Take That For Data: Assessing how to build around Suns Big 3
The Phoenix Suns’ season is over, but it’s time to reassess what went wrong with a new episode of Take That For Data! Gerald Bourguet and Stephen Pridgeon-Garner dive into what went wrong during that first-round sweep against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the state of the starting lineup, and how to build around the Suns’ Big 3 of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. Join us for the latest around the Suns and don’t forget to follow the show on social @PHNX_Suns.
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9 Comments
We were still missing a starting power forward and point guard and back up center. Also Grayson Allen. We were a incomplete team
Wish we could get both Zach Edey and Tyler Kolek in the draft this summer
You can trade Allen for Jonathon Isaac who could play both forward spots! He’s tall and long and defensively very good! We should get Tyler Kolek for our point guard in the draft
U need basically DA 😂
If suns get offered two similar young players to mikal and johnson’s level and 2 frps for kd you have to consider. I would just take wiggins kuminga and looney and picks for kd and may be nurkic…
Beal for Hunter and Dejounte makes sense for both teams.
Firing Vogel was inevitable after replacing all the assistant coaches, but it seemed more like a move out of desperation than anything. Our salary situation gives us no other options and as long as we have our current roster, we’re just gonna be a carousel of head coaches
A team with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker is good enough to a guaranteed top 8 seed at the end of the season. Just the amount of attention they attract from defense opens enough opportunities for role players to be maximized enough to win a handful of games themselves. Both are good enough to win you plenty of games individually no matter what kind of defense is played on them. In regular season playing against 29 other teams is easier due to not every team having the personal to be able to outperform them or out match their scoring output. No matter what kind of coach you have Devin and Kevin will be able to do enough to get you into the postseason alone just from their gravity.
As Devin and Kevin are who you are leaning on to get you over, it is easier to dismiss issues you continually observe from role players throughout the season. As the role players I have said will be able to shine enough to put up numbers which looks great contributing to winning enough games all coming from the attention of Devin and Kevin. Certain role player put up numbers which those who look at stats instead of watching the games praise more than their actual in game impact.
The biggest issue why Suns will fail again will go back to Yusuf Nurkic, whose numbers look good but if you watched all 86 games you know why. I won’t go into his major glaring issue which everyone can observe which is not converting layups. Not getting into him flopping about 3 to 5 times a game and laying on the ground while his team is playing 4v5 with a man down. Not getting into how many dare shots he gives up which opponents always convert majority of it or get motivated enough to get their points by any means because they felt disrespected. Won’t make a big deal of how guards or forwards or athletic Bigs blow by him and get easy points.
Those mentioned about Nurkic are to me the least which I have issues with. Especially his layups sometimes I blame Kevin on why he passes to him instead of going up to shoot it himself. If we win those games where he missed several layups, we ignore it but the once we lose, I always see the Suns media and fans go after Kevin because he passed him the ball. Eventually towards the end of the season I even smashed my screen almost when Kevin passed to him and kept asking myself doesn’t Durant know how many times NURKIC has blown those. I calm down because I look back and know anytime a teammate is open or with a mismatch Durant has always passed to them in his entire career.
Let me get back on track on what is the major problem I find with Nurkic. That problem to me is one fans and media praise Nurkic for which is his playmaking. For me going back to the first few games of the season it is one of the most disappointing observations. It just comes down to simple as Nurkic when he has the ball Kevin and Devin are working extra hard to get open to receive it. They are burning more energy on getting open when Nurkic play makes more than anything. It is why by the time we get into the middle of the 3rd quarter they began to wear down leading to stagnant offense in the 4th quarter. It is why you often see the stars go post up in the corners more than game plan as reported. Especially Kevin he is burning so much energy on defense all night, creating his own shot on offense with multiple defenders running to him any time he has the ball throughout the game. What is even more draining is running into walls to get open when Nurkic is play making with an extra defender in his space and same with Booker too.
What does Nurkic do when he has the ball. It is usually standing in one place looking for someone to get open. Why is it hard to get open when he has the ball for others. Because defense is all focused on them not Nurkic. He is not a threat to take an outside shot or even get a midrange shot off and not even a floater. Even if he goes inside which is not many times, he is more intent on drawing fouls than converting layups. When he is fouled, he is not a good free throw shooter so even if they foul him inside, they will take the risk. Known he is flopping a lot; the refs even ignore most of the contact. When he is inside or outside, he is not a threat. So, all defense or opponents must just focus on staying connected to the 4 teammates he is looking for often with an extra defender helping while backed away from Nurkic.
Often after working so hard, you can see Kevin or someone slipping, and Nurkic throws it. It is converted but majority of the time when they catch it the defender is on their space, and they can’t get a clean look to shoot. All those taking place after time has run out while Yusuf was looking for them to get open. Just working too hard to get open in the season is breaking them down as the game goes on and that strategy does not work a lot as they have no juice in the closing minutes.
We often hear Nurkic play makes like Jokic and are so ignorant to only pay attention to the pass without looking at the totality. When Jokic has the ball anywhere on the floor he can get a shot off which forces all 5 defenders to stare at him or run up to stop him leaving someone open for him to play make too. With Nurkic all the defenders must do is when he has the ball have a smile on your face and just stay attached to your man and wait until he gets the pass and make it impossible to get a clean shot or easily strip them leading into a turnover.
Suns can get away with Nurkic play making against teams in regular season but once the top 8 teams who remain face them, they will get exposed again. If your Suns offense is focused on more Nurkic play making it won’t get you anywhere far. Even this year if they just let Booker, Beal, Allen and KD play more of the ball handling instead of letting Nurkic dominate the ball they could have found better chemistry as season went by. Hopefully the next coach is not an idiot who uses someone who doesn’t garner defensive attention as play maker.
The point of someone playmaking means them being a threat themselves and pulling defense into their space allowing others to get opportunities to get open easily. When you are putting the ball in the hands of someone who can shoot or dribble into paint just back off him and pay attention to the others and prevent them from getting open to get the ball. How hard is it to understand we will not get anywhere when playoff come again with that strategy.
Great analyses!