The Phoenix Suns ran the pick and roll at a high frequency and low efficiency last year. To improve the offense and cut turnovers, they should run it less.
The Phoenix Suns loved running their point guards through pick in rolls last season. It didn’t matter who had the ball, how good they were, or what kind of chemistry the had with the rest of the team. No matter the situation, someone was coming to set a screen.
During Mike James‘ 32 games in Phoenix, he was the pick and roll ball handler on 53.9 percent of his possessions. For Tyler Ulis, it was 52.9 percent of the time 71 games. In Josh Gray‘s five games, he was the pick and roll ball handler 50.9 percent of possessions. In Isaiah Canaan‘s 19 games, he was the pick and roll ball handler 42.9 percent of times.
In Eric Bledsoe‘s three games in Phoenix, he was the pick and roll ball handler on 41.1 percent of possessions. Elfrid Payton was that guy 49.5 percent of his possessions in his 19 games in town. Neither one had nearly that high of a percentage during his time on another team.
Of the seven point guards to take the floor for the Phoenix Suns last season, Shaquille Harrison was the only one who wasn’t among the league leaders in pick and roll ball handler frequency.
In total, the Suns ran the pick and roll with the sixth highest frequency in the league at 19.4 percent. Unfortunately, they were 24th in efficiency at just 0.80 points per possession. Running the pick and roll often and at a low efficiency was extremely damaging to the Suns offense last season.
The pick and roll is also a play that causes a lot of turnovers. Combining a young team already prone to turnovers with an offense that encourages turnover-prone action is a recipe for mistakes, and it resulted in the Phoenix Suns finishing with the third most turnovers per game in the league.
To turn the ball over less next season, the Suns should be running less pick and rolls. And when they do run them, they should most often be with Devin Booker as the ball handler and Deandre Ayton as the roll or pop man. Having less talented players run high-turnover plays frequently is something the Suns should be trying to get away from this year.