The Suns try to fix the backup C disaster with Plumlee.

Welcome to the 2024-25 Phoenix Suns Season Preview series, where we embark on a comprehensive journey through the roster. In this series, we’ll break down individual player previews, offering a detailed look at each member of the Suns’ lineup. We’ll recap their performance from last season, highlighting key moments and areas of growth, and analyze how their skills, experience, and roles will contribute to the team’s championship aspirations.

Whether it’s the seasoned veterans or the rising stars, each player has a unique role in what could be a defining season for the franchise. Join us as we explore the potential and challenges that lie ahead for the Suns in their pursuit of basketball glory.

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Mason Plumlee

Center, 6’10”, 254 pounds, 34 years old, 11 years of NBA experience

The brother of the former Sun Miles Plumlee was the 22nd pick overall of the NBA 2013 Draft out of Duke by the Brooklyn Nets, just a year after the franchise’s move from New Jersey.

Plumlee spent four years in college and was the epitome of consistency. He improved his numbers year after year and garnered multiple recognitions and awards.

Heading into the draft, the scouts identified him as being NBA-ready with his solid frame and overall athleticism. Plumlee spent his whole rookie season with the Nets posting 7.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and under a block per game. He was on the All-Rookie 1st team and finished 4th overall in the Rookie of the Year race.

After bouncing around the NBA — he’s played with six teams in his 11 years — he is now a member of the Phoenix Suns.

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2023-24 Recap

Mason Plumlee spent the last two seasons with the Clippers, mainly playing behind Daniel Theis as a third-string center. This was a demotion, as he mostly served as the first backup big in the prior season behind Ivica Zubac.

Plumlee finished last season with 5.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists.

During his first media availability, he shared how the decision-making process took place and cited the overall roster as the thing that really attracted him to sign with the Suns.

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Contract Details

With his 11 years of experience, the Suns signed Plumlee to a one-year, $3.3M veteran minimum deal per Spotrac, which was their first signing during the free agency period.

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Strengths & Weaknesses

Let’s start with his strengths. We’ve only seen Mason Plumlee when he plays against the Suns, and every time, from just an eye test, you can see that he perseveres and works hard on both ends of the floor. He was unselfish, setting screens for his teammates, grabbing rebounds, and getting high-quality shots. Let’s dive into those with numbers.

Screens / Pick & Roll

Mason Plumlee can score in multiple ways around the paint: putbacks, jump hooks, off a drop pass, hoops from alleys, off cuts, you name it, but he’s most effective in a pick-and-roll situation.

As Gerald Bourguet from PHNX wrote in his article, Plumlee ranked 93rd percentile per 75 possessions in screen assists, freeing up the Clippers’ own big three and scoring effectively when he gets his chance.

Certainly, with how his career has played out thus far, a consistent, hard-working, and still athletic big is a welcome sight.

Rebounding

Mason averaged 5.1 rebounds last season with the Clippers and 6.9 rebounds the season before. Given his 15 minutes per game, this isn’t too bad. Compared with last year’s backup big (He, who must not be named), the Suns may get one or two more rebounds. It wasn’t too long ago when he averaged 9.7 rebounds with the Charlotte Hornets in the 2022 season before his trade to the Clippers.

Quality Shots

NBA Bigs are supposedly the players with the most efficient field goal percentage, but with the modern NBA, bigs are expected to shoot from deep and stretch defenses to be considered playable. This is not the case for Plumlee; he is one of those old-school Centers who can still be effective just by taking shots around the rim. As much as the ability to shoot thress is one factor that we could put as his weakness (and we’ll get to that later), we cannot deny the fact that Plumlee has one of the better percentages around the rim, with his career average being the eighth-best career field goal percentage in NBA history (Min 2,000 career FGs made).

And, oh, did I mention that he had a positive plus-minus last season?

And now some of the weaknesses…

Outside Shooting

Plumlee’s glaring weakness is his outside shooting. For big men of his age, improving into at least a decent three-point threat over the years is almost a requirement for coping with the modern NBA. Plumlee has a career average of 4.3% from deep and did not make a single shot from beyond the arc last season.

We may be able to give him a pass on this one since he’s mostly not going to have to take them except for late-clock situations with no other options, but with a roster like this, how is that going to happen? But it is worth noting due to the offensive system that Head Coach Mike Budenholzer implements.

Defense

Plumlee has never been known as a plus defender throughout his career. He mainly struggles with drop coverages and bigs with a lightning-fast first step.

But credit to him; in his limited minutes and games played, he was just a tad worse than the league-average defensive rating among centers last season at 112.8. He can alter some shots around the rim with his long arms.

Durability

Overall, Plumlee has been a durable player in his career. His lowest number of games in his career was 46, which was just last season due to an MCL injury that kept him sidelined. This could be troubling relative to his age, but we will see.

Silly Turnovers

Plumlee has some decent handles and has shown this ability throughout his career. This could come in handy if the defense pressures the Suns’ guards and wings.

Plumlee’s not really a turnover machine. Taking a sample from the season before the last, when he played 79 games, the league average for centers was 1.2 TOs per game, and Plumlee checked out at 1.5 in his 26 minutes per game

This is not something to worry about if the Suns do not give him that many minutes every night, but it is definitely worth mentioning, given this team’s turnover issues last season.

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One Key Factor

Numerous questions were raised about why the backup Center position miserably failed a year ago. Did the Suns have the right guy, but the system wasn’t right? Or could it be that the guy playing the position is a third-string type, and they played him too much? Answers may come to light this next season when the Jazz starts playing, and we might kick ourselves in the gut, although unlikely.

Regardless of whether Plumlee plays second or third string, he brings consistency and all-out effort to the table, which we’ve seen from him each time he played against the Suns in the past.

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Prediction

Let me pick a bone and throw it into the fire…Here’s what I got:

62 GP, 10-14 MPG, 6.9 pts, 5.8 rebs, 1.9 ast, 0.9 blk and one heated debate with a teammate.

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Final Thoughts

In totality, I feel that Plumlee is an upgrade from last season’s backup, and only time will tell how huge an upgrade he is.

Of course, feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.

I will say this about him, too: He and his predecessor had identical statistics from a year ago despite the disparity in the number of games played, which already speaks volumes.

https://stathead.com/tiny/zSFUG

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Read other 2024-25 Player Previews right here: