Your weekly Inside the Suns analysis straight from the BSotS community who live and breathe the team.
Welcome to Inside the Suns, your weekly deep down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.
Each week the Fantable – a round table of Bright Siders – give their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.
Fantable Questions of the Week
Q1 – What’s your opinion of Budenholzer’s adaptations to playing with Kevin Durant sidelined by injury and what else might he try?
GuarGuar: I think Bud’s done a pretty solid job so far with KD out rotation wise. Dunn starting is definitely the right move and using Grayson and Royce more offensively has been effective. I can see him giving Bol Bol some minutes against teams where we need a little more size at the power forward position.
Brrrberry: Bud’s overall feel for the flow of the game and how he’s adapted has been impeccable thus far. I second guessed what he was doing for the first time in the Kings game last night when I think he should’ve ran Dunn out there to try and cool down Derozan. That said I still think Bud coached a pretty damn good game, with Book deferring like he was, missing KD and Nurk to take a talented team like the Kings to OT is somewhat impressive. Ultimately all we were really missing to notch another win was Booker doing his thing scoring the ball as I think the coaching was on point.
It’s pretty obvious that Bud’s desire to have the entire team take more 3s has been most difficult for Book. A significant % of his scoring for a decade has been in the midrange and you can tell there’s a conscious effort on his end to not be taking those looks which isn’t ideal because it takes away the unconscious mindset he’s got when at his best. So while I think it’s something Book needs to sort through and find his way into a rhythm, if there’s any way the coaching staff can help him adapt to the change in philosophy I hope they’re working on it. Potentially they just need to dial back the insistence that he shoots a considerably more 3s than he has in the past and give it a bit of time?
I’m not certain what the right answer is but I’m glad Vogel and Kevin Young aren’t the ones who it’s incumbent upon to provide a solution. While I’d like to see him scoring 30+, you gotta give the guy props for how he’s passing the ball, 24 assists in last 2 games and 10th in the league in assists (Tyus 20th for comparison sake). He generates A LOT of high quality looks for his teammates.
Rod: I liked what he did in the 1st game early but I’m not too sure of his late games decisions, especially with keeping Dunn on the bench down the stretch. There was no mention of it post-game but I swear I thought I saw Dunn limp a little in the short time he was in following one play early in the 4th. Since he missed the previous game due to an ankle injury and didn’t finish the game, I was worried that he had tweaked it again but no one has said anything about it so that might have just been a misconception on my part… but it would explain why he didn’t return for the rest of the 4th or the OT period.
In the Utah game, I feel as though his adjustments were better but the Suns were also obviously playing a lesser team in that one. One thing’s for certain though, the Suns really do have a deep bench and the problem facing him is who to put in, when and how much time to give them rather than not having the pieces to fill in with and make it work. I liked seeing him experiment with different lineups in the 2nd half of last night’s game, even before it got out of hand. Was glad to see that he’s open to it.
Q2 – What’s your opinion of Grayson Allen’s play so far this season?
GuarGuar: Grayson has been pretty streaky so far this year. He’s had some really great shooting games but also some real stinkers. I’ve been very impressed with everything else he’s doing though defensively and playing through the offense. It’s good to see him drive the ball when the shot isn’t falling.
Brrrberry: Obviously he’s having an awful start to the year. I think he may have added a bit too much weight, just like Beal did prior to last season. Beal cut down considerably on his bulk and is moving better. Really though I think it’s too early to really say either way. He missed a chunk of time with “achilles soreness” which is an injury that’d disallow a player from maintaining their conditioning so I think a lot like Nurk, he just needs to play himself into game shape.
Now is the perfect time as his minutes will increase with KD out so I’d like to see the next 5+ games play out before I make any true judgements on his play so far. If he hasn’t ratcheted things up by the time KD comes back, then it may be something to talk about a bit more. I’d be really surprised if he’s not 40%+ from 3 here relatively soon and making a positive impact. Sure could’ve used a better performance from him last night and we probably pull it out in regulation.
Rod: He’s started off a bit slow but I’m not particularly worried about him. He’s had 4 games shooting above 40% from three, 2 at 33.3%, 3 below 33.3% and is currently at 33.9% for the season. He missed two games at the beginning of the season due to the birth of his baby girl and is having to adjust to that at home (I bet he gets more sleep when the team is on the road than when playing at home!) as well as a new role, some new teammates and a new system… as well as a new bulked up body. I believe his performance will just continue to improve as the season goes on and he adjusts to all of the changes.
Q3 – In two games for the Valley Suns, two-way forward Jalen Bridges (6’8”) is averaging 25.5 pts, 3.5 rebs and 1.5 steals per game with a 55.6% FG percentage and shooting 50.0% from three (10 of 20). Should the Suns call him back to the main team to add some frontcourt depth to the bench while KD is sidelined?
Author’s Note: The Suns DID call up both Bridges and TyTy Washington Jr before last night’s game.
