Suns News: Week 21 3/5-3/11

[The Bobster]

Look for Earl Watson to be there soon!

(or maybe not.)

[Split T]

From Zach Lowe's weekly column. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2269 ... s-math-nba

When Phoenix forgets that shooting is a thing
The Phoenix Suns are awful regardless of who is on the floor, but when they sit both Devin Booker and Dragan Bender, they somehow manage to trot out lineups featuring precisely zero capable 3-point shooters. In 2018, you should get a trophy for that.

Talent and smarts can make up for a shooting deficit, but you need at least some spacing to function. I don't really care how much off-the-bounce juice, old-school spunk and distracting hair a grouping of Elfrid Payton, Josh Jackson, TJ Warren, Marquese Chriss, and Alex Len (or Tyson Chandler) brings to the table. They are not going to be able to score.

The Suns have managed 98.0 points per 100 possessions when both Booker and Bender sit, per NBA.com -- almost two points below Sacramento's league-worst team mark. Since they acquired Payton -- one of the league's brickiest point guards -- that number has cratered to about 86.5 points per 100 possessions. Even in a tiny sample -- just 63 minutes since the trade deadline -- it is hard to be so futile. Opponents have outscored the Suns by 56 points in those 63 minutes. Sickening. (Thankfully, Phoenix didn't sabotage themselves with any such minutes until garbage time Thursday against Oklahoma City. Troy Daniels also provides a shooting buffer at times.)

Bender has games in which he doesn't do anything, but he's shooting 38 percent on 3s. Defenses at least have to honor him.

Payton was worth a low-cost flier -- and perhaps a longer look depending on his market in free agency. But entering its eighth consecutive draft lottery, Phoenix still has a gaping hole at point guard and an alarming shortage of 3-point shooting. It is almost astonishing how much Booker has improved his playmaking in this environment. The second he turns the corner on a pick-and-roll, he sees four and sometimes five defenders walling off every pathway to the basket.

[Indy]

Ouch. Just imagine the difference in our team if we had a single player besides booker that was a good NBA shooter.

[specialsauce]

From Zach Lowe's weekly column. http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2269 ... s-math-nba

When Phoenix forgets that shooting is a thing
The Phoenix Suns are awful regardless of who is on the floor, but when they sit both Devin Booker and Dragan Bender, they somehow manage to trot out lineups featuring precisely zero capable 3-point shooters. In 2018, you should get a trophy for that.

Talent and smarts can make up for a shooting deficit, but you need at least some spacing to function. I don't really care how much off-the-bounce juice, old-school spunk and distracting hair a grouping of Elfrid Payton, Josh Jackson, TJ Warren, Marquese Chriss, and Alex Len (or Tyson Chandler) brings to the table. They are not going to be able to score.

The Suns have managed 98.0 points per 100 possessions when both Booker and Bender sit, per NBA.com -- almost two points below Sacramento's league-worst team mark. Since they acquired Payton -- one of the league's brickiest point guards -- that number has cratered to about 86.5 points per 100 possessions. Even in a tiny sample -- just 63 minutes since the trade deadline -- it is hard to be so futile. Opponents have outscored the Suns by 56 points in those 63 minutes. Sickening. (Thankfully, Phoenix didn't sabotage themselves with any such minutes until garbage time Thursday against Oklahoma City. Troy Daniels also provides a shooting buffer at times.)

Bender has games in which he doesn't do anything, but he's shooting 38 percent on 3s. Defenses at least have to honor him.

Payton was worth a low-cost flier -- and perhaps a longer look depending on his market in free agency. But entering its eighth consecutive draft lottery, Phoenix still has a gaping hole at point guard and an alarming shortage of 3-point shooting. It is almost astonishing how much Booker has improved his playmaking in this environment. The second he turns the corner on a pick-and-roll, he sees four and sometimes five defenders walling off every pathway to the basket.

He is so right

[ShelC]

Been saying that about our shooting.

[In2ition]

Shooting and low post production, what else?

[Split T]

Shooting and defense are by far our biggest issues

[Mori Chu]

Shooting is at such a premium in today's NBA, it is criminal that we acquire so many players who are outright bad at it. This is why I like Daniels; he's at least an average to above-average distance shooter. We need way more guys like him and way fewer guys like Chriss, Chandler, etc. who defenses don't have to honor. This is also why I was so against drafting Josh Jackson, though I concede he's played better in the past month or two.

[specialsauce]

Sorry Mori. You completely lost me at “We should have more players like Troy Daniels.” He had a good 2 months to start the year shooting. Dude can’t do jack shit otherwise and has terrible IQ and shot selection.

[Indy]

You lost me with most of that, Mori. Shooting isn't a premium right now. It is the barrier for entry. It is the low bar. If you are not hitting 11 threes a game at better then 35%, you are not making the playoffs. Period.

In addition, you need to stop the other team from hitting a lot of threes, at a good clip. Daniels doesn't help with that, at all.

Actually--Just looked it up. The only playoff team/bubble team that isn't above both of those is OKC.

[Mori Chu]

Sorry Mori. You completely lost me at “We should have more players like Troy Daniels.” He had a good 2 months to start the year shooting. Dude can’t do jack s*** otherwise and has terrible IQ and shot selection.

I take your point. I guess what I mean is that I'd rather acquire more players like that. I'd rather find a bunch of shooters and figure out if they're keepers, rather than acquiring players who we know can't shoot and probably will never be above-average shooters.

