Phoenix Suns Temperature Check, Volume 3: Heating Up

The Phoenix Suns are 17-15 and presently in 8th place in the Western Conference after a win over the Orlando Magic on New Year’s Eve, with a 15th-ranked net rating of 0.9. They’ve put together a three-game winning streak and things are starting to look up for a team that has been mediocre tho start the season.

Health has been a primary concern early in the year, but before the game against the Charlotte Hornets last Friday, the tide turned. Bradley Beal recently returned from his multi-week absence due to an ankle sprain, in addition to Jusuf Nurkic returning from a stint away, due to personal reasons.

Let’s dive into what’s caught my eye recently.

“Point Durant”

Kevin Durant is undoubtedly a — still playing at an elite level — all-time great scorer, with a multitude of records in his sights to conquer before it’s all said and done.

Because he’s such a prolific scorer, that entity of his overall skill often steals the plot — rendering other skills to being underrated/undervalued. Such is the case with his playmaking abilities, among others.

Over the last two games, he’s tallied 27 assists, the most over a two-game span in his illustrious career.

In this window, we’ve also seen him tie his career high in assists, with 16 against Houston.

Additionally, he set a new career high in assist points created, with 38.

As displayed above, he’s playing in so many different contexts of the game: transition, pick-and-roll, post-ups, isolation — all scenarios in which he garners extra attention.

The level of defensive currency that’s spent to stifle him presents rich shot quality in the advantage for his teammates.

Per Synergy, of the 80 players who have compiled 150+ possessions with a pick-and-roll (including passes), Durant’s points per possession mark ranks 5th, and point per shot stemming from him (direct or from his pass) is tied for fourth.

Looking at post-ups (including passes), as the Suns continue to work through their spacing around him in these contexts, his PPP ranks 13th.

However, he has produced the 6th most three-point makes from post-ups, with 15 — speaking of course to him but also the Suns’ execution in the advantages he manipulates from that area of the floor. That provides an all-important inverting balance to their attack.

He spoke with me about his post-ups after their match-up, in Chicago, earlier this season.

The Suns have leaned more into his playmaking the last few games, and — while live ball turnovers and the volume of extra attention garnered from him have been something that I’ve had my eye on, he’s been better of late in that department.

27 assists to just 4 turnovers is optimal.

On the season, he has 34 bad pass turnovers, there’s a happy medium there that, should he…