How the Phoenix Suns Can Improve Into an NBA Title Contender During the 2nd Half Of the Season

How the Phoenix Suns Can Improve Into an NBA Title Contender During the 2nd Half Of the Season

Thursday on the podcast I let it slip that maybe just maybe I didn’t quite buy the Phoenix Suns as contenders right now in mid January and I don’t but on today’s episode of lockon suns I’ll tell you why they’re not that far away and what needs to happen for me and more importantly

Reality to show that they are an NBA Contender let’s go you are locked on Sons you’re daily Phoenix Suns podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every Day and we’re back this is locked on Phoenix Suns we’re part of the locked on podcast Network I’m your host Brendan clean a credential media member covering the Suns for the past seven seasons a writer ATS suns.com and the host of the just basketball show wherever you get

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On NBA when you make your first deposit to get that deposit matched up to $100 we will have more from prize picks later on in the show but let’s get to contendership that is uh maybe not a word but it is the topic of today’s show

And look I’m not just doing the show because I got some questionable reactions I know Suns fans want to be optimistic and I’m still optimistic too but I’ve gotten a little bit of feedback at times when I say that they’re not yet a contender not just last night not just

On Thursday show but throughout the season there’s always going to be people who are even more negative than that there’s going to be people who are more positive I want to try today to get straight through the middle and tell you what needs to happen for them to be a

Contender that’s more positive that’s more optimistic so let’s get into that we’ll go offense and defense very easy breakdown here but let’s start with a number that I think is incredibly optimistic incredibly positive for this team something that I’ve been charting throughout the year when the Suns big

Three has been on the court this season they have have a 126.70 point4 offensive rating that is the Indiana Pacers so they’re Head and Shoulders above that when their best three players play you know and honestly if you look toward the playoffs and that’s obviously what we’re doing

Today when you think about winning a title how you look in the postseason matters a lot more than what your rotations and style is in January two of the three guys are going to be on the court at all times the only Twan group that hasn’t

Played well out of that Trio so far is Durant and Beal every other two-man grouping I guess it’s only two others right KD and book be and book has worked great and so no matter how you slice it the super team model from an offensive standpoint is working for this

Team you add Grayson Allen in there and when the big three plus Grayson have been on the court the Suns have a 128. n offensive rating and these are all fairly substantial sample sizes at this point I mean nothing huge but the big three have played 175 minutes together

The big three plus Grayson have played 143 minutes all on the court together that’s we’re getting towards something really uh you know at least you can get your arms around it it might not be the most uh statistically accurate or clear sample yet but we’re getting there and

All indications are that it’s been great now of course if you’re going to paint a negative picture about this offense there’s a few places you would have to go and it’s primarily going to come late in games if you’re painting a pessimistic picture right the suns are up to this sounds bad

To say up to but it is it is it is trending in a good direction 23rd in point differential in the clutch which is literally just last five minutes close game how much are they getting outscored by I believe that it’s down to a minus 17 margin on the season

After uh the most recent Kings game but they still have the second most turnovers in the clutch in the NBA and that brings us to the overall fourth quarter where they still have the worst fourth quarter net rating in the NBA by a huge huge margin and this is another part of what

I’ve been focusing on which you would think doesn’t align with turning the ball over a lot but the suns are also the slowest team in the NBA in the fourth quarter at least when it just comes to possessions per game all right so somehow they’re playing slow more methodical basketball and yet still

Turning the ball over you you don’t see that a lot so it’s just any angle any way that you slice it it’s not been good so now that they’re healthy and you’ve at least seen a few big Beal games though I think he is still getting comfortable and they are still

Integrating him into the offense and as I talked about with Shane Young on Thursday’s show I think there’s a ways to go to incorporate you know primarily nurkic into the equation offensively but also just to get the big three humming running real offense you know they’re

Doing a lot of this playing loose free kind of stuck in the mud basketball a lot of the time I mean that’s tremendous when you look at it as they’re one of the better units in the league and and don’t even look cohesive yet but that’s step

One get cohesive but if I’m looking at what the Suns need to do on the offensive end of the court to become a championship Contender the answer is not much of course because all the things I just showed you are pretty damn good obviously the clutch needs to improve there needs

To be more structure I do tend to think that will come with time and as long as everybody is committed to figuring it out and not playing selfishly and you know communicating being willing to sacrifice and everything else I think that’ll come I think the place that I look whether

It’s the fourth quarter or just overall is the loow hanging fruit is clean up the turnover in rebounding problems I would say that the rebounding is a little easier to do on the defensive end which we will get to but I think if you are able to put more