[specialsauce]

Sorry Mori. You completely lost me at “We should have more players like Troy Daniels.” He had a good 2 months to start the year shooting. Dude can’t do jack s*** otherwise and has terrible IQ and shot selection.

I take your point. I guess what I mean is that I'd rather acquire more players like that. I'd rather find a bunch of shooters and figure out if they're keepers, rather than acquiring players who we know can't shoot and probably will never be above-average shooters.

I get what you’re tying to say, but again you lost me at “players like that.” Troy Daniels is not a player worth seeking. Shooters are. He had a good 2 months to the year and his shooting numbers since then have been incredibly average.

[Superbone]

Sorry Mori. You completely lost me at “We should have more players like Troy Daniels.” He had a good 2 months to start the year shooting. Dude can’t do jack s*** otherwise and has terrible IQ and shot selection.

I take your point. I guess what I mean is that I'd rather acquire more players like that. I'd rather find a bunch of shooters and figure out if they're keepers, rather than acquiring players who we know can't shoot and probably will never be above-average shooters.

I get what you’re tying to say, but again you lost me at “players like that.” Troy Daniels is not a player worth seeking. Shooters are. He had a good 2 months to the year and his shooting numbers since then have been incredibly average.

If he were forced to only take good shots, they would be much better.

[O_Gardino]

You lost me with most of that, Mori. Shooting isn't a premium right now. It is the barrier for entry. It is the low bar. If you are not hitting 11 threes a game at better then 35%, you are not making the playoffs. Period.

In addition, you need to stop the other team from hitting a lot of threes, at a good clip. Daniels doesn't help with that, at all.

Actually--Just looked it up. The only playoff team/bubble team that isn't above both of those is OKC.

SAS hit 8.6 per game and are 28th in the NBA. .353 for 22nd in the league in 3pt%. They're special, though.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/te ... /2018.html

[Mori Chu]

Sorry Mori. You completely lost me at “We should have more players like Troy Daniels.” He had a good 2 months to start the year shooting. Dude can’t do jack s*** otherwise and has terrible IQ and shot selection.

I take your point. I guess what I mean is that I'd rather acquire more players like that. I'd rather find a bunch of shooters and figure out if they're keepers, rather than acquiring players who we know can't shoot and probably will never be above-average shooters.

I get what you’re tying to say, but again you lost me at “players like that.” Troy Daniels is not a player worth seeking. Shooters are. He had a good 2 months to the year and his shooting numbers since then have been incredibly average.

I won't claim he's a great player or anything. But he's shooting 39% from 3 this season. That's not chopped liver. His 2-point shooting is awful, and I agree with others that his shot selection is not good. But I don't think it is fair or accurate to say that he is a bad shooter when you look at that 3-point percentage. He takes a decently high volume of them, too, so it isn't just some stat propped up by a small denominator.

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/248 ... oy-daniels

We acquired Daniels because the stats indicated he was a good shooter. We got him for a low price to give him a look and see if he was worth keeping. He may not be. But I at least don't mind grabbing guys with good shooting stats for low prices (and/or through the draft) and seeing if they can turn into valuable shooters for us.

[ShelC]

For me, Daniels should be an Eddie House, heat check kinda player. Not really a rotational guy, but if he gets hot you roll with him. Probably another guy getting more time than he should. I'd keep him though for cheap.

[O_Gardino]

I think Marty makes a good point. We should have more shooters. Daniels is a shooter. He was a good acquisition, especially in a tank year.

If we want to win, we need a different backup 2, but I'm glad we got a shooter when Reed got inured.

[specialsauce]

Sorry Mori. You completely lost me at “We should have more players like Troy Daniels.” He had a good 2 months to start the year shooting. Dude can’t do jack s*** otherwise and has terrible IQ and shot selection.

I take your point. I guess what I mean is that I'd rather acquire more players like that. I'd rather find a bunch of shooters and figure out if they're keepers, rather than acquiring players who we know can't shoot and probably will never be above-average shooters.

I get what you’re tying to say, but again you lost me at “players like that.” Troy Daniels is not a player worth seeking. Shooters are. He had a good 2 months to the year and his shooting numbers since then have been incredibly average.

I won't claim he's a great player or anything. But he's shooting 39% from 3 this season. That's not chopped liver. His 2-point shooting is awful, and I agree with others that his shot selection is not good. But I don't think it is fair or accurate to say that he is a bad shooter when you look at that 3-point percentage. He takes a decently high volume of them, too, so it isn't just some stat propped up by a small denominator.

http://www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/248 ... oy-daniels

We acquired Daniels because the stats indicated he was a good shooter. We got him for a low price to give him a look and see if he was worth keeping. He may not be. But I at least don't mind grabbing guys with good shooting stats for low prices (and/or through the draft) and seeing if they can turn into valuable shooters for us.

Look up his shooting % by month. He was above 40 the first two months of the season and has been absolutely average since. Nothing about him is special

[Danimal]

For me, Daniels should be an Eddie House, heat check kinda player. Not really a rotational guy, but if he gets hot you roll with him. Probably another guy getting more time than he should. I'd keep him though for cheap.

Agreed. It's more he has been giving there green light to shoot at a costs and consequently his shot selection has gone to hell even if he is stone cold. Probably wouldn't happen if we didn't have so many guy who were projects on offense, a Portland style offense which is designed for good shooters (which we dont have) and most of season with awful pg play.

[bajanguy008]

Even though I can clearly see our struggles shooting when watching the game the stats in that Lowe article is depressing.