Marc Stein: Suns looking for another shooter at trade deadline
Jan 28, 2022, 1:10 PM
Landry Shamet #14 of the Phoenix Suns attempts a three-point shot over Jalen McDaniels #6 of the Charlotte Hornets during the second half of the NBA game at Footprint Center on December 19, 2021 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Suns defeated the Hornets 137-106. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Phoenix Suns boast the best record in the NBA ahead of Feb. 10’s trade deadline.
And while general manager James Jones has played down being in the market for a midseason acquisition, league correspondent Marc Stein reports that Phoenix is looking for another shooter.
Despite indications this week from Suns general manager James Jones that he is prepared to stand pat with West-leading Phoenix holding the league’s best record at 38-9, there are rumbles emanating from the desert that the reigning Western Conference champions have discussed pursuing another shooter for the bench with Landry Shamet shooting 37% from the floor in his first season as a Sun.
The report comes after Jones told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Wednesday that he was fine where they were at.
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“I always love that question,” he said. “People are always like, ‘How aggressive will you be at the trade deadline?’ And I’m always the same. I like my team. I like what we have.
“If opportunities come to improve my team, I’ll look at ’em. But every team is trying to do the same thing at the trade deadline, so unless you catching somebody who absolutely does not want to compete, you’re really talking about lateral moves. I trust our continuity and our flow. I’m focused on our guys and how we can improve internally.
“But I’ll always say, the team I assemble in the summer is the team I believe in, and the longer we play together the better we are. I guess that’s a long way of saying I like where we are.”
Aside from shooting 37% from the field, Shamet is 34.9% from three-point range after shooting 40.8% from the field and 38.7% from deep for the Brooklyn Nets last season.
Not only are the Suns atop the NBA record-wise, they are also the league’s best shooting team as well at 47.6% from the field.
Phoenix isn’t quite as lethal from three-point land, but does shoot 36.3%, good enough for sixth in the league.
However, that metric is the second-best three-point shooting percentage in the Western Conference behind only the Utah Jazz’s 36.4%.
The Golden State Warriors, who are chasing the Suns with the league’s second-best record at 36-13, rank 10th in the NBA and fifth in the West in three-point shooting (35.9%).
The Warriors also rank eighth in the league and fourth in the conference at 46.6% shooting from the field after being able to reunite the splash brothers in Steph Curry and Klay Thompson this season after the latter missed the past two seasons due to a knee and Achilles injury.