Size on the court eventually you can also start to re offensive rebound a little bit better but especially the turnovers it’s just it’s not going to cut it to be coughing up the ball in big moments like the clutch or just as often as they do throughout these games and

Expect to compete with the best teams in the NBA right because the reality is those numbers I shared all the best teams in the league have similar numbers when their best players are out there it’s nice that the suns are high up on that list and are

Performing very very well but a an offense that scores at that Mark but turns the ball over a lot is just frankly worse than an offense that scores the ball that well but doesn’t turn the ball over you know like it it’s it’s bad to give up those opportunities to your

Opponent the other thing that they need to do to become a contender on offense as the season progresses and and be even better on offense is they need to pick one of these two things they need to either dominate from behind the ark or inside the

Paint and I think we all know which one it’s going to be it’s going to be behind the ark this is not a team with an older Kevin Durant although he is driving and getting into the pain a lot more than he has he’s not going to be somebody who

Just suddenly starts being a dunk machine that’s not what this team needs from him anyway Devin Booker doesn’t consistently do that Bradley Beal does not consistently do that so what they need to do is have many many more games like the Sacramento win on Tuesday night where they make a concerted effort

Whether that’s lineup decisions just mentality whatever it is to get up as many things threes as possible because they’re a great shooting team when they make when they take them it’s just a matter of taking them and that would go a long way Boston Milwaukee the Clippers the

Nuggets all those teams might have varying levels of how many they take but most of the time it’s going to be more than the Suns and they make them at a high level and so the Suns just need to catch up in terms of the taking and

Their making will carry them a long way the other part is just something they’re already doing honestly is to keep emphasizing free throws okay because the suns are not as I just mentioned a team that dominates around the basket they don’t have you know Prime Derek Rose Prime Dwayne Wade

Uh you know even a I don’t even know who the Giannis right right in the modern times to just constantly put pressure on the basket and get easy layups and dunks or even Shay gildas Alexander who takes a lot of mid-range jumpers but also gets inside too whatever they don’t have that

Guy so if they can be a low turnover team improve on as an offensive rebounding team get up and make a lot of Threes And this last part get to the free throw line as often as they have been to start the season they’re on their way they are the number

One team in free throw rate this season and I don’t think it gets caught up it doesn’t get talked about enough as part of what not like it needs respect or attention or I don’t mean the media kind of talked about I mean we don’t appreciate that when we’re talking about

What makes this team great and it’s an ingredient that they’ve already gotten to so that one is a keep doing it more so than a start doing it but that is going to be a big way that the Suns win games in the postseason and they’re well on their way to winning

That category on a nightly basis already that’s offense it’s a lot closer than it you might think even with how ugly it’s been at times let’s get to defense where it is maybe not quite as close to title contention next first Today’s Show brought to you by eBay Motors our partners at eBay

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The defensive end of the Court what do the Suns need to do to become Championship caliber a real Contender on the defensive side of the ball don’t forget to sign up for lock on suns Insider text alerts guys where on game days you get a intro with injuries keys

To the game and more you get analysis throughout the game you get summaries of all the latest news and rumors I go online I check articles podcasts injury reports opposing team news all so you don’t have to worry about it at all and each week I send out a video breakdown

Of something going on in Suns land that is exclusive to locked on suns Insider subscribers click the link in the show description below or visit join sub text.com lockon Sons to sign up let’s get to defense all right overall the suns are 15th in defensive efficiency when you take out garbage

Time that is over at cleaning theeg glass.com that means that they are 15th and how many points they allow per 100 possessions compared to their counterparts in the NBA however they are bottom 10 in terms of turnover creation so they do not get Steals and blocks and they are bottom

Half in defensive rebounding which means teams tend to get on the offensive glass against the Suns so that’s the work that they have cut out for them another negative right now is that the Suns allow these seventh highest opponent field goal percentage at The Rim this season we talked a little bit

About that with Shane Young on Thursday’s show unfortunately teams are just over the course of the Season feeling more and more comfortable attacking Yousef nurkic at The Rim his field goal percentage allowed within six feet has gone up he’s not limiting opponents quite the way he was early in the season

And it’s stayed consistent all year that that teams are taking those shots and now now they’re making them the Suns also allow well this is we’re onto the positive now okay so negatives they don’t create turnovers they don’t rebound well and they allow a lot of points in the

Paint one good thing despite the offensive rebounding that opponents have been able to do is that the suns are allowing this eighth feest opponent Second Chance points per game overall so it’s almost like there’s this weird dynamic right now where teams are getting getting offensive rebounds and

