Bradley Beal may have just gotten hurt again, but prior to this latest injury he put together his longest, healthiest stretch of play as a member of the Phoenix Suns. We finally got a look at what this team is capable of, and also got to see Beal's impact on some of its problem areas.
Before his initial return back on December 12th, we took a look at several of those areas in which Beal could help the most.
Some improvement, and some regression from deep
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker’s three-point attempts have been a point of emphasis all year, and now those numbers are reaching respectable levels.
Durant has finally cracked the 5 three attempts per game mark, now sitting at 5.1. Booker has soared even higher, now up to 5.8 3PA per game. As expected, Beal’s ability to initiate the offense at times has allowed the other two Suns stars to play off-ball, leading to more attempts.
Booker especially has been benefited from Beal taking on some of the playmaking burden, which has led to his scoring numbers rising right alongside his threes.
Unfortunately, that increase from the stars hasn’t carried over to the rest of the roster. At last check the Suns were getting up just 32.2 attempts per game which ranked them 23rd in the league. That number has now dipped to 31.4, good for 26th place.
That’s not an acceptable number, but it’s not destined to stay that way despite the huge sample size of more than half a season. The Suns trimmed their rotation a bit at the trade deadline, which should lead to an even bigger reliance on snipers Grayson Allen and Eric Gordon.
They also brought in Royce O’Neale, who has consistently taken more than 5 threes a game for the last few years. All told, the Suns should have multiple, high volume three point shooters on the floor at all times.