Suns Continue to Hover Around 0.500

[GreenBear]

Plumlee is among the league leaders in blocked shots since being re-inserted into the lineup

As we near the end of the 2014 calendar year, the Suns find themselves with a similar record to last month. After going 7-8 during the month of November, the Suns have gone 6-7 during December with one game left against the Memphis Grizzlies at home on New Year's Eve. The Suns continue to show glimpses of being both a serious contender in the future (home and away wins against the Spurs, a win at a surprisingly solid Utah team, and a win at Oklahoma City), and also a team that still needs a lot of work (a 49 point obliteration by the Grizzlies, and a double-digit loss to the rose-less Bulls).

Although there have been reported talks surrounding a few players (sharp-shooter Hollis Thompson and big-man Miles Plumlee), nothing serious or imminent has formulated yet and the Suns have not made any transactions this month. However, there have been a couple lineup changes of note:

1. Miles Plumlee has been inserted into the starting lineup.
- Plumlee’s play continues to get stronger as the season progresses. At the beginning of the season, Plumlee was stuck on a team that was deep at center, including big-name Roy Hibbert and promising prospect Alex Len. In fact, management sat down with Plumlee at the beginning of the year to discuss his role on the team, and the two sides agreed that it would be best for Plumlee if he started the year off in the D-league to continue his development, and both sides would see how things progressed from there. While Plumlee was in the D-league for a few weeks (and did get some practices with the team), he was recalled before getting a chance to play a single game in the D-league. If being sent to the D-league shook his confidence at all, he didn’t show it, as he played so well in his first few games off the bench, that the Suns decided to insert him into the starting lineup and the team hasn’t looked back since. He is averaging 8.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 2.0 blocks, a 1.2:1 assist-to-turnover ratio (all improvements from last season). Alex Len is still looked upon very favorably by the organization (and he is much improved over his rookie season), but it is obvious that he still has some developing to do before he is ready to get starter’s minutes.

When reached for comment, coach Doug Collins had this to say about his new starting center:

It’s not that we ever doubted Miles’s ability. He played a lot for us last season, so we knew what he was capable of. And he’s a young guy that worked really hard during the offseason and training camp to get better, and we saw that. He was unfortunate enough to get stuck in a numbers game to start the year, but after our frontcourt got off to a rocky start, we didn’t hesitate for one second to recall Miles and have him play big minutes for us right away. We saw how improved he was, and he gave us the confidence to make the trade we did because we knew that he could slide right into that role.

2. Eric Bledsoe was moved from starting PG to SG, and then back to PG.

- In an experiment to see how the team would do moving Bledsoe to shooting guard, as well as how rookie Vasilje Micic would do with the keys to the offense, Bledsoe was moved to the two. The results were quite disasterous though (highlighted by the Grizzlies’ 106-57 win). The offense appeared to be relatively normal, with some ups and downs. Although Bledsoe’s shooting percentage dipped as a result of playing off the ball, and Micic turned the ball over way more than ideal for a starting point guard, Micic did do a fine job of getting his teammates involved and the offense as a whole did just fine. However, there was a notable difference in the defensive efficiency of the team. Although a prolific scorer, Bledsoe is an even better defender. He has a 0.8 PA/SF on the year, he forces a ton of turnovers, and his stop percentage is over 99%. Meanwhile, Micic has struggled in defense so far this year, with his stop percentage under 40% (unacceptable for a starting guard). So when Bledsoe got moved to the shooting guard position, and Micic was tasked with stopping the opponent’s point guard, it got ugly. Point guards started going bananas against the Suns. And while there are a few teams with stars at the shooting guard position, it is predominantly a role player position (with many 3 and D players). Bledsoe is at his best stopping attempted drives (which he does virtually every time) and harassing the ball handler, and that occurs mainly from the point guard spot (although there are exceptions of course). So basically, Micic was getting torched while Bledsoe was being underutilized in the two-guard spot. Soon after Bledsoe returned to the point guard position, things went back to normal for the Suns.
- It is being reported that although the Suns are still open to further experimenting with Bledsoe at shooting guard, the Suns would need the right point guard for that to happen, and that player is not believed to be currently on the roster.

The next month will be very important to the Suns to determine whether they will be buyers or sellers as the trade deadline nears. With their vast stash of youth and picks, they could choose to trade some assets to make a stronger playoff run this year, trade off some assets for other future assets, and/or look to consolidate some of their assets.

