Expect a few more wins from the Suns, says ESPN’s Kevin Pelton
The improvement process is happening with the Phoenix Suns, but don't expect a huge jump in wins this season, says one ESPN NBA insider.
Dallas Mavericks' Ding Yanyuhang, center, battles for the ball with Phoenix Suns' Marquese Chriss, left, and Josh Jackson during the first half of an NBA summer league basketball game, Sunday, July 9, 2017, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
(AP Photo/John Locher)
It’s been seven years since the Phoenix Suns played in the postseason.
It doesn’t appear that the 2017-18 campaign will see an end to that playoff drought, the longest in franchise history. Phoenix’s front office, headed by general manager Ryan McDonough, appears to be playing the patience game, building around young talent like Devin Booker, Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender and 2017 first-round pick Josh Jackson.
Young teams typically don’t win much. But they do improve, and ESPN’s Kevin Pelton believes that will happen, in the form of more victories, this upcoming season.
Pelton, an analytics-minded insider, used real-plus minus to project NBA teams’ win totals. He sees the Suns’ getting over the 30-win hump.
Projected wins: 30.3
The Suns are one of the two teams projected worse on defense than the Lakers. That might undersell the defensive contributions of rookie Josh Jackson. Still, Phoenix is firmly committed to developing its young talent rather than chasing 35 wins this season — at least for now.
Of course, this projection could change should the Suns engage in a trade for disgruntled Cleveland point guard Kyrie Irving, which has been rumored for the last couple of weeks.
Last season, the same projections put the Suns’ win total at 28.9 and had them 14th in the Western Conference. They finished with 24 wins — the least in the conference and second-lowest total in the NBA.
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Comments
17 Comments
So Marotta highlights and emphasizes the Suns are one of the worst defensive teams in the league and then tells us the win projection would change by adding one of the worst defensive PGs in the league?
So is he telling us they would win even less games with Irving?
I don't know what the 71st ranking is but Irving does rank 35th in assist to turnover ratio. He ranked 21st in assists. He statistically is one of the worst defenders at PG in the league. He has a career average of 22 ppg with a career-high 25 last season on 20 shots attempts per game. That placed him ninth in usage at almost 31%. Devin Booker had a little under 29% usage rate with Bledsoe at 28%.
The fascination with him by many here is baffling. Bledsoe and Dragic are statistically better across the board than Irving. He does two things better, ball-handling and shooting but is sucks at facilitating a ball-movement offense and defense.
I don't get that either. He and Captain Hair Helmet keep pushing Kyrie like you just plug him in and everything is the same + more scoring. Totally agree, his defense is awful and our young guys can forget about regular touches. I don't know the exact stat but I heard it, 71st out of all PGs in some assist category, maybe assist / turnover. (PGs!). Horrible fit, nothing to see here.