1-5-23 Phoenix Suns Media Availability: Frank Vogel, Devin Booker, and Grayson Allen

1-5-23 Phoenix Suns Media Availability: Frank Vogel, Devin Booker, and Grayson Allen

Best Mo you guys have had this year what’s standing out to you right now the game yeah you know really two things you know uh defensively probably our best game plan execution of the year uh was a big point of emphasis after the after the Clipper game you know even though um

There was a lot of guarded possessions where they made tough shots our our game plan ex execution could have been better and I thought our guys responded tonight and uh you know maybe had our best of the Year this team’s very difficult to guard even with Butler out uh like I

Said they won five and five and one five last six without Butler and um our guys really brought on a defensive side of the ball held him again to under 40 points in the paint I think 30 36 points in the paint it’s a point of emphasis

That we’re trying to get better at with containment with our gaps with our low man um uh commitment you know whether it’s a a low man small or our FES just blocking shots at The Rim our paint defense is getting better and then offensively the trust right the trust

And uh trying to get the right guys the the the right shots um more shots for our laser three-point Shooters Grayson Allen gets 14 goes nine for 14 uh Brad and book got some and uh and then those guys rewarding it back uh you know to to

Some of the the role players so uh the trust is building 30 assists book and Brad 19 assists between the two of them and uh those two things combined you know I was happy with uh the overall performance and and we closed it out like there’s been times we’ve been up 15

20 points and allow teams to get back in it so that’s another step for us as well is what you feel like with keys to slowing down hero tonight yeah I mean we just you got to chase him I mean not to get it too far into into what our plan

Is with him but you got to chase him inside the three-point line and then and then swarm him you know the best you can and it’s difficult to do with bam as the roller right because the more you you commit off a bam then he gets going

Behind so they got uh they got a lot of guys that can hurt you you know like I said this is not a I want to understate how how excited I am about holding that team under 100 points another thing I have with with with Grayson you

Repeatedly said his value to this team is high one of the best players on the team how good was it for you to see him not only finding the three but being aggressive and looking for a shot yeah I mean it’s look when when our team shares the basketball okay the basketball guys

Reward you you know what I mean and uh he’s always been aggressive you know sometimes we don’t get enough shots for Eric Gordon and Grayson Allen you know but we’re you know we’re training our Our Stars to look for those guys and we’re training our role players you know

To to make smart plays with one morees like when they have a one more to those guys you know look for them as well you know um so Grayson Eric Gordon as well you know we’re trying to get more threes for those guys and uh paid off tonight offensively obviously you

Mentioned the 30 assists but also just nine turnovers what has been clicking to just kind of take care of things a little better and not not c those up yeah I yelled at our team for having 17 last game before the game you know I

Said there’s a lot of things we did well in the Clippers game but we don’t turn the ball over 17 times you know we’ll be better you know it’s uh just a it’s a discipline thing you know I mean sometimes it’s about pressure and whatnot you know teams forcing turnovers

But you know the ball security you know is uh is responsible for um is a responsibility of everybody on the floor and um you know we all got to be better there how’ you see the guys respond to the stops and get on and run off them yeah well that’s that’s what we’re

Trying to build trying to build an elite defense without fouling we still foul too much or got called for fouls too much I should say I don’t know if all of them were fouls I wasn’t happy with uh with with all of that but if we defend

Without foul and force misses then we can get this Talent out in the open court where we’re really lethal were there any um Health updates it looked like Bradley had something there and then there was something for PA in nerk as well yeah Bradley’s fine um didn’t

Need to come out of the game or you know set after the game that he’s fine um nerk uh just got hit in the eye you know was more of an eye thing um not a concussion thing and um and B has a right ankle spraying x-rays negative

Coach how important is it for Drew to have a game like this where he basically have the rotation and now tonight worked his way into and play well yeah it was a really good bounce back game for Drew you know he had been struggling uh there

For a bit and you know you combination of him struggling and one US wanted to look at udoka um we had that stretch where he wasn’t really playing and you know those guys have decisions to make you know what’s their attitude going to be like during that time how how are they going

To work to stay ready what kind of things are they going to do uh to improve their their play and and Drew you did all those things he had a positive attitude about it uh really asked a lot of questions about things that that he can do better and uh came

In and had a response game tonight so and it was needed with nerk nerk going out so um good job Drew what was your reaction when Grayson just kept making three after three just caught fire I think it was career high 9 threes as well yes uh get him more get

Him more shots but it’s also was it was I’m I’m happy with why he’s getting them you know we’re we’re really trying to build that trust you know to get our best Shooters more shots you know it’s a it’s a simple thing but um you know something we have been emphasizing the

Last few days and uh you know I know he’s not going to pass him up so if we get him get him enough shots he knows what to do with it when you guys got Gra Trey what was your initial thought of him what you had seen before he got yeah

