to his NBA career. A very explosive scorer who impressed on several occasions in the Summer League, he had been brought in to backup Bled but was soon thrust into the starter’s role looking absolutely fantastic – at first.
Through his first five games, James averaged an impressive 13.2 points and 4.8 assists, while shooting a blistering 47.1% from beyond the arc, a statistic that far outpaced Bledsoe from 3 (a common theme).
Over a total of ten starts, James proved he could score, as well as secure the ball, averaging 13.0 points, dishing out 4.2 assists, and only averaging 1.4 turnovers per outing.
James’ fantastic play even earned him the first guaranteed contract for a 2-way G-League call-up in NBA history.
As much fun as his story was initially though, he was no starter. His 3-point percentage remained at a respectable 36.8%, however he was a volume scorer and shot a miserable 38.9% from the field, often leaving his more talented teammates, including Devin Booker, standing around watching.
15 days after signing his guaranteed contract, James was waived.
Starting Stats: 13.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 1.4 turnovers, 38.9% FG%, 36.8% 3pt%, 80.0% FT%
Tyler Ulis – 43 starts
With an incredible last few weeks of the 2016-17 season, Tyler Ulis gave hope to fans that he might be the next great Phoenix Suns PG. His self-less play, high assist numbers, and clutch 3 to defeat Boston at the buzzer gave fans hope that there was more than one bright spot on the roster beside Devin Booker.
But with a ho-hum training camp, a slow start to the season, a lot of that hope dissipated.
What has held Ulis back thus far in the early part of his career are shooting problems that carried over in their entirety this season from his rookie year really hampering his overall offensive ability and preventing him from over-taking other point guards to wrestle away the starting duties after Bledsoe left in perpetuity.
For three weeks after Bledsoe was sent home from the team, Ulis languish on the bench while new Triano tried to find a starting solution elsewhere. It was not until November 11, that Ulis was given the starting spot, a position he actually held for 35 consecutive games after that, although with only moderate results.
Averging only 7.2 points and 4.3 assist in 25.0 minutes, Ulis shot an ice cold 38.4% from the field and 29.2% from beyond the arc – hardly shooting percentages that could sustain a starting spot.
After a particularly poor stretch, Ulis was finally benched once again, this time in favor of Devin Booker.
Never finding a groove off the bench then dealing with and a period of inactivity due to a lower back injury, Ulis would miss most of the month of February and into early March before further depletion of the backcourt forced Triano’s hand and brought Ulis back into the rotation. Slow to regain his footing, Ulis would finish the season back in the starting lineup and put up very respectable statistics.
Over his final seven games, Tyler Ulis averaged 15.8 points and 7.7 assists in 36.5 minutes. Possibly nothing more than volume stats, Ulis took the final few weeks of the season to play for next year, possibly even saving his job after it appeared for a while that he would absolutely become a roster casualty.
Starting Stats: 8.3 points, 2.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.9 turnovers, 38.9% FG%, 30.4% 3pt%, 81.8% FT%
Devin Booker – 5 starts
After Ulis was benched again near the end of January, Jay Triano tried a different and unique approach, starting Devin Booker at point guard, a system similar to what Houston and Golden State run with James Harden and Stephen Curry.
Unfortunately, as much as I would have preferred to have seen Booker run point for the duration of the season, he really only got five games to make his impact before injuries began to take a toll.
Although he had a 31 point and 10 assist night against the Houston Rockets on January 28, his scoring average took a serious hit as the starting point guard, averaging only 18.8 over those five games (and 15.75 if you consider that Houston game an outlier and remove it from the average), although with a good 6.4 assists per game average.
But when he was shut down for the final four games prior to the All-Star Break, Ryan McDonough was forced to make some sort of a move to help bring some experience and a modicum of depth to the position. McDonough traded for Elfrid Payton, ending the short-lived Devin Booker at point guard experiment.
Starting Stats: 18.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 3.4 turnovers, 40.2% FG%, 41.9% 3pt%, 100.0% FT%
Elfrid Payton – 19 starts
Following Brandon Knight‘s torn ACL injury during a mid-summer pick-up game, General Manager Ryan McDonough pulled off a tremendous trade, one that proved to be doubly valuable for the franchise.
McDonough acquired shooting guard Troy Daniels and a second round pick from the Memphis Grizzlies for…well, that’s the thing. He traded away absolutely nothing.
Then when things started really going south in the backcourt, he used that second round pick to acquire former lottery pick Elfrid Payton from the Orlando Magic in February.
Payton’s first nine games were nothing short of, well, magic.
Averaging 16.4p/8.0r/8.2a/1.1s/0.4b and shooting 47.9% from the field, Payton also recorded two triple-doubles (his first, the fastest in franchise history) and missed out on a third by only 2 assists.
To many fans it looked like the Suns had pulled off the steal of the century and many wondered if only a change of scenery was enough to make Payton the point guard that the Magic thought they were acquiring when they traded into the top-10 to acquire him in 2014.
And then the wheels fell off.
Like Canaan, James, and even Ulis before him, each that at times seemed to set the world on fire for a few games before reverting back to their non-impressive selves, Payton’s final 10 games were anything but spectacular.
In fact, they were laughably awful.
Averaging 7.6p/ 2.8r/4.4a/0.9s/0.2b while shooting a miserable 9.1% from 3 (and 8.3% over his final 12 games), Payton looked exactly who the Magic knew he was when they traded him: a point guard with mid-second round pick value.
Throughout the Valley of the Suns, fan’s hops of an impressive steal burst like a dam, rushing water around the arid landscape leaving nothing but a dry Arizona river bed.
It seems unlikely that Payton will return to the Suns next season, unless he finds no traction elsewhere in unrestricted free agency and signs a low cost contract to be Phoenix’s backup.
Starting Stats: 11.8 points, 5.3 rebounds, 6.2 assists, 2.8 turnovers, 43.5% FG%, 20.0% 3pt%, 68.5% FT%
Shaquille Harrison – 2 starts
In desperate need of another backup point guard late in the year, McDonough signed Shaquille Harrison in mid-February, a G-League standout, for the remainder of the season, potentially with a guaranteed contract for next year as well.
Serving the majority of his time as a backup, Shaq played with boundless defensive energy and determination, impressing the entire Valley of the Suns in his first appearance when he snagged four steals against the Los Angeles Clippers, a feat he followed up five days later against Memphis, and a month after that versus the Clippers once again.
Shaq would end up averaging 1.1 steals per game and 2.4 steals per-36 minutes, leading all Suns in each category who made a minimum of six appearances.
The Little Shaqtus would earn two starts as well this season as well, the first coming against the Charlotte Hornets following an injury to Devin Booker who had been playing time at point up to then, and boy did he not disappoint. In just over 20 minutes, Harrison scored 14 points, dished out 4 assists, and grabbed 2 steals. The Suns, who were down by 22 at the start of the fourth quarter, came within a bucket of tying the game with two minutes left before Charlotte was finally able to pull away and maintain the victory.
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Harrison would then start the final game of the season, in Dallas, a surprising 27-point victory in which he recorded career-highs with 18 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double. Harrison was slightly overshadowed by Alec Peters‘ 36 points with eight 3-pointers, but it was still a tremendous start for the rookie point guard none-the-less.