Phoenix Suns: Grades for every player this season
Kelly Oubre Jr.
Grade: A+
Stats: 18.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists per game
It’s amazing how many players put up career-high or near career-high numbers with the Phoenix Suns this season. Even vets like Booker and Rubio fit into this category. So does Kelly Oubre Jr.
After showing a surge in scoring during his brief time in Phoenix at the end of last season, Tsunami Papi exploded this year, posting nearly 19 points per game compared to his 9.4 career average coming into this season.
More than anything else though, Oubre gives this team some much-needed personality, and that goes a long way.
Related Story. A statistical dive into Kelly Oubre's time with the Suns. light
Let’s face it: Devin Booker is awesome, but his introvert-at-heart gamer persona doesn’t make anyone think ESPN or TNT is already eyeing him for color commentary post-retirement.
And Ricky Rubio’s “never-too-high-never-too-low” mantra is a great line to use after an ugly loss or bad play, but sometimes (and don’t take this the wrong way) I want to get too high. I want the players to get too high. I want to see some excitement.
Kelly Oubre is a walking bag of excitement. Within months of being here, he already created the perfect embodiment of a group persona, “The Valley Boyz,” and the city instantly fell in love it.
He’s not just some marketing brain though, he also leads the team in dunk posterizations and hit a number of clutch 3-pointers.
He did miss the bus one time, but haven’t we all?
I don’t see how anyone could give Oubre anything less than a stellar rating this season.