I mean I I always loved this game you know I I just uh I was surprised that he was in he was I don’t know if he was a late edition but it was I was surprised that he was a part of it and um I was

Like well heck that’s that’s a heck of a a piece you know I was disappointed about losing Kamar you know but you know to get Grayson Allen in that I was really excited about but I didn’t foresee uh the way he’s played for us this year I think he’s exceeded all of

Our expectations from that standpoint um you know a great part of the trade just gron performance overall he tied the franchise record for May Theses with nine and set his own career high for May Theses with nine impressed um I mean you just said it you know he’s a

Sniper um somebody that you know I have a bunch of trust in on the court and not only to to make threes but to play make and you know to defend at a high level too so you know everybody’s going to see the threes made but you know people

Start running him off the line he’s not one of those guys that’s onedimensional where you run him off the line he doesn’t know what to do he still gets in the paint he still draws files and he still makes the right play for other people so you know super impressive what

You think of just the defense overall um they I look at 97 points but uh what you think about how you guys defended them considering you know the last game you know giving up that many uh well you know the game game playing discipline was there you know I think everybody was

On the same page you know there’s more talk out there than there’s been in the past um and that’s a fun way to play so you know something to build on we see that it works U we see that we are locked in to you know sending certain

People um directional you know to their to their weak hand and you know playing people Tendencies today um hero and and Duncan were guys that we’re trying to run off the three-point line make sure they didn’t get any easy looks and you know we held them we held them down pretty

Well’s aing a career high I think all percentages or career highs I mean was there anything about his game that’s surprised you this year or was there you know what what’s kind of been why do you think he’s playing so well uh you’d have to ask him you know

He’s you know he’s just in the flow you know he he makes it look easy it’s not complicated he’s shooting open shots and you know like I said earlier when people try to run him off you know he makes the right play he’s aggressive in transition

Um and he relieves a lot of pressure for us and you know I think teams are going to realize that you know helping off him’s not the option either so it’ll open up easier looks for everybody did you notice with um Brad having the assist he had tonight that he’s growing

Into figuring out how he can create as well with you out there is that something that you can see more of both of you all in that in that role um yeah I mean I love it you know again that’s another thing that takes a lot of

Pressure off me um you know I don’t I don’t want the ball in my hand at the top of the key with five people watching me the whole game um and he he relieves a lot of pressure and um you know he’s just finding his flow too getting back

All the way in in shape and you know he hasn’t played that many games this year so you know he’s just getting better and better as the games go on Coach have mentioned the importance of ball security do you kind of look at tonight as the blueprint only nine turnovers for

What you guys could be offensively when you take care the ball I thought we had 11 it’s 11 11 sorry it’s 11 yeah too many too many still um I mean it’s something that we obviously emphasize and you know the the space basing on certain actions and you

Know remaining in that space and knowing when to cut and when when not to um it’s all the flow and it’s all chemistry that we’re trying to figure out wel sure saw Ricky decided to retire I don’t if you had any thoughts on your year with him and just seeing him make that

Announcement um I mean I could be up here all day you know even though it was just one year it was so impactful to my career and you know just his veteran leadership and his I Q his approach um his Brotherhood too he’s always somebody that would check in

On you um when he was on the team and even when he left too um so an amazing career someone that you know we’ve all been following since he was 15 16 years old in Spain um and he’s gained respect from everybody over here so you know a

Great career I wish he’d play longer but you know everybody makes that decision um and you know I’m going to miss him on the court but he’s a friend forever R he can obviously still go was that one of those moments to you like seeing some things are bigger in basketball for him

Making that decision yeah 100% um and he just had a kid when he was here too and I I know how important family time is um you know so everybody has the right to make that decision he he’s been impactful enough like I said he sacrificed his childhood he’s been you

Know a Phenom since I could ever remember so you know it was his time to hang it up and you know he made that decision you had said when he was here that he helped you become an Allstar maybe just maybe speak to that a

Little bit on what he did for you that one season I mean he he competed you know not only is he you know a point guard that keeps everybody involved you know he had a knack to him or he does have a knack to him he has a chip on his

Shoulder and you know he brought the intensity every night too you know he’s Somebody That You Love on your team but you know hate when he’s on the other team um just annoying getting his hand hands on a lot of balls and being able to you know just control the game you

Know without shooting it and you know that’s really impressive were you or are you surprised you were in the top 10 for fan voting um no I know you have I know that fan voting has been a low number for you in in the voting process do you even care about it or

No okay V crazy got to n tonight with the threes he became the six guy in to do that you were here for three of them do you remember those three put on no fair enough Baines Portland game yeah okay still avilable still on the board got to get the seven

