Bradley Beal, Suns embracing defensive potential at start of season

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns will go as their offense goes this season, but their margin of error will be much less anxiety-inducing if they can surprise defensively.

That is what lies at the core of a 6-1 start, which begs the question: Could they be better than we thought on that end?

Two weeks into the season, Phoenix ranks fifth in defensive rating on Cleaning the Glass’ database that eliminates garbage time. It is both very early and during a period when the Suns have benefitted from a light schedule featuring two contests against the Los Angeles Clippers without Kawhi Leonard and getting Paul George in his Philadelphia 76ers debut without Joel Embiid.

But there are reasons to be optimistic.

As a foundational starting point, for all the yappin’ about head coach Mike Budenholzer and his offensive pedigree, he has always been a very good defensive coach as well. During the prime three-year run for his Atlanta Hawks teams in the mid-2010s, they finished fifth, second and fourth in defensive rating. In the Milwaukee Bucks’ first two seasons of the Bud era, they topped the charts.

There’s also two individual developments on the roster worth expanding on.

The top one in Phoenix and maybe even leaguewide because of how well it is going is Bradley Beal.

For how often Beal gets identified as an aging, injury-prone star, dude is still only 31 years old and moves extremely well on the court. He is using his high-end agility and speed the most this year on the ball defensively, where he has been very good. You can tell when someone is embracing a role, so it was not surprising to hear him say as much after Monday’s win.

“I’m very excited about taking on the task of guarding guys,” Beal said. “I just think that’s another level I can tap into.

“I had a better feel coming into this season of kind of what my role would be, how the team would utilize me and where I could just see where we had a gaping hole,” Beal added. “Where we can improve at and just putting myself in that position — telling coach, telling [assistant coach David Fizdale] that that’s an assignment I want every night.”

Again, going off assumptions, we are used to a certain amount of discomfort with asking a max contract player to do less and go contribute the most in areas where “glue guys” exist. Beal, however, is completely buying into what his responsibilities have to be as effectively the third banana. And he is performing excellently with them, to a degree that Suns fans should start getting very excited (if they aren’t already) about the idea of what a Big 3 actually is coming to fruition.

Beal is taking 12.6 shots per game, his lowest number since 12 seasons ago when he was a 19-year-old rookie. With that, he’s shooting 50.8% from the field and taking care of the ball in a low-usage role, sporting a 3-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio that is only bested by the gods of the analytic, Tyus Jones (6.57) and Monte Morris (9-to-1).

Watch back the younger tape of Beal before he became an All-Star scorer on very good Washington Wizards teams and you’ll see a guy making the types of plays he is making now. He is a very good energy player who has a nose for the ball, and with that play style plus his personality, it’s enough of a lift to where Devin Booker called Beal the heart of the team.

All-Star 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey got up to 32 points on Monday but it was a tough 32 with Beal on him. Beal was grinding to work his way through screens and stay in the airspace of both him and George. Phoenix got fortunate that Guerschon Yabusele missed a pair of open 3s late when Philly had a five-point lead but also played some terrific defense to set up Kevin Durant for his heroics.

Yabusele missed b2b 3s that allowed the Suns back in the game but Phoenix also had some great defensive possessions late. Beal was ~working~ on George/Maxey and Nurkic’s help in different spots was money. pic.twitter.com/N2ftQTfVK1

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) November 5, 2024

“He’s been phenomenal,” Durant said of Beal. “It’s extra tough, a lot of these guys he’s guarding, they run pick-and-roll all game, they get pindown screens all game, so he gotta run through a lot of different things.”

Other positive signs on Suns defense

To that point, Durant and Booker both noted unprompted how Budenholzer is having his defenders work through screens more as opposed to just switching. Perhaps the most irritating part of watching modern basketball is when lazy defenses give away a switch for free, especially when it is one the opposing offense wants. All defenses will switch quite a bit these days but there are definitely times to fight it. It just, you know, takes exuding more energy and also adds up the physical toll.

Durant acknowledged how the lack of switching right now sets a tone and Booker co-signed.

Four games in, the Suns had drawn five offensive fouls on moving screens. All five were earned by Beal, Booker and Durant.

It goes without saying how much it does for the entire group when the Big 3 are putting in the effort like that.

Phoenix is fifth in blocks per game, sitting at 6.3 a night. A lot of this is just solid defense mixed in with some good ol’ hustle. It’s a good way to make up for the lack of a pure rim protector.

A quirk of the Suns 4 games in is that they are racking up blocks. They’re averaging 7 a game, tied for 5th leaguewide.

A handful of strips on shot attempts help account for that but also some great plays on the ball, secondary rotations and efforts in transition. pic.twitter.com/VL5leCJowW

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) October 30, 2024

Furthermore, to the justified concerns on a lack of size for the Suns, they are sixth in opposing offensive rebounding percentage at 25.3%. They themselves are 29th in offensive rebounding percentage (21%), so keeping that gap in the healthy spot is huge. In that same realm is free-throw rate, where the Suns’ opposing rate is 12th-best and their own number is third.

Those are the factors beyond turnovers and 3s where the math can screw the Suns. Phoenix is not forcing many turnovers, sitting 24th, while it’s a modest 14th in turnover percentage and sixth in the percentage of its shots coming from 3-point range. The Suns have the 10th-best defense on the other side of that metric for 3s.

So far, so good on the math.

The second individual development is Ryan Dunn, who had an electric rise in the preseason and sensational beginning five games into the real deal. He’s been a big-time impact reserve already, and even though he’s missed his last nine shots from deep and will have rookie lulls, the fact that he’s a concrete rotation piece is a significant help to the defense.

Maxey found a groove in the mid-third quarter when you could sense his attempt at a takeover coming, before Dunn checked in and forced two tough misses on step-back 3s that cooled the microwave scorer off.

There is a long way to go and this isn’t even about being a top-10 defense like the Suns are now. They would surely take it if they were a middling defense slotting somewhere in the mid-to-high teens. It says a lot about the untapped potential that Phoenix’s best defensive effort thus far was following an awful opening six minutes of transition defense that let the Los Angeles Lakers open up to a quick 18-point lead.

“There’s been stretches in each of the games where the defense has been at a pretty high level,” Budenholzer said after that victory. “And the hard thing is to sustain it for 48 minutes. … To go down like we did, I really feel like it was our defense that allowed us to get back in it and find a way to win.”

To what Budenholzer is saying, much like the Suns’ season thus far, there are lots of encouraging signs and clear room for growth that isn’t unreasonable to expect.

From a bird’s eye view, Budenholzer is simply establishing the base of his defense right now. Instead of adding layers and layers immediately, that process will take place gradually over time. Durant hinted at how that’s coming and how it will make Phoenix better when it is ready for that step.

“It can be dangerous,” Durant said of the defensive potential the Suns have. “I think the more we get on the same page, the more we get a little bit more creative with the stuff we’re doing out there. … Coach is really good at letting [the players] do stuff like [adjusting] so once we get more and more on the same page, we’ll do creative stuff like that.”

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