[Dennis]

Your team is really crazy.. Sometimes it cant be stopped and sometimes it sucks like hell. But well. You have Bledsoe.. and thats it. Nice to see a guy like him can carry a team nearly on his own. Len is just nothing special, Austin a rookie, Butler a solid 5th started and Thompson a nice backup. So looking at the starting five its crazy you are able to get so many wins.

[Marcos_Beck]

That's why I was after Plumlee at the beginning of the season.. Kid can play, he has game. Can board and block with the best, is low usage, he'd be a nice Noah-lite backup without the elite man-to-man D.
I don't see Bledsoe and Jimmy Buckets working just like it happened with Rose. Both are extremely great defenders but hurt spacing so much that I don't ever think it will work without a PF who could drop 2 3s a game like Ryan Anderson or even my kid Mirotic. I admit I was after Butler but never to start him, he'd come off the bench and play when Mirotic was playing as my stretch 4 so there would be enough space in the court for Rose to work. But I don't have what it takes to lure Butler from you, so gotta turn my attention to a more obtainable player.

Anyway with a plethora of picks and Bledsoe and lots of young bigs, you'll be fine. My opinion, keep adding assets, young guys, draft great shooters, find a consolidation trade (maybe next season it's the time to go buyers mode and overpay for someone) and you will compete nicely in the West.

[GreenBear]

Your team is really crazy.. Sometimes it cant be stopped and sometimes it sucks like hell. But well. You have Bledsoe.. and thats it. Nice to see a guy like him can carry a team nearly on his own. Len is just nothing special, Austin a rookie, Butler a solid 5th started and Thompson a nice backup. So looking at the starting five its crazy you are able to get so many wins.

Haha well my roster is very young, so there's going to be growing pains and inconsistency in play. Also, you need to take into consideration that I'm switching up my strategy/lineup wildly every few sims. I'm still a new GM, so I'm still playing around with different strategies to see what works best because I honestly don't know yet. Especially since we maxed out pace and DI/FCP. I've moved different players all around, I've tried man defense, I've tried zone defense, I've tried a hybrid, I've tried different offensive sets, I've tinkered with the DI/FCP. I'm not too worried about it. I'm experimenting.

Aside from that, I think it's a little unfair to say that I have Bledsoe and that's it. Is he my only star? Yes, totally agree. But I have some solid young pieces in place, like Butler and Austin (he's still developing, give me time to work on his shot with instructions before writing him off. He's already a very good defender because of his length/athleticism). Thompson would be a great role player if I were a contending team since he's so good at shooting (49% on 3-point attempts), especially with so many teams playing zone. My team is built for the future, not now. I never thought I was going to compete for a title this year. I did think I would get better, and I have.

And I think you underestimate how hard it is to acquire a star (~top 30 player). The stars readily available are the ones past their prime or very near past their prime. The only way to trade for a star in his prime is to give up one of your own. Other than that, you have to draft one or get one in free agency. I have a ton of first round picks/assets. And I am going to have a ton of cap room come this offseason. If I'm fortunate enough to acquire a star, then role players like Butler, Thompson, Len, etc. all look infinitely better.

That's why I was after Plumlee at the beginning of the season.. Kid can play, he has game. Can board and block with the best, is low usage, he'd be a nice Noah-lite backup without the elite man-to-man D.
I don't see Bledsoe and Jimmy Buckets working just like it happened with Rose. Both are extremely great defenders but hurt spacing so much that I don't ever think it will work without a PF who could drop 2 3s a game like Ryan Anderson or even my kid Mirotic. I admit I was after Butler but never to start him, he'd come off the bench and play when Mirotic was playing as my stretch 4 so there would be enough space in the court for Rose to work. But I don't have what it takes to lure Butler from you, so gotta turn my attention to a more obtainable player.

Anyway with a plethora of picks and Bledsoe and lots of young bigs, you'll be fine. My opinion, keep adding assets, young guys, draft great shooters, find a consolidation trade (maybe next season it's the time to go buyers mode and overpay for someone) and you will compete nicely in the West.

Plumlee has really improved since last season. He's still inefficient on the offensive end, but I like him elsewhere. I have to respectfully disagree that Bledsoe and Butler can't coexist. Bledsoe is no Hollis Thompson (not many are), but he absolutely has range. He is making 41% of his threes and he takes a good amount of them (3.3 per game). And Butler doesn't have great accuracy, but 33% on threes is something I can live with. Especially when I have Bledsoe and Thompson on the team (and my backup PG Micic is making 42% of his threes).