First have you heard about that what that little thing on Twitter years ago I mean I know I haven’t May seven okay it was just this running joke of how when you got to six you were whatever for whatever yeah man I don’t know what it is save for the

Playoffs coach you mentioned uh the team is working on building that trust to get the best Shooters open and you saw that really happen tonight from your perspective what have you seen or have you felt the trust buil amongst the team to get the guys open and get the shots

That they want to see yeah you know I trust everybody out here and you know the communication’s the most important part you know I think when we’re locked in on defense and you know we’re scrambling around and getting Steals and getting out and just playing

Fast you know we we tend to get our best looks um the angles of screens have been great um Drew came in today and you know hasn’t played in a couple and still you know was high energy um and you know he’s just opening himself

Um when we get open looks um that’s our best offense so stay with that that was a career high when you made it last yeah I did uh I knew I was at eight uh kind of thought I was done for the night um then Coach put me in I was

Lucky to get that Swing Swing from Brad open Corner three so when I got that one I shot it like knowing like this goes in this is nine did you know that that tied a career I mean tied a franchise High I didn’t know that

No what was did you could you feel it early that it could be one of those nights for you I I know how like Miami is a really good team defensive uh like they have a really good team defensive scheme they force you to play with the pass um they’re

Going to crowd they’re going to make you make decisions in the crowd they’re going to make you give the ball up early and then they do a good job of getting out late um so I knew that going into the game and I got two good ones early

Where I’m one pass away from book and I think Brad on the second one um and they draw two three guys and kick it out and so I got two good ones early to go in and from that point it’s kind of are they going to adjust and get out of

Their gaps and let Brad book drive get into the paint or they’re gonna keep trying to show and get out for late contest so they mixed it up they did a little bit of both but I was still able to get some of those one pass away um

Shots and and take advantage of that what do you think of uh Drew taking that three after uh I feel like Drew’s got a good percentage from three this year it’s not on many but it’s got to be like two for three two for four something like that

Um I mean I thought it was going in when he shot it have you ever been in I mean I guess the number probably has never been this High cuz we’re just in that era as in the NBA right now but just getting up more than 10 every single night is that

A shift in mentality that you kind of have to have to play that way cuz I’m sure that’s probably more than you you’re used to um yeah I mean it’s fun as a shooter to shoot that many threes um but it is a lot like tonight this one and the Dallas

Game Christmas night like it feels like you’re getting up a lot of shots but um when you play teams that are going to plug and help help and force our main Playmakers book Brad Kev whoever it is to make the extra pass then that’s how you have to beat them

And um I think as a as a team we want to get up more threes um tonight 35 is as a group is pretty good so um however I can help if I can be 14 of those that’s cool but um a lot of it just comes from we

Have such an unselfish group and I don’t get up 143s if book and aren’t making the extra pass all night long and sticking with it and not getting frustrated that they’re not able to drive so um I’m really grateful to play with guys like that there were fans

Shouting for you to shoot whenever you got it but when they pushed you off the line you were still driving how do you kind of stick with that mentality not only not with the record necessarily but with the way you were shooting the ball just still sticking with the downhill

Mentality when it’s there yeah I try to make the same read whether the previous shot has gone in or not um you kind of know that after hitting a few they’re going to close out a little harder and um they were leaving their feet early to

Try to contest and make me and run me off the line so I knew I needed to get downhill get into the paint um I didn’t missed a few at The Rim I would have liked to have back and finish and a few passes I had turned over getting into

The paint I would have liked to have back but um you know being in that spot against the especially against a team like that that tries to Shi take away the three and make you drive into their help defense um to be able to do both is

A big help for offense coach said this might have been the best you guys have executed defensively all year you were part of that big battle inside they love those post entries you guys were really good at preventing them just what did you see from the

Ex uh really starting on the ball we did a great job in our pick and roll coverages um sending sending guys the right way knowing the bigs did a great job being up on on uh Duncan and Tyler and trying to take away that pocket three or pocket shot that they have and

Also getting back to Bam who’s a really good roller really good in the half roll taking those mid-range shots the weak side was pulled over um when they had different lineups in we did a good job switching and frontting the post they’re one of the few teams that’ll Flash and

Do a high low action you don’t see that a lot um but we did a great job fighting and making that pass tough so that they couldn’t just pick us apart with that uh so it was across the board all coverages um switching we didn’t really have to do

Many adjustments because we came into the game and exploit uh executed it right at what point did you feel like you had it tonight I’m sure every night feels different as a shooter such as yourself but when did you feel like oh this might be my night where I’m feeling

It and catching fire um it’s it’s just I don’t it’s I don’t know it’s hard to explain as a I’m not as a guy who doesn’t like I’m not bringing up the ball I’m not our primary point of attack so for me to feel like I

Got it like it’s it’s just more about how what kind of opportunity am I going to get off the ball here am I going to is my contribution to this game going to be that they’re scared to leave me so that book and Brad can get downhill and

