Here are some of the GM’s initial reactions and thoughts on the team’s first half performance upon his return:
What went right: Isaiah Austin
The first 10 seasons of Austin’s career can be summed up as underappreciated and undervalued. He’s always been a very good, consistent player, but he was always overshadowed. He was never the star. Even on his own team. Bledsoe stole the spotlight early on in Austin’s career, then Okaro after he came aboard, and most recently Taylor the past few seasons.
That is no longer the case, as Austin has evolved into not only the Suns’ alpha, but one of the best front-court players in the entire CSL while averaging 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 1.4 blocks and 0.7 steals. The new CSL seems to fit Austin’s game very well. He can make jumpers, threes, and has great playmaking ability for a big. He’s essentially become a point-forward in the new CSL, which is something the Suns always felt his skillset was capable of, but the old CSL just wasn’t built for that type of player. Regardless of his past, Austin is now the focal point of the offense.
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What went wrong: Isaiah Taylor
Taylor’s standing on the team was effectively swapped with Austin’s. Whereas Taylor had been the unquestioned #1 option for the Suns up to this point in his career, he’s dropped to maybe the third option on offense. To put it into perspective, he finished 3rd in the MVP voting last year. This season, he’s been nothing more than a pretty good starter, as he’s averaging 16 points, 4 rebounds and 1 steal. Not bad by any means, but a far cry from an MVP finalist.
The good news for Taylor is that his efficiency appears to still be there (49% of FGs). He’s just not taking as many FGAs, and he’s not getting to the line as much. So the hope is that the Suns can tinker with his game a bit to get him back to an all-star level scorer. He has a ways to go to get back there, but if the Suns want to make any noise come the post-season, they’re going to need the version of Taylor we’re used to seeing, and not this year’s version.
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What went right: Shaq Harrison
Shaq has built upon his strong ROY season and taken his game to the next level in year 2. In his rookie season, he was solid on offense but wasn’t anything opposing coaches had to game plan for. His biggest strength (by far) was his defense and ability to force turnovers. Between season, he really worked on his offensive game, and it shows on the court. On the season, he’s averaging 15 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 0.8 blocks. His offensive efficiency is also up, with a 3.5 A/TO ratio, 47% shooting from the field, and 43% from beyond the arc (on a modest 1.6 attempts/game). For a player that was billed as a defensive specialist coming out of the draft, he’s become a nice two-way player for the Suns.
Perhaps a very telling stat for Shaq’s value is found in the lineup tracking:
Shaq / Taylor / Okaro / Vezenkov / Austin: +114 points in 239 minutes (+17.2 per 36)
Whitehead / Taylor / Okaro / Vezenko / Austin: -38 points in 220 minutes (-6.2 per 36)
The lineup with Shaq is the 2nd most used lineup this year for the Suns, while the lineup with Whitehead is their 3rd most used lineup. So both lineups have been used heavily thus far, and the only difference between the lineups is Shaq and Whitehead as the respective PGs. Now the lineup tracker doesn’t tell the whole story, as there are other factors at play here, but when you consider the massive difference in production between the 2 similar lineups, it shows how important Shaq is to the starting lineup and how much better he plays with the other starters. It also shows how much Whitehead needs to improve… but that’s another story.
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What went wrong: Suns mediocre defense
The Suns built their identity around their defense. Over the years, it’s been the most consistent thing about the team. Players come and go, but as a whole, the Suns have always been a formidable defensive unit. They regularly ranked in (or very near) the top 5 in most defensive metrics. This year has been a little different.
Defensive efficiency: 99.1 (12th)
Defensive EFG%: 44.1 (3rd)
Defensive Rebound%: 69.1 (28th)
Steals: 9.1 (T-13th)
Blocks: 6.6 (7th)
Opponent TOs 15.4 (T-15th)
What we see here is largely a mixed bag. There are some bright spots, like keeping opponents’ FG% down, and they are getting some blocks. However, they’re just middle-of-the-road in terms of generating steals and forcing turnovers. For a team that has 3 of the CSL’s best ball thieves in Okaro White, Shaq Harrison, and Terrence Ferguson… that is inexplicable. Needless to say, big changes are being made to the defensive strategies in an effort to rectify that. The defensive rebounding is also an issue, but that is not as surprising. The Suns have long struggled on the boards, even before trading Zach Collins away in the offseason. Rookie Dedric Lawson should be a big help in this area, but he’s not yet ready for big minutes on the court.
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What went right: Suns still in the thick of things in the West
Despite what can only be described as a largely disappointing and underwhelming performance through the first half of the season, the Suns somehow find themselves as the 4th seed in the West, and just 2.5 games behind the top seeded Denver Nuggets. Meanwhile, if they were in the East, they’d be tied with the Brooklyn Nets for 8th, and another 4 teams would be behind them by just 2 games or less. In essence, they’d be in a dogfight just to make the postseason. So it’s rather fortuitous that they’re in a much weaker Western Conference, where they can work on fixing their (many) problem areas without intense pressure of needing to figure things out immediately.
2020, 2023, 2027