I do need to make a consolidation trade at some point. That's something that I'm still planning/working on.

[Dennis]

Haha, I didnt want to say he's your only star. Austin will become one too. Still he's "only" a rookie. Thats nothing negative, it just means he has not much experience and will need time to develope.
Trading for a star is pretty much impossible. Look at my team, Ive no top30 player in Boston. Just a solid team all around. So there not always has to be a superstar in your squard (or two or three).

[GreenBear]

You dare insult Dragic?! He's a top 30 player in my opinion. I didn't think he was when I traded him to you, but he's played like one for you.

[Marcos_Beck]

That's why I was after Plumlee at the beginning of the season.. Kid can play, he has game. Can board and block with the best, is low usage, he'd be a nice Noah-lite backup without the elite man-to-man D.
I don't see Bledsoe and Jimmy Buckets working just like it happened with Rose. Both are extremely great defenders but hurt spacing so much that I don't ever think it will work without a PF who could drop 2 3s a game like Ryan Anderson or even my kid Mirotic. I admit I was after Butler but never to start him, he'd come off the bench and play when Mirotic was playing as my stretch 4 so there would be enough space in the court for Rose to work. But I don't have what it takes to lure Butler from you, so gotta turn my attention to a more obtainable player.

Anyway with a plethora of picks and Bledsoe and lots of young bigs, you'll be fine. My opinion, keep adding assets, young guys, draft great shooters, find a consolidation trade (maybe next season it's the time to go buyers mode and overpay for someone) and you will compete nicely in the West.

Plumlee has really improved since last season. He's still inefficient on the offensive end, but I like him elsewhere. I have to respectfully disagree that Bledsoe and Butler can't coexist. Bledsoe is no Hollis Thompson (not many are), but he absolutely has range. He is making 41% of his threes and he takes a good amount of them (3.3 per game). And Butler doesn't have great accuracy, but 33% on threes is something I can live with. Especially when I have Bledsoe and Thompson on the team (and my backup PG Micic is making 42% of his threes).

I do need to make a consolidation trade at some point. That's something that I'm still planning/working on.

What I mean is, 41% on 3s isn't bringing you lots of success. Maybe because teams see Bledsoe and Butler and are not afraid to zone you and let Bledsoe drop like 2-5 in 3s, which is 40%, but won't hurt your team. And Butler, he'll drop 2-6 from 3s, 33%, not bad! But you are underutilizing Bledsoe and Butler, because they are both destined to drive / play in the post. It's not like they are killing teams from outside like if you are zoning Stephen Curry and he'll drop like 8 3s on you and will win the game alone. Nope, those guys are not dropping like 18 points solely on 3s and killing a team with their shooting, so you zone them hard and deny them the interior where they excel.

That's why I have Miller, Allen, McRae, Ilyasova, Augustin. I know guys will zone me and, heck, Rose drops around 2 3s a game with ease when zoned. He can drop even 5 3s in a game if zoned because he shoots a lot. But he'll do it around 33% and that's not super efficient, and even if he drops it around 40%, I'd rather zone Rose, make him go like 4-14 from 2pt range and 4-10 in 3 pointers (thats 8-24 FG, very possible, and very very inefficient, 33%). that's 18 points on 24 shots, if he scores like 4 FTs (because zoning creates less fouls), it's 22 points on 24 shots. That's 41,7% in eFG and a ridiculously low 42,7% in TS%. That is very very inefficient basketball.
Zoning denies post scorers too and players who likes to cut and drive, so there's a lot of benefits in zoning a team. But I have a plethora of shooters, exactly 5 of them, capable of going off at any day and making, like, 10-20 in 3 pointers, that's enough for 30 points, plus those guys are good jump shooters too, so they are going to have big nights. So I don't think there are too many people zoning my team. I have enough options that can go off at any day to prevent teams from zoning Rose. I've had games in which McRae and Ilyasova dropped enough 3s on super-huge efficiency to kill the team that zoned me, and I'm not even taking Miller, Allen and Augustin into consideration..