Score and I’m good with that or are they going to help off and turn me into a shooter and play one pass away and so from then it’s just making the read like okay if they are going to help off I need to get to that spot that’s one pass

Away so I can take advantage of the help or if they’re not it’s okay I need to get to another spot and prevent them from having a weak side help and get easy dump offs down low or easy drives to the rim with no low man help um so I

Always feel like those those shots kind of one off like if I get them I’m GNA knock them down it just happened tonight that I got too early too uh good looks early and I was I think I got like 10 up in the first half and that’s mostly from

You know playing off of other guys and in the third quarter you guys you as a team did a lot of good things on offense and defense both sides of the ball what was the key in that run um we got a a lot of good stops

There was a a little stretch there where we went through a lull offensively we weren’t scoring for a couple minutes and I looked up and you you kind of get into that up and down game where you’re not scoring and you expect them to make a little comeback but we were getting

Stopped so we held them around that 14 15 16 Mark um and then we did a really good job like when the game slowed down and we got into our halfcourt sets we did a really good job of continuing to move the ball we got player movement um a lot of the small

Small stuff was really good tonight trying to create some confusion up top are they going to switch stay home um just create a little bit of an advantage for Brad and book up top to be a playmaker um and then ex continuing to execute defensively and you know there a

Team that can come back to in the game quickly because they’re three-point shooting and we uh kept them off the line so it good almost halfway through the season do you allow yourself to have any any individual goals I mean like leading the league and three-point shooting or something like that

Um yeah I try not to just because because I try to think about like where where I’m helping the team and like I said some nights it’s not going to be a lot of Threes but I know if I Sprint to the corner someone’s getting an open shot right

Down the middle of the lane because the guy’s not going to leave me so you know I’m not step where we’re not I’m not running off 15 screens and you know our team’s looking for me to for hit threes like we have a bunch of Playmakers and a

Bunch of really good basketball players that are complete scores and passers and to be out there with those guys some some nights it’s going to be be me taking 143 some nights I’m going to take two and I might get five or six assists just dishing so um my goals are

Just to be an efficient an efficient player efficient scorer next to these guys and each game try to contribute and whatever little way will help the team out of all the players that have taken as many threes as you have you’re now first in percentage it’s pretty good efficient I’ll take

That got me beat though well the the sun their Fair sh of injuries unfortunately but yet even with without the big GD you still perform at a high rate can you explain what’s the adjustment like playing with or without you know Kevin Durant and Deon Booker on

The floor like or is there an any adjustment at all to game uh yeah our offense is slightly different based on who we have in there you know we have different lineups if all three are healthy most of the time we got two of them on the court at almost all times um

You know tonight there were some lineups where it’s uh Brad’s just out there and I had to handle the ball a little bit more and bring the ball up and get us into actions and try to get him open um run lineups with book being the

Point and I’m involved in a lot of the actions up top being small small and then Kev being such a postup threat and a matchup threat like a lot of the time it’s I’m being a screener trying to force switches of my guy into him so it’s slightly different stuff but it all

Comes down to the same thing and it’s just you know having five guys out there that are screeners rollers poppers Playmakers um just it helps a lot offensively when you got G out there um but I mean we’re continuing to figure it out and I think that having everyone

Healthy the times that we’ve had everyone healthy like are offensively we’ve looked great like it doesn’t look like a team that’s struggling for guys to find their shots like we’re moving the ball around so well how that uh you guys have not consistently played full 48 minute games

This season tonight was one of the few where you looked like you were intense and out there for the entire for the entire game uh yeah I mean we’ve had a lot of nights where we come out flat to start the third quarter um so it’s an emphasis at halftime guys are talking

About especially when we come in with a big double digit lead in the half like we got to start this third quarter off right and um expand the lead here and then into the fourth like I know early in the season we’ve had some bad fourth

Quarters we gave up big lead so and the fourth it comes down to when the game slows down and you know you get down to under six five minutes and you slow the game down a little bit can we execute in the half court and take care of the ball

And not turn it over not give them easy ones and um if we have any lows offensively can our defense keep us keep us in the game and we did all that tonight so it was a good 48 full game win that I think we’re all happy about

#ComingInHot

Subscribe to get all the latest Phoenix Suns Content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLxlWVVHz2a8SdCfxzVXzQw

Connect with the Phoenix Suns online and on Social:
🔵 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/suns/
🔵 Twitter: https://twitter.com/Suns
🟣 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/suns/
💻 Website: https://www.nba.com/suns/?tmd=1
🟢 TikTok: @phoenixsuns
🟡 SnapChat: phoenix suns

🎟️ PayPal Sixthman Season Ticket Memberships https://www.nba.com/suns/tickets/sixthman/membership