A statistical dive into Kelly Oubre as a member of the Phoenix Suns

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Phoenix Suns, Kelly Oubre (Photo by Mike Stobe/Getty Images) /

Defense

An active Kelly Oubre Jr. is a terror on the defensive side of the ball. His 1.3 steals per contest this season are in line with last year’s 1.4 steals per game. That is tied with LeBron James for third among small forwards this season. Only teammate Mikal Bridges and Kawhi Leonard average more steals per game from the small forward position.

That is good company.

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Fans are used to seeing Oubre have highlight blocks from the weak side. The eye test is backed up by the statistics. Oubre is tied for third in the league in blocks per game by small forwards; behind Andrew Wiggins‘ 0.9 blocks and again his teammate, Mikal Bridges with 0.8 per game. His 0.7 per game is actually down from his time with the Suns last season, which saw him average 1.0 blocks per game.

While Kelly Oubre is very good at the glamour defensive categories of blocks and steals, he struggles in one-on-one defensive statistics. His defensive rating of 110.4 is an improvement over last year’s 113.3 (lower is better) but is still not good. He allows defenders to shoot 46.5% against him, shockingly worse than Devin Bookers 44.2% and a bit worse than Mikal Bridges 45%.

However, what he lacks in one-on-one defense, he makes up for with hustle defensive statistics.

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