GuarGuar: I trust whatever decision the team makes with Bridges. My takeaway is it’s awesome to see him balling out in the G-League and I’m very impressed with his numbers. Getting reps as the number one guy is about as good if development as one can have at this stage.
Brrrberry: I’d venture to guess this is the first time he’s gone 2 games in a row averaging 25+ since HS so I’d keep him down there for an extended stretch and let him get used to being a high volume flame thrower. Eddie Johnson said it last night, that confidence is about 60% of what constitutes a great shooter and he’s spot on with that.
Even though it’s not NBA games, it’s a level above college and if you think about it from his perspective this time last year he was a role player 3 and D guy for Baylor and now he’s the guy on the Valley Suns putting up double what he averaged last year at Baylor. He’s not used to feeling comfortable hoisting up 10 3s in a game so I’d allow him to get used to that. Even with KD out there’s no minutes for him right now still. Even Dunn only got 21 last night when we really could’ve used him defend Derozan.
I know some of the more reactive fans would say to play him over GA right now but that’s an absurd notion so better that he get all the reps down in the G League than coming up here and playing cheerleader. I’m thrilled to see he’s taking his scoring to another level and need to go check out one of their games. I want a Valley Suns jersey too!
Rod: Unless there are more injuries, for now I think it’s best to leave him with the Valley Suns to get more reps/experience. If he continues to play well and KD’s injury takes longer than two weeks to heal, then the option to bring him back to the main team might need to be reconsidered. The Valley Suns are running pretty much the same offense as the main team so playing with them will make for a fairly smooth transition if he’s needed to be called up.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Rookie & Two-way Players Report
Ryan Dunn – 17.8 mpg, 7.3 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 0.4 TO, 2.4 PF, 46.3% FG%, 37.8% 3P%, 25.0% FT%
Oso Ighodaro – 11.0 mpg, 2.7 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.1 apg, 0.3 spg, 0.4 bpg, 0.6 TO, 1.6 PF, 57.1% FG%, 0.0 3P%, 100.0% FT%
Collin Gillespie – 3.4 mpg, 3.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg, 0.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 0.0 TO, 0.0 PF, 50.0% FG%, 100.0 3P%, 0.0% FT%
Jalen Bridges (Valley Suns stats) – 31.2 mpg, 25.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.3 spg, 0.7 bpg, 2.0 TO, 1.0 PF, 53.6% FG%, 50.0 3P%, 50.0% FT%
- Suns stats – 5.8 mpg, 1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 0.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 1.0 TO, 0.0 PF, 00.0% FG%, 00.0 3P%, 50.0% FT%
TyTy Washington Jr (Valley Suns stats) – 31.7 mpg, 24.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 8.3 apg, 2.0 spg, 0.7 bpg, 1.0 TO, 2.3 PF, 47.3% FG%, 61.1 3P%, 85.7% FT%
- Suns stats – 16.0 mpg, 8.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 0.0 TO, 0.0 PF, 50.0% FG%, 66.7 3P%, 00.0% FT%
Statistics courtesy of NBA.com.
Last Week’s poll results
Last week’s question was “Should Bol Bol be getting some playing time?”
16.6% – Yes.
11.8% – No.
71.6% – I’m good with leaving that decision up to Coach Budenholzer.
A total of 313 votes were cast.
Suns Trivia/History
Oso Ighodaro’s career high 12 rebounds against the Jazz more than doubled the number of rebounds he had for the season going into that game (11).
On November 14, 1997, the Suns’ 140-139 quadruple overtime win over the Portland Trail Blazers was the eighth quadruple OT game in NBA history and the only quad OT game in Suns history. Danny Manning came off the bench to lead the Suns in scoring with 35 points and had a double-double with 10 rebounds. Manning (6 pts) and Rex Chapman (5 pts) scored all 11 of the Suns’ points in the 4th OT to secure the win.
Since then there have been 5 more quadruple overtime games in the NBA, the most recent of which was in 2019 and one 5 OT game back in 1990. The most OTs in a single NBA game occurred way back in 1951 when the Indianapolis Olympians defeated the Rochester Royals 75-73 in 6 OTs.
Quotes of the Week
“He (Mason Plumlee) is super high energy. He is a pleasure to be out on the floor with. He’s communicating at a high level, he’s running at the point center position, just making sure everyone is in their places.” – Devin Booker
“He’s a dog.” – Ryan Dunn on fellow rookie Oso Ighodaro
Important Future Dates
Dec. 3 – Emirates NBA Cup Group Stage concludes
Dec. 10-11 – Emirates NBA Cup Quarterfinals
Dec. 14 – Emirates NBA Cup Semifinals (Las Vegas, NV)
Dec. 17 – Emirates NBA Cup Championship (Las Vegas, NV)
Jan. 5 – 10-day contracts may now be signed
Jan. 10 – All NBA contracts are guaranteed for the remainder of the season
Feb. 6 – NBA Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET)
Feb. 14-19 – NBA All-Star break
This week’s poll is…