Suns’ Dudley still learned from disappointing season
Apr 16, 2013, 10:37 PM | Updated: 11:09 pm
The last time Suns forward Jared Dudley was on a team as bad as this one, he was a member of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Just about done with his sixth NBA season — and fourth full campaign with the Suns — Dudley has to look harder to find positives to take away from this year.
“That I can go through adversity and still overcome it,” he told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf of what he can take away from the year. “When starting back up, not knowing what I’m going to play, not knowing my role at different times.”
Dudley said he was and is able to adapt to any situation and every style of play and still be successful.
But as far as the team is concerned, there’s very little to think highly of as far as 2012-13 is concerned.
“When this team wanted to share the ball and we wanted to play defense and actually have the right guys out there on the floor at certain times, we could be a pretty good team at times,” he said. “But then when it’s inconsistencies with us, when we’re playing selfish, when we’re playing 11, 12 guys on a nightly basis, we’re not a good team.”
Dudley is averaging 11 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting .470 from the field and .396 from three-point range. It’s another solid season for the Boston College product and team captain, even if the team has not really been all that competitive.
“You’ve got to take it personal,” he said of making sure he competes and does his job. “This is a ‘me’ sport in a team concept in the sense that everyone’s out to get theirs, but if the team does well everyone gets theirs. Sometimes that’s the point that’s kind of missed with young guys.”
Dudley admitted that not every NBA team “can be good,” and that it often comes down to talent and chemistry, which are both areas the Suns could use some improvement.
And that is for next year which, Dudley admitted, has already kind of begun.
“Already had my exit interview,” he said, adding it’s likely because with the team far out of the postseason picture and with plenty of decisions to make, the front office is likely trying to get a head start on the process.
“Every team you’re on, you get the same questions,” Dudley said. “And for the most part, anything I say you already know. We had nine new guys, we had two head coaches and we struggled.
“We struggled with chemistry, we struggled with accountability at times, and we struggled overall just not playing well together.”
