Suns progressing with ‘Point Book’, pushing capabilities of current roster

Don’t let the Phoenix Suns’ 4-15 record and mark of two wins in the last 10 games fool you.

The team is progressing at a rate it hasn’t since Jay Triano took over for Earl Watson at the start of last season.

Back in late October when there was a giant flashing red caution sign over the Suns’ effort through three games, I wrote for the Suns being competent and challenging for 30 wins wasn’t asking for too much. Finishing in the early 20s of both offensive and defensive rating was a solid, tolerable target.

Now, when the Suns are compared to the rest of the league over its last six games, they are 14th in offensive rating and 17th in defensive rating. To visualize further how much of an improvement that is over a 20-game season thus far, the Suns on the season still rank as the third-worst offensive team and second-worst defensive team in the NBA.

There’s a lot to sort through when it comes to the reasons as to why, but it starts with head coach Igor Kokoskov figuring out who his five best players are and starting them all together.

Due to the Suns’ lack of, well, any NBA-caliber point guard at this time, rolling with Devin Booker and “Point Book” has been the best short-term solution, and more so, sitting Isaiah Canaan and opening up another starting lineup spot for rookie Mikal Bridges.

With the Detroit Pistons rolling out a traditional lineup on Sunday including point guard Reggie Jackson and the Suns sticking by the “Point Book” lineup, it seemed to signify a permanent move to the opening five, which is a very, very good thing.

In the 48 minutes Booker, Bridges, Trevor Ariza, T.J. Warren and Deandre Ayton have spent on the floor together, they have a 17.5 net rating, meaning they outscore teams by an average of 17.5 points per 100 possessions they are on the floor. A 113.9 offensive rating and 96.4 defensive rating is the starting lineup output of a very good playoff team. That should drop off considerably, but still, they are excellent numbers.

Over the last six games, all of those players also have a positive net rating themselves, regardless of who they play with. That includes Ayton (5.6) and Bridges (7.2) as rookies, plus Ariza (0.4), who has recovered from a terrible start to the year.

They’ve also found some other contributors.

Richaun Holmes has been extremely impressive taking over backup center duties for Tyson Chandler, proving that a top-level motor with top-level athleticism goes a long way on a bad team.

Check out the two straight rim contests here against the Detroit Pistons leading to instant offense on the other end. (Plus, some good defense by Josh Jackson on the initial drive, who is starting to settle in a bit outside of his terrible jumpers it appears the Suns will just have to live with.)

Jamal Crawford has his flaws, don’t get me wrong, but he’s looking more and more comfortable as the primary offense off the bench.

When T.J. Warren was ejected late in the first half on Sunday, the Suns desperately needed a jolt, and Crawford provided it with nine straight points to close the second quarter.

With Booker as the point guard, the Suns have changed their scheme as well.

Kokoskov’s motion-heavy offense predicated on ball movement emphasizes having multiple ball-handlers who can make the defense pay. The Suns, though, have only one guy who can do that in Booker and the numbers tell the tale of that. After leading the league in passes per game through their opening 10 outings, the Suns in the recent six-game sample size rank 25th, per Bright Side of the Sun’s Brendon Kleen.

When you’re mostly working around one guy, you don’t need a bunch of passes for him to play-make.

Now, here’s the problem with that, and what’s an unavoidable obstacle.

As Kleen also notes, in that six-game stretch, the Suns are getting outscored by 17.1 points per 100 possessions when Booker is not on the floor.

That’s an unmitigated disaster that speaks to the Suns’ roster outlook.

By not addressing point guard in the offseason and in the regular season thus far, the Suns have forced Booker into a more problematic position. Because he’s such a fantastic, multi-dimensional player, Booker is making it work as those previous stats showcase.

But due to a hamstring injury he’s still recovering from, defenses giving him more attention and the change in his role, it’s affecting his rhythm.

How many times have you seen Booker not recognize an open jumper like this and also force a pass that’s not open?

Here is that play. That's a money pullup every time. Maybe that's the hammy still bothering him a bit too? pic.twitter.com/UxCuy4obUI

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) November 24, 2018

This is further supported by Booker’s three-point shooting. After shooting 38.3 percent from deep last season, in the month of November Booker is shooting 30.2 percent through 12 games and has made just five of his last 22 games in the last three.

Because of the roster as well, the Suns don’t have anyone else they can rely on when Booker rests.

Crawford is settling in nicely and can actually create his own shot, but the 38-year-old cannot be relied on as a team’s second-best ball-handler and creator.

Yes, Warren has had a terrific year and can score, but he doesn’t do it himself. Warren has 66.7 percent of his shots assisted, compared to Crawford’s 37.1 percent and Booker’s 35.2 percent. Among players who average at least 25 minutes at 15 points per game, Warren’s percentage ranks in the top-15 of those qualified players in the percentage of his makes assisted.

Another player in that group is Ayton, sitting at a 74.8 percent rate.

The backup ball-handler outside of Booker and Crawford is currently Isaiah Canaan, who has dropped off a cliff in the last two weeks. Per Bright Side of the Sun’s Evan Sidery, Canaan is shooting 21.7 percent in his last five games and the team’s plus-minus with him on the floor is minus-50.

At a certain point, Kokoskov is going to have to look elsewhere and his track record this season tells us he will. He took Ryan Anderson completely out of the rotation, bumped up Bridges’ minutes considerably, did the opposite for Jackson and made changes to his offense.

The problem is who he turns to. Rookie point guards are rarely anything but bad overall players as rookies and both De’Anthony Melton and Elie Okobo are second-round picks at that. Melton is more of a secondary ball-handler and defensive specialist while Okobo only started playing the position a few years ago, specializing more as a scorer.

With that being said, both offer more stylistically than Canaan, on top of Canaan’s quality of play suffering immensely the past two weeks.

The harsh reality through 19 games is the Suns currently have seven, potentially eight quality NBA players on their roster depending on which version of Jackson they get that night.

Due to their own failings this offseason, it puts Phoenix in a bind.

They have a star player, a five-man unit thriving, two great rookies and a player trade for cash and veteran signing the day the season started turning into a nice lift off the bench.

But that can only get you so far.

They are a point guard and another player short of actually achieving something this season, recovering from a terrible start and making real progress this season. Do James Jones and Robert Sarver sacrifice long-term pieces for the short-term?

That might not be the proper way to think of it.

On the outside looking in, this is flawed thinking for a team in a rebuild, but growth is what really matters for the Suns. A short-term victory of a win total above 25 this season would be impactful to their long-term trajectory, impactful enough to not make giving up moderate assets and a chance at Zion Williamson sting.

It defies traditional team building and makes the Suns’ choices leading up to the trade deadline in February fascinating to watch.

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