Before the Phoenix Suns wrap up their short four-game preseason schedule, they may have given a glimpse into a surprise copycat offense no one was expecting.
Minus their starting point guard, starting power forward, and superstar shooting guard, the Phoenix Suns managed to shoot 53.3% from beyond the arc against the Portland Trailblazers in their third preseason game, nailing a whopping 24-45 3-pointers on the night (the franchise’s regular season record is 22 set on November 14, 2010 at the LA Lakers).
Phoenix also did so too against a Blazers team who was playing their regular rotations. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum each played over 30 minutes, while Hassan Whiteside played 23 (he averaged 23 minutes per game for the Heat last season).
Presumably, Devin Booker, Ricky Rubio, and Deandre Ayton will each get some run in the team’s final tuneup against the Denver Nuggets, which means that new head coach Monty Williams will get to run out his own regular rotations for the only the second time in the four-game preseason slate.
Regardless of the final score, as a full unit, the Phoenix Suns need to continue to shoot 3’s at the rate that they attempted them at Portland, and continue to make that aspect of their game one that can be counted on throughout the regular season.
As fans and talking-heads alike have speculated as to what the new offense will look like, Monty and the Suns may have given a glimpse of it against Portland: a copy-cat strategy akin to Mike D’Antoni‘s Houston Rockets.
It is pretty inarguable that the Phoenix Suns do not have the talent to compete with some of the best teams in the league without doing something dramatic that teams will have difficulty attempting to stop, and arguably should not be a playoff contender at all this season.
However, they could potentially shoot their way into the conversation ala the Houston Rockets if they jack up shots at a rate that Phoenix’s Western Conference rival does – and make them.
Granted it was a preseason game, but let us put this into perspective: not only did the Suns make more 3’s than the franchise has ever made in a single game, but it was the most they have ever attempted as well, surpassing the franchise-record 43 vs the Sacramento Kings on December 4, 2018.
In the recent past, the Suns as a franchise have not been a very good 3-point shooting team; in fact, they were worst in the league each of the last two seasons, and third worst three years ago.
Fortunately, Dario Saric, Cameron Johnson, Ty Jerome, Aron Baynes, and Frank Kaminsky look to change that.
As has been discussed numerous times this offseason, the Phoenix Suns’ roster is far different and far more adept to a man as an outside shooting team than literally has been since the Steve Nash and Alvin Gentry era.
Obviously, James Jones has built his current roster with such a skill-set in mind for a reason: and that isn’t to walk the ball up court slowly and throw it into the post on every possession.
Primarily, with Ricky Rubio, he wants to get the ball out into the open and through consistent passing, get as many wide-open 3-point shots as possible.
It appears that he wants the Phoenix Suns to be a prolific 3-point shooting team.
The Portland game could have entirely been a one-off, yet, they have built up their 3-point shooting stamina in each game of the preseason, shooting 23 against Sacramento (making 7), shooting 33 against Minnesota (making only 6), before their 24-45 outburst against the Blazers.
This is why the Denver game is so crucial to figuring out what is their intention this coming season.
If Williams has a full compliment of players, and they do not shoot near 40 3’s, then it might mean that the Suns plan on attempting to put together a much more balanced offense.
If, however, they do chuck up a great number of them, then it is very possible that you will see a third Phoenix victory when all is said and done.
Last season, the Houston Rockets attempted 40 or more 3-pointers 63 times, 45 or more 41 times, and 50 or more 22 times.
They have also attempted 50 or more in all four of their own preseason games in 2019, and 64 or more twice.
Needless to say, even with their one 45 attempt game, the Phoenix Suns are still pretty far off from Houston if they are going to attempt to match their regular season rate on any level.
The Rockets do very much live and die by the 3 too though, which would be something that Suns fans would have to get used to themselves if Jones and Monty employed the Mike D’Antoni offense.
When the Rockets shot above the 2018-19 league average of 35.5% on any particular game, they were 33-6.
When they shot below that average, they were 19-23.
When they shot under 30.0% on the night, they were 4-12.
Last season the Phoenix Suns were 11-15 above the league-average, 8-48 below, 1-28 when shooting below 30.0%.
But that was last year, a season that had Ryan Anderson, Trevor Ariza, Josh Jackson, and Dragan Bender all chucking 3’s at an obnoxiously poor rate.
So even if Houston Rockets clone truly could be the plan for Monty Williams, the short four-game slate will prevent that offense from being fully realized and thus we could see it develop over the course of several games at the start of the regular season.
Being that it is so new and only one other team in the entire league really plays to this style, it might not even be completely unveiled and functioning until December.
Hopefully the Phoenix Suns do continue their shooting ways and launch over 40 again against the Denver Nuggets (and if you are reading this after the game has been played, obviously you will already know).
Regardless of whether or not they do, there is the chance that the Houston Rockets-style offense could be what James Jones and Monty Williams are looking to employ – an offense that the roster appears entirely capable of playing.