But your team, if you zone Bledsoe, he'll go 40% efficient on 3s, nice, but he'll be around 45% in eFG and, say, 47% in TS%. That won't kill your team, in fact not even Derrick's 43% TS will kill a team that's being zoned as long as you have good shooters around him. You can win games with Bledsoe shooting 47% in TS%. But when teams zone Bledsoe, who's gonna REALLY hurt them besides him? Thompson? He'll drop 4 3s in the game at 50% efficiency but he does not shoots too much, so he won't win a game by himself. Butler will drop 2 3s but his eFG% will be bad too. Isaiah, Len, Morris, G-Wall, Butler, Bledsoe, those guys are at their best when they are playing inside. So it's always worth zoning you, in my opinion, of course. I'm not criticizing your team, but I'm only defending my point that Butler and Bledsoe can't co-exhist.

And to be honest I'd say teams are really zoning you. Otherwise, G-Wall wouldn't be shooting 48% on 3s, never. But he's dropping 1 3 pointer a game. Will it kill the opposing team? No.
Specially when he's shooting 36% from the field because he's been zoned.

Again, only my point, I'm just trying to help using my example. Rose was at 45% on 3s at the beginning of the season, and we were losing the majority of games. And with Rose at 33% but taking 4 3s a game, we won lots of games and played our best basketball of the season, because I started playing Ray Allen, Augustin, Miller, Ilyasova more, to prevent teams from zoning me. So I prefer Rose shooting 30% on 3s but killing it on 2s and Jumpers because he's not being zoned. That's the way I win games.

[GreenBear]

You bring up some good points, Marcos. I can definitely tell you that most teams zone the heck out of me (but then again there are a bunch of teams that just zone every team they're playing). Sometimes it has worked, sometimes it hasn't. Am I in need of some more shooters? Yeah. In the offseason, I didn't know that certain coaching preferences would be capped and that everyone would just run a high zone defense (which is incredibly boring in my opinion, but there's nothing I can do about that). Like a lot of teams, I'll have to adjust how I draft and how I hit the free agency market. There's not much else I can do in the short term.

And Wallace doesn't play for me anymore (unless an injury occurs) because, like you pointed out, he can't shoot against zone defense (besides maybe 1 three per game). There's no point to playing a guy when he'll suck on offense against every single team I face.

[Dennis]

Okay your conversation should count as an extra article, lol. Love it. Just to add a few words. Hollis Thompson is a top 5 shooter in the league and therefore one of the best zone breaker obviously. Zoned the suns once and lost at home. Played man to man the next one and won by 35. Bledsoe + Hollis is a good combo to break zones.

[GreenBear]

My team is pretty skitzophrenic though... sometimes they look amazing, other times I'm losing by 50 points. I never know what I'm getting out of my players.

But yeah, I know most teams play zone against me because Hollis is shooting 50% on his threes (and he shoots like 5 a game). Sometimes zoning me works though because Thompson's scoring isn't incredibly high (although he's young and it should improve some), and Bledsoe doesn't shoot threes often enough (only about 15% of his shots are threes). I'm working on that though.

And I remember that game I beat you on the road. I thought you were going to walk off a cliff after that loss haha.

[emplep7]

If Hollis had a higher scoring rating, he would be a great player in this league, but hes still very useful. Like everyone else said, if you had a starting SG or SF that would chuck threes all day next to Bledsoe then you would be a very dangerous team. I think Butler has to go to make room for that, but you should be able to get something for him.

[andrei]

Wow love the discussions here

I think zone works better if you are playing against a big offensive presense inside. I see Gasol having an up and down season offensively and I am guessing it because of zones. Not sure but bet that there is a direct correlation between Gasol's FG attempts and our 3point attempts. Anyway back to Suns. Interestinly we are playing you again this sim at MEM. So lets see if we can capitalise on our past success... i also really like Micic but defensively he is a major liability

[Rizzo]

I think zone works better if you are playing against a big offensive presense inside. I see Gasol having an up and down season offensively and I am guessing it because of zones. Not sure but bet that there is a direct correlation between Gasol's FG attempts and our 3point attempts.

This is one of two reasons I see to play a zone. The other one is if a team has wings that don't shoot the three well. Feel like we can just pack it in and force them to either take contested drives or chuck up threes which isn't their strength.

[dapralbe]

Zone is easy, i have a lot of shooters if gm want break zones. If you put high zone, you need aproppiate players for this.

[emplep7]

There are ways to fight this without 3 point shooters though. My team has one (KCP) and we get zoned pretty hard each game. If you have guys who can rebound well it makes up for some of those zone buster deficiencies. There are always ways around certain strats.

[Dennis]

Also good jumpshooter can break zones. Its not always 3pt shooter and nothing else .