Even though he didn’t show he is the future point guard for this franchise, his defense showed promise for the Phoenix Suns.
There is no doubt that the Phoenix Suns need to upgrade their point guard position this summer but De’Anthony Melton proved his case to have a spot on this roster.
Unless the off season turns out to be night and day for him, he is not the answer to the point guard question. That doesn’t mean he can’t be in the future, just that the team needs to get a solid answer for right now.
De’Anthony played in 50 games, shot just over 39% from the field and just under 31% from deep, while averaging 5 points, 3.2 assists, 2.7 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 0.5 blocks in 19.7 minutes per game.
Although his shooting leaves much to be desired at this point in time, as you couldn’t trust him to hit water if he fell out of a boat (see 31% on jump shots), the rest of his stats were fairly solid (5.8 assists, 4.9 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 0.9 blocks per-36 minutes).
The team struggled, to put it lightly, at point guard and he was asked to do a lot and wasn’t ready for that. What you need to keep in mind though is he was a rookie, and a second round pick at that.
If you look at him as such, he is already showing that he can be a rotational piece on the roster. If you look at him as a starting point guard right now, you will see a failure, which just isn’t fair.
In 6 G League games, he averaged 18.5 points, 7 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Yeah, it’s only the development league but those aren’t bad numbers at all and developing is what he should be doing right now, not being thrown into the fire as an NBA starter.
Melton is about as raw as a steak that hasn’t been cut off the cow yet but he has upside and potential in this league. His offense needs a lot of work as it almost seems he’s shooting with the lights off but he has shown streaks and has had stretches where he shows off his play making.
His defense is already a solid factor in the NBA.
One such streak is from January 8th to 15th, a 4 game stretch where he averaged 2.8 steals and 1.8 blocks in 27.8 minutes per game.
He also ranks in the top 25 in deflections per game, which shows his potential is already coming to life as a very pesky and annoying defensive player. It can only get better from here on out and couple him with Mikal Bridges and you have a duo that can be a defensive wrecking ball to opponents.
Melton has a very bright defensive future in the association and the Suns would be smart to hang onto him, let him develop and reap the reward as time goes on.