Point: The Phoenix Suns should target Rondae Hollis-Jefferson

The Brooklyn Nets have made Rondae Hollis-Jefferson an unrestricted free agent. If the Phoenix Suns trade Josh Jackson and T.J. Warren, they should target the former UA Wildcat.

As the roster stands prior to the NBA Draft, the Phoenix Suns have a plethora of small forwards in Josh Jackson, T.J. Warren, Mikal Bridges, and if re-signed, Kelly Oubre.

So the idea of signing a player like former University of Arizona Wildcat Rondae Hollis-Jefferson on the surface does not make a whole lot of sense.

Why keep throwing players at a position that really hasn’t been all that big of a problem?

Well, unfortunately, there is a very real possibility that mid-season acquisition Kelly Oubre will be offered a massive contract in restricted free agency that the Phoenix Suns simply cannot match.

Then, the rumor has it that James Jones has been shopping both T.J. Warren and Josh Jackson (along with the sixth overall pick), meaning that if at least one of those two are traded, Phoenix is down to two on the roster and if the Suns happen to trade both this offseason (as I illustrated could be a possibility here), then Mikal Bridges will be left to man the fort alone.

That said, even if either one of Warren of Jackson is kept along with Bridges, a team should always try and be three-deep at every position, and certainly add defense whenever possible.

This is where Rondae Hollis-Jefferson can come into play as a potential free agent signing.

Not required to start, Hollis-Jefferson could be that “third-deep” small forward (although according to basketball-reference, he has played power forward at least 48% of the time the last three seasons, a position the Phoenix Suns lack dramatically, and a position he has both the strength and aggressiveness for), utilized more as a specialty player on the defensive end.

Pure bench; pure defense; while for a team that won only 19 games last season shouldn’t have too many of those luxury-type players on their roster, sometimes there comes a time when filling out a team’s lackluster bench comes from unexpected signings as this one arguably would be.

That said, while he would receive far fewer minutes than any of the four current small forwards ever would here, he also has one very serious flaw to his game: he can not shoot – to a shockingly poor degree.

Rondae has shot 22.3% from beyond the arc in his four-year career and last year drained only 9 of 49 attempts for 18.4% – stats you might accept from a center, but not a 6’7″ forward.

Generally in these situations people will look at a player’s free throw shooting percentage as well and depending on it’s rate will attempt to calculate whether or not a shot can still form.

In Rondae’s case, it was 64.5% last season, and sits at 73.9% for his career.

You do the math.

Here’s the kicker though: shots can be fixed. I am not sure why his hasn’t been in four years in Brooklyn, but maybe for some reason it wasn’t a focus for his coaching staff.

That said, maybe it was  and it didn’t take.

Phoenix Suns

Either way, coach’s will always believe that they can coach up anything and if there is a chance that he can learn a better shot mechanic, he could be a steal.

And here’s why I say steal:  he is not going to be expensive. He will come relatively cheap, and can be had for probably no more than $8 million over two years with a team option for a second season.

If his shot improves, okay. Pick up that second-year option. If not, that’s fine too. Phoenix will have had a solid defender on the bench who was able to fill in when necessary, something the Suns havn’t had in some time.

Think of it this way too: would you “trade” Dragan Bender (who likely is never going to wear a Phoenix Suns uniform again) for Hollis-Jefferson?

Bender’s shot is so  bad that he reached a point last season where he practically refused to shoot from beyond the arc – even if he was left wide open.

The worst of it though was that he also didn’t drive (he almost never had the thought of driving hard to the hole if left wide open), whereas Hollis-Jefferson too knows that he can’t shoot, but his first instinct is to cut to the basket hard  and not only has a lighting quick step to pull off that mentality, but he also does not fear getting hit:

This stat blows my mind: Hollis-Jefferson has a career average of 5.2 FT’s per-36min.

Deandre Ayton averaged 3.1 per-36 last year and nailed his tries at a 74.6% clip (.7% better than Hollis-Jefferson).

Dragan Bender averages 1.2 per-36min (and hits them at a 64.7% rate).

In other words, Hollis-Jefferson takes 0.1 fewer  FTs per-36min than Ayton and Bender combined.

Which means: the defense is picking up fouls more often with Hollis-Jefferson on the floor than when either Ayton and Bender are on the court.

Another stat for you: Hollis-Jefferson is fouled on 20.7% of field goal attempts  in his career.

Bender was fouled on 6.4% of attempts in his career; Ayton on 10.3% attempts.

Sure, the NBA is a shooting league, and if you can get fouls called on your behalf while attempting 3-pointers as frequently as James Harden, Stephen Curry, or Klay Thompson can, do it.

But if you’re not, be aggressive and drive to the hole; aggressiveness will pay off, and it has in a dramatic way for Hollis-Jefferson compared to Deandre Ayton and Dragan Bender.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson isn’t a savior of any kind, but he is a significant upgrade overall over Dragan Bender, he can play the four which the Suns are severely short-handed at, and he would be cheap. The Phoenix Suns should give him a chance.