Early in the season, Phoenix Suns’ Coach Mike Budenholzer has been pushing the right buttons
The Phoenix Suns are 5-1 and in second place in a very tough Western Conference. Six games into an 82-game season is a small sample size but this is prime time for overreactions. Much has been said about many players and or topics. Today I want to talk about Coach Bud’s influence early in the season. So far, he has been pushing most of the right buttons.
Here are some of what I feel is right and one that worries me.
Coach’s fingerprints have been all over this season. In our first game of the season, he played 11 —yes, 11 — players in the first quarter! That included the two rookies. So far this season, Coach Bud has played 13 players and used 87 different lineups. Some of that can be attributed to the injuries to Grayson Allen and Bradley Beal but Coach has shown us he is not afraid to try different lineups.
In game four versus the Lakers, the Suns got off to a horrendous start. Down 26-8, Coach Bud called a timeout, and you could tell he was upset with his team. He replaced Booker, Nurkic, and Tyus with O’Neale, Plumlee and Morris. The Suns went on to outscore the Lakers 17-8 the rest of the first quarter and eventually beat the Lakers 109-105. Also, Plumlee started the second half over Nurkic.
Coach Bud said post-game that he was going with the “hot hand,” in this case, it was Mason’s defense and energy. Benching your starting center in the fourth game of the season takes a great deal of fortitude.
When Bradley Beal missed time, Coach Bud went against the grain and started Ryan Dunn instead of Royce O’Neale. Royce’s impact on this team has been undeniable. Read what Brandon had to say about Royce. Dunn rewarded Coach with two stellar starts against the Mavs and the Clippers where he averaged 14.5 ppg and shot 7-15 from deep.
Speaking of Dunn, the buzz around him is well-deserved, he has played extremely well so far this season. I want to give Coach Bud credit for throwing Ryan into the fire early! In the first five games into the season, he guarded LBJ and Harden twice and Luka once. Ryan more than held his own.
During the preseason one of the mantras for this team was to shoot more threes. Last year the Suns took about 33 threes per game, making 38.2 percent. So far this year, yes, I know it is only 6 games, but this team is taking about 40 threes per game and shooting the same percentage as the year before, 38.2 percent. This team is making about three more threes per game and taking 7.6 more. So far it appears those boxes on the practice court worked. Let’s see if we can keep it up.
Another area of emphasis was turnovers. In our first two games, we turned the ball over 39 times. In our last four games, we have turned the ball over 45 times. In the last game versus Portland, we had 4 turnovers the entire second half, unfortunately, all 4 were in the fourth quarter when Portland cut a 26-point lead down to 3. Tyus Jones has been as good as advertised, he had only 5 turnovers to 41 assists!
I do have to say something about our defense and rebounding. I was a critic of our small starters, but overall our defense and rebounding have been better than I expected. We are currently 9th in defense, giving up 109.8 and we are 13th in rebounding. The rebounding still is an issue in my estimation.
The one area that concerns me is the amount KD is playing. He is averaging 39.4 minutes per game. I know it is difficult to take one of the greatest players off the court. I think to preserve his health, he should average around 32-35 minutes per game. Last year KD averaged 37.2 minutes per game and he played 75 games, the most he played since his last year with the Warriors.
All this is based on a handful of games and as the season goes on the number of players in the rotation will shrink but early Coach Bud has been experimenting with different lineups. This year’s version of the Suns is deep and versatile which allows you to play in many different ways. These are all examples of Coach’s ability to make in-game adjustments, something that Coach was not known for. Great start to the season and Coach is a big reason for the start. Let’s keep the good vibes going this season, In Bud We Trust!