The Suns are coming off a disappointing season, with less than 50 regular season wins and a first round exit in the Western Conference playoffs. What are the prospects for improvement in the coming season? A look at some stats might offer some clues.
First, let's look at the plus/minus scores for all Suns players with at least 9 minutes per game this past season:
| Player | MIN | +/- |
| Nurkic, Jusuf | 27.3 | 5.3 |
| Booker, Devin | 36.0 | 4.6 |
| O'Neale, Royce | 25.1 | 4.6 |
| Durant, Kevin | 37.2 | 3.9 |
| Allen, Grayson | 33.5 | 3.5 |
| Beal, Bradley | 33.3 | 2.0 |
| Gordon, Eric | 27.8 | 1.9 |
| Bol, Bol | 10.9 | 0.3 |
| Okogie, Josh | 16.0 | 0.1 |
| Goodwin, Jordan | 14.0 | -0.6 |
| Metu, Chimezie | 12.1 | -1.0 |
| Bates-Diop, Keita | 15.3 | -1.1 |
| Young, Thaddeus | 8.9 | -1.1 |
| Watanabe, Yuta | 13.2 | -1.2 |
| Eubanks, Drew | 15.6 | -1.4 |
| Little, Nassir | 10.2 | -2.0 |
These are the Offensive, Defensive, and Net Ratings for those players:
| Player | OFFRTG | DEFRTG | NETRTG |
| O'Neale, Royce | 115.7 | 106.3 | 9.4 |
| Nurkic, Jusuf | 120.5 | 111.3 | 9.2 |
| Booker, Devin | 119.3 | 113.5 | 5.8 |
| Allen, Grayson | 119.0 | 113.9 | 5.1 |
| Durant, Kevin | 118.1 | 113.3 | 4.8 |
| Gordon, Eric | 115.6 | 112.2 | 3.5 |
| Beal, Bradley | 116.2 | 113.2 | 3.0 |
| Okogie, Josh | 112.8 | 111.5 | 1.3 |
| Bol, Bol | 108.9 | 108.8 | 0.1 |
| Goodwin, Jordan | 106.7 | 109.2 | -2.6 |
| Bates-Diop, Keita | 110.5 | 113.6 | -3.0 |
| Eubanks, Drew | 108.3 | 112.3 | -4.1 |
| Metu, Chimezie | 109.2 | 114.2 | -5.0 |
| Watanabe, Yuta | 109.7 | 114.8 | -5.1 |
| Young, Thaddeus | 101.0 | 106.8 | -5.7 |
| Little, Nassir | 103.2 | 112.7 | -9.5 |
Ratings and Plus/Minus scores do not necessarily tell us how well a player performs. They are more like measures of how well a team does when a particular player is on the court. When based on a large sample size, such as 30-70 games, these stats do give some insight about the value of a player to his team.
With these numbers in mind, I'd say that:
o Royce O'Neale was an unexpected, quality addition. His Net Rating and Plus/Minus numbers are among the best on the team.
Interestingly, the Suns' OffRat dips when he's on the court ~ he's not the offensive player that some of the other PHX wings are. But he's a boost to the defense, and his two-way talent has an impact. Give James Jones some credit for this very useful acquisition.
o Jusef Nurkic is worth his weight in gold. His offensive deficiencies make me scream, and he can be a plodder at times. But he takes up space around the basket, he rebounds, and he helps facilitate the offense. He is easily the best role player on the team, and a very good, if not great, compliment to the Suns' stars.
o It is notable that only two players above 6'7 have passable numbers on these lists: Nurkic and Durant. The Suns are severely lacking in quality depth at the 4 and 5 positions. Drew Eubanks has been a disaster - sorry for being so harsh - and it's no wonder he's been let go.
Lacking so few quality bigs, the Suns are especially vulnerable to teams with size like Minnesota. And also it limits Durant from playing at the SF spot, where he has been very effective.
Will Plumlee do any better than Eubanks? I don't suppose he can do any worse. It's too early for me, at least, to say he'll be an improvement. Time will tell.
> Could draftee Oso Ighodaro be a useful big? I think he faces a huge learning curve. He has to learn to play PF, as he's too small to be an NBA center. He has no jump shot at all, and he doesn't make free throws.
Now I tell you what. If Boris Diaw and Draymond Green can make it in the NBA, I have to think Oso can as well. But he is no sure thing, and it might take a prolonged effort to get him right. Even though I have to admit, his game is fun to watch.
o Bradley Beal is not a bad player. But a Plus/Minus of just 2.0, and a Net Rating of 3.0, are not enough to justify his contract. In his defense, he's playing with two guys that will take most of the shots, limiting his own scoring production. And he's been asked to play some PG, which is not his natural position.
The juice just hasn't been worth the squeeze. In my mind, the Suns could do without him. If they could get athletic defensive role-players ~ a PG and PF ~ for Beal, that might work for them. I think the chances of that happening are zero out of ten, but a guy can dream, right?
Loading comments...