Yet the Suns have been a good second shot defense that feels like luck to me but okay stats have shown that it’s held up where they’ve succeeded is in the hustle stats and so I found some nice nuggets on this and it leads us to what

I think the blueprint for the rest of the season can be all right they are 12th in deflections per game that’s very solid you know especially for a team that doesn’t create turnovers what that tells me is if they can just get some units to play some real minutes together find some defensive

Differen makers to get give minutes to more consistently and for those guys to earn it then some of those deflections will just turn into turnovers right there’s only so many times you’re going to smack the ball out of bounds or smack it right back to the opponent’s hands rather than

Getting a steal or a block yourself it’s just not likely so that’s a good trending number the other one is that they’re sick in the NBA and loose balls recovered per game so to me that indicates a certain level of playing hard that this team has managed

To maintain you know I think Booker has has made an effort there I think obviously guys like kogi and Goodwin are always going to be in that high in that in that category and so when I look at guys who are culprits I I guess culprit usually

Means a bad thing but uh drivers of the hustle and who tend to be the best turnover creators on this team and can maybe check a couple boxes at once here for this sun Squad I focus on two guys in particular Josh AK for sure but I think we’re learning 10 to 15

Minutes is the sweet spot for him and chimi metu chimi metu is a guy that you can trust to get a uh read the passing Lanes steal into a dunk at least once per game it feels like and the numbers show that the Suns as a team tend to create more turnovers

When he’s on the court so those guys are currently in the rotation especially with bullbull hurt metu has returned but the one guy who’s not in the rotation who I do still think can be a solution here maybe it’ll end up that he is also in the 10 to 20 minute range

Like aogi and met to more so than a starter maybe that’s just the reality we have to expect but I’m talking about kab Bates di K bade steop has like a two just under 2% steel rate so on basically two out of every hundred possessions that he’s on the court defensively he’s

Getting a steel and about a 4% block rate which means four out of every 100 possessions that he’s on the court he gets a block those are really good numbers and that has maintained he also is a good offensive rebounder when he’s out there the problem is he just has not

Really been a a good connector on the offensive end and he seems to have absolutely no confidence in his jump shot right now if any of that can change and you can get Bates D up on the court I think it would go a long way to being

Another guy to turn some of the trends in the right direction as a help Defender as a turnover Creator and in some matchups even an on ball Defender that I think can make a big difference you know maybe he’s not going to guard LeBron James or she gilis Alexander or Luca donic but

Could he guard you know maybe a step down from there Jamal Murray or uh Jaylen Williams on OKC or maybe even Anthony Edwards if he’s you know not at the elite of the elite maybe maybe I’m just throwing names out don’t attack me for those those uh those guesses but

That’s kind of what I’m hoping we could see but big picture getting away from Personnel or very specific stats what needs to happen here what needs to happen for the Suns to go from where they are in defense right now which is middling and a lot of trends that are

Not going to do them well in the playoffs to good enough to win three playoff rounds get to the finals win the finals they need better Rim protection and there’s no way around that but that doesn’t have to mean an upgraded Center or not playing nkit or Eubanks getting

Better or Bowl playing Center something no it doesn’t have to be any of that I think that Rim protection does not always always mean blocking shots and the suns are actually I believe sixth in the NBA in total blocks this season so that’s not what it

Means can you put lineups out there put schemes out there where Kevin Durant can be used more as a rim protector can you play zone protect the rim that way way have even more of a case of a reason of a structure for nurkic to be stationed at the

Basket those are some things I think we can see but it has to start with the Personnel stability the rotation stability to get there at all but they need to because they can’t keep giving up bottom 10 levels of scoring at the basket as a defense and expect to win

Enough games again clean up turnover and rebounding margins I mentioned rebounding is a lot easier to clean up defensively than to just suddenly become a really good offensive rebounding team but they have to do it here and then uh this has been a through line with everything I’ve said but they need to

Get more size on the court and that’s where if metu Bates Diop nir little Eubanks if those guys aren’t consistent enough this is where a trade has to come can you get a backup big either in trade or on the buyout Market can you upgrade somehow to get even one more veteran

Wing on this team it would go a long way if they can put it this way if they can turn two of metu Bates Diop little and trade Target X Y or Z two of those body of players into playable playoff rotation guys that might be enough to convince me

The whole damn thing can work because it would clean up almost everything I’m saying the Suns face an interesting test on Friday night against a hot Pelicans team that has played them close for years but poses a specific rotation and lineup challenge in this particular matchup we’ll get to it next

