Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro continue flashing in Suns’ win vs. Pistons

For all of the flashes that were absent for Phoenix Suns rookie Ryan Dunn in summer league, these two games in the preseason have been like a strobe light going off.

Dunn has been ultra-aggressive shooting his corner 3s while making the right decisions with the ball elsewhere and has been as advertised defensively. The first quarter of Tuesday’s 105-97 win over the Detroit Pistons was his own personal highlight reel.

Phoenix began the game with Kevin Durant defending stocky 6-foot-6 guard Cade Cunningham, something the Suns will have to do at times given their lack of size. That’s what will make Dunn incredibly valuable if his offense is passable enough to hang on the floor.

Look at this job on a guy who might make All-NBA this year after drilling a 3.

https://t.co/KeD3G5ldXz pic.twitter.com/PY9ZR3g5xG

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 8, 2024

Devin Booker came out of the timeout seeing that and looked inspired. Dunn once again stifled Cunningham.

https://t.co/F8EfMBSa7V pic.twitter.com/Bh3aJFg6ZE

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 8, 2024

The rookie then did it a third time and was feeling himself, knocking down a 3-pointer off (!) the (!!) dribble (!!!).

oh my pic.twitter.com/rzm8CWyKxj

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 8, 2024

To refresh the context, Dunn made only a dozen 3-pointers in two years at Virginia and his playmaking/slashing off all the space he got in the corner was producing inconsistent results (35 assists to 42 turnovers). In order to keep his phenomenal defense around, he was utilized as a play finisher by doing a whole lot of screening and cutting.

His first step is confidence, always shooting when he has the room to and developing his instincts in 0.5 scenarios, a.k.a. off-the-bounce situations when choices should be made in a half-second or less. While it’s only two preseason games and we’ll see what the real rotation looks like in two weeks, Dunn has not just been stowed away with minutes alongside bench players, and is instead sharing the court a lot with Booker, Durant and Bradley Beal.

It’s smart coaching by Mike Budenholzer. The Suns are an entirely different team if their biggest weakness — not having players outside of Durant with a modern wing skill set and true size — is at least somewhat filled in 15-20 minutes per game by Dunn. It looks like Budenholzer is going to give the rookie every chance possible to earn that role.

Ditto for Oso Ighodaro, who benefitted big time from Jusuf Nurkic’s (left middle finger) injury to get more run with the rotation players. When Ighodaro was drafted, the thought was, “There’s your backup center” because of how NBA ready Ighodaro is. The signing of Mason Plumlee stalled that process. But will it?

Not if Ighodaro keeps making plays like this.

Looking forward to Ighodaro’s minutes with Beal. Beal is a phenomenal cutter and didn’t get to show that at all last year. pic.twitter.com/i3sJVkyCpA

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 9, 2024

Ighodaro is always a half-step ahead, a level of processing he requires because of his lack of shooting. Sometimes the court got too tight for the playmaking he wanted to do at Marquette, but with all this extra room, he’s going to find every passing angle he wants.

Ighodaro is always a half-second ahead. This might look like nothing but there’s just no hesitation for him and he’s clearly benefiting from the extra space. pic.twitter.com/iAKrrLJJp7

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 9, 2024

If that translates to the defensive end too, where Ighodaro’s mobility would provide a new dynamic, he’s going to be in the rotation sooner rather than later.

Dunn finished with 10 points, four rebounds, an assist, steal and two blocks while it was six points, seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks for Ighodaro.

Suns keep jacking 3s, beat Pistons

In 3PA watch, Phoenix had 19 of its first 29 shots from deep and ended the first half with 26. It failed to reach that total in nine full games last season.

The intensity of preseason basketball lends itself to getting triples off but the players have matched the desire from the coaching staff, something that was a solar-eclipse-type of happening last season. In what will be a constant theme over the next six weeks, we’ll see if that continues. The initial signs have been promising.

Budenholzer elected to give his key starters slightly more time in this one, going into the mid-third quarter instead of cutting the cord at halftime like he did on Sunday.

Durant scored 21 points in 19 minutes on 8-of-12 shooting. Tyus Jones added seven assists, two steals and zero turnovers.

In what is solely just a reminder of what will be required this year, botched defensive rotations or slight detachments of attention off the ball from the stars were there, as you’d expect in a preseason game. But that is not something the Suns will be able to live with given their deficiencies elsewhere. Booker and Beal both have to play the most consistent defense of their careers, while Durant has to get back to the level he was at in 2022 before the trade, an incredible two-way campaign in Brooklyn.

Nurkic (left middle finger) missed his second straight preseason fixture while Grayson Allen (personal reasons) was also out.

The Suns now come back home and will resume preseason play on Friday against the Pistons at Footprint Center.

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