Oso Ighodaro is making the leap we expected from Ryan Dunn

The Phoenix Suns are having a wonderful season, and sophomore forward Oso Ighodaro is quietly becoming more integral to the winning that is taking place.

After a slow start to the campaign in which he was inserted into the starting lineup as a center and struggled, the 23-year-old has been doing the little things to help the Suns win off the bench.

Jordan Ott raves about impact Ighodaro is having

When speaking to R.org recently in an interview you can read in full here, head coach Jordan Ott said prior to the New Year's Eve loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers that -

"He just connects... he just kinda fills some gaps. We often forget it’s only his second year. Oso’s been great".

When told about his coach's comments on how his game has been evolving this season, the forward was typically calm and didn't get too carried away.

"If he's (coach Ott) saying that, that’s probably good. It’s a good indicator. But yeah, I think that’s something I take pride in".

During that same media availability, coach Ott mentioned that Ighodaro "offensively, he’s able to handle against some pressure when we lack a little ball-handling at times".

It was interesting that he would pick out that side of the ball as where he is having notable impact, because to the untrained eye there is still work to be done to create a consistent offensive package for the player.

The freak athleticism Ighodaro possesses also means that it is what he can do defensively that generally gets people to take notice.

Being able to fly back into a play or make up for mistakes made by teammates, yet coach Ott was onto something here.

The Suns being nearly five points better off when he is on the court this season (114.1), compared to his rookie campaign (109.4).

Better yet, the team doesn't fall off a cliff scoring wise when he's out there either, as their 114.6 point average is right around both league average (14th) and what they're putting up when he is out there.

Having Ighodaro look better with the second unit, which he alluded to himself ("just having the ball in my hands a little bit more, especially with the second unit. Getting into different actions than it is with the first unit") has been an unexpected bonus in this team's development.

While he is clearly trending in the right direction, it has come at a time when fellow second year player Ryan Dunn has stalled some.

Perhaps the explanation for this is that he is more likely to join the starting unit if anybody else is injured, although he only has four more starts (11) than Ighodaro to this point in the campaign.

The hope was always that Dunn could be this roster's version of Mikal Bridges, and on some nights if you squint hard enough he does a serviceable impression.

But as the All-Star break comes into focus and with the Suns continuing to win games, it is the quiet consistency of Ighodaro that has won out and which has helped Phoenix win games.

As Ighodaro himself sees it, "I’m definitely being asked to do a little bit more this year, so I’m trying to do all that while maintaining all the effort and intensity." We've noticed Oso.