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Easy let’s close out the show here we are talking Suns Pelicans I don’t know how much we will see the Pelicans go super small but they’ve been doing a decent amount since Larry Nance Jr returned to the lineup he is a guy who has health concerns every season so he’s not

Somebody who typically can play 30 35 minutes and they have Jonas Valen chunis on their team who they know they need to keep out there for his offensive rebounding and he’s a good player you can score in the post and sometimes shoot it so this is a perfect example of

What a regular season environment will look like when it comes to small ball right it’s very tempting to get very excited about the sun’s small ball lineup that they showed at the end of that King’s game but Durant’s not a full-time Center that’s not a smart thing to do you don’t

Want to have to have him deal with so much wear and tear you don’t want to you just you just don’t want to show your hand frankly but but if this if the Pelicans do that I think it’s going to be an awesome test one of if vogle is going to

Go back to it and two if it can hold up so just for the numbers because it’s fun McCollum Jones herb Jones Brandon Ingram Zion Williamson Larry Nance that fiveman unit is has been killing it they’re like plus 23 per 100 possessions in 45 possessions this season for the Pelicans

Especially good on the defensive end of the Court overall this season they are outscoring teams by five points per 100 possessions with Nance on and valent chunis and Zeller both off so basically anytime they’ve had Nance as the center they’re outscoring teams by about five points per 100 possession nothing incredible but pretty

Good where it gets interesting though is not really about Larry ants just like it wasn’t really about Damon sabonis the other night because look the Suns part of why you do a small look like that for the most part is you switch a lot and so yeah you need Durant

As a rim protector as a rebounder but you also need everybody to be comfortable guarding against everyone on the opposing team that brings me to Eric Gordon who I think is maybe the guy getting the least Shine off of that that win the other night I think I think he had zero points

In the first half and all 12 in the second half but defensively he made multiple stops coming against switches where I don’t know if the kings were trying to attack him specifically or it just sort of ended up that way regardless that’s part of why this team brought him

In and again just because of the lineup fluctuation and the inability to kind of just settle on one style of play as a result the Suns haven’t been able to get defensively the best out of Gordon now what is the best of Gordon I don’t know

I mean it’s not all defense he’s uh you know in his mid-30s now and isn’t the quickest dude so you’re not going to have him be putting the clamps on a lot of guys but this is a very good matchup with Gordon too if we were to see that

Same fiveman small ball lineup but really anytime he’s on the court and the suns are switching and whatnot because they don’t really have an ideal Brandon Ingram matchup in this game and if they were to maybe put KD on Ingram well then okay what’s the plan against Zion how

Are you helping at the basket to take the drives away from Zion it starts to add up so we know aogi he’s guarded Zion in last season’s matchups but I’m interested in Gordon as a Zion matchup because he has the strength he has the footwork and the the sturdiness to wall

Off he’s not going to stop Zion Williamson if Zion wants to score but he can at least provide enough resistance to allow that help to come and maybe get a couple swipes and Steals on Zion I could see that it’s time to be creative and the small ball unit itself is only one

Aspect of that how you deploy defensively different types of units to make up for your disadvantage as a from a talent and athleticism standpoint is going to go a long way so the tiny the tiny lineup whether it’s out there or not seeing what somebody like Gordon can do

What somebody like aogi can do across positions across matchups in maybe things we would typically think of as mismatches could be really big and Zion is a perfect example also this season he’s really worked to use his gravity to play as a passer more so you’re not really having to guard the

Freight train 40p Point blowup type of offensive weapon version of Zion anymore you’re kind of having to guard the whole Pelicans team and I just think it’s going to be a really fascinating test if C.J McCollum and Herb Jones make their threes this team’s pretty impossible to defend so that’s a big

Question to start but valent Tunis is an interesting test can they guard Zion and valent Tunis without fouling a whole bunch of stuff you can check out a more detailed breakdown of this game on the audio feed exclusively on Friday afternoon where I will be uploading a 15

To 20 minute Suns on offense Suns on defense very quick easy digestible breakdown of this game that is only on Spotify or apple or whether you get audio podcast so if you’re normally a YouTube viewer you’re going to want to go there and I will break down this game

In even more detail but it should be a fascinating one if it’s close if something big happens I will have a bonus show recap for you on Friday night so I will talk to you guys either then or on Sunday night following Suns Pacers where we might get halberton and SE

Yakum very fun weekend coming talk to you guys then

The Phoenix Suns may not be an NBA championship threat right now, but Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Co. can definitely get there.

Brendon Kleen of @justbasketballfans breaks down what improvements need to be made on offense and defense to solidify the Suns as a title contender. Then, a look at how the Suns could use their small ball look once again on Friday in New Orleans.

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