Is the Suns

[Wannabe MEP]

In the middle of December, within a few days of each other, three key things happened with the Suns:

1. IT came back from injury.
2. Len moved into the starting lineup.
3. Tolliver dropped completely out of the rotation.

Since then, the Suns look…dangerous. Especially on offense. As in, best offense in the NBA over that time period. And after hovering in the 10–15 range for offensive efficiency earlier in the year, the Suns now sit 5th in the NBA for the season.

Admittedly, the schedule was soft during this little run, which definitely played a role. But not that soft, with a lot of away games. And the Suns more than held their own against the top tier teams they played during this stretch (e.g., beat Dallas, lost by 3 @OKC in OT, destroyed Toronto).

So is this all a fluke, or the new normal??

The Suns have gone mostly to a 9-man rotation, and it’s working, with three main lineup designs:

1) Starters: Bled-Dragic-Tucker-Markieff-Len

Our 3rd take on a starting unit is a clear winner thus far, with a healthy +11.3 in 160 minutes. Out of Suns’ units with at least 50 minutes, it’s the best both offensively and defensively, which I'd think would be very rare.

2) The Bench: IT-Green-Marcus-Plumlee + ???

The main four off the bench have played a lot of minutes together recently, with a revolving fifth guy. The offense is rolling with these guys (119.3)…as is the other team’s offense (111.0). But the net is +8.3, which I’ll take any day. Hornacek is mixing this crew with any starter except Len, and occasionally Shavlik. Most combos have worked:

IT-Dragic-Green-Marcus-Plumlee . . . . +25.2
IT-Bledsoe-Green-Marcus-Plumlee . . . . +11.7
IT-Green-Tucker-Marcus-Plumlee . . . . -25.2
IT-Green-Marcus-Shavlik-Plumlee . . . . +13.5
IT-Green-Marcus-Markieff-Plumlee . . . . +16.5

NOTE: The minutes are low here for all of these, so don’t take any one of those numbers by itself to mean too much.

3) Small-ball: 3 PGs and/or Markieff at the 5

Our small-ball game is just flat-out kicking ass.

+30.0 in 60 minutes since mid-December when IT, Bledsoe, and Dragic share the court (123.5 Off; 93.5 Def)
+16.9 on the season with Markieff at the 5 (115.7 Off; 98.9 Def)

[Frank Lee]

surprisingly, annoyingly effective

but.... i do think the schedule aided the Ws....

this 8 game stretch at the end of this month will be tell tale....

Port
Hou
LAcs
DC
Chi
@GS (b2b)
Mem
@Port

[Cutter]

Awesome post Los Soles. I hope you continue to be a presence and post more often. Thanks

[Cutter]

surprisingly, annoyingly effective

but.... i do think the schedule aided the Ws....

this 8 game stretch at the end of this month will be tell tale....

Port
Hou
LAcs
DC
Chi
@GS (b2b)
Mem
@Port

I think our defense will dictate how we do on this hard stretch of games. As Len gets more time at starting C, our defense improves bit by bit. I think the recent play of this team is what Hornacek and McD were planning for.

[TASTIC]

We need a better back-up big than Plumlee. That dude HAS the athleticism but not the drive or the toughness to be a good interior defender.

I've never seen so many guys just walk in for dunks and layups than when he's in the game, it's unreal. He's a 6'11" creampuff sieve out there...

If Len doesn't block the shot he alters it or knocks the driver on their a$$, Plumlee does nothing he just avoids them to not pick up the foul.

**Sorry just realised this was about offense!!

Bledsoe needs to cut the turnovers down AND better manage the damn shotclock. I can't count how many times he's overdribbled with the time winding down and either turned it over, thrown up a horrible shot or it's just gone off in his hand (that's what she said).

[Revived]

I think its hard to argue otherwise.

However, I think our offense still relies on fast break pts and 3s and iso ball way too much.

[Wannabe MEP]

Awesome post Los Soles. I hope you continue to be a presence and post more often. Thanks

Thanks, Cutter. I appreciate it.

I'll probably never again post as much as I did a few years ago, what with 3 small children and all now, but I'll still do my thing every once in a while.

[jcsunsfan]

I think it helped in a couple of ways.

1. During the time that IT was out, Goran and Bled had some time to develop a little chemistry.
2. Len's rim protection is huge. Not only does he block alot of shots, he alters alot more. He is fearless and aggressive.
3. This team needed the shorter rotation to fill roles. Tolliver wasn't a bad player, it was just too many players.
4. Bledsoe seems to be more focused lately. He just seems disinterested at times and the team suffers for it. Got to wonder if he hits the weed or something.
5. Plumlee is performing better in the backup role. He goes against backups more than starters and that fits better for him.
6. IT seems to be more comfortable with his role. It looks like Horny's plan is to see who, in any given game, is hot--IT or Gerald--and then go with the hot hand.

Now, if we could just get double digit rebounding from Markieff, we would have it made.

[swe_suns]

I think it helped in a couple of ways.

1. During the time that IT was out, Goran and Bled had some time to develop a little chemistry.
2. Len's rim protection is huge. Not only does he block alot of shots, he alters alot more. He is fearless and aggressive.
3. This team needed the shorter rotation to fill roles. Tolliver wasn't a bad player, it was just too many players.
4. Bledsoe seems to be more focused lately. He just seems disinterested at times and the team suffers for it. Got to wonder if he hits the weed or something.
5. Plumlee is performing better in the backup role. He goes against backups more than starters and that fits better for him.
6. IT seems to be more comfortable with his role. It looks like Horny's plan is to see who, in any given game, is hot--IT or Gerald--and then go with the hot hand.

Now, if we could just get double digit rebounding from Markieff, we would have it made.

I particularly agree with 3 and 6. For the first 20ish games Horny's plan was, or seemed to be, to bench one of dragic/bledsoe in favour of IT in the 4th quarter (or even in earlier quarters) if the stank it up that is. Now it is much more obvious that dragic/bledsoe are playing knowing they can afford to make mistakes and not be instantly removed from the linuep.

[Cutter]

I think it helped in a couple of ways.

1. During the time that IT was out, Goran and Bled had some time to develop a little chemistry.
2. Len's rim protection is huge. Not only does he block alot of shots, he alters alot more. He is fearless and aggressive.
3. This team needed the shorter rotation to fill roles. Tolliver wasn't a bad player, it was just too many players.
4. Bledsoe seems to be more focused lately. He just seems disinterested at times and the team suffers for it. Got to wonder if he hits the weed or something.
5. Plumlee is performing better in the backup role. He goes against backups more than starters and that fits better for him.
6. IT seems to be more comfortable with his role. It looks like Horny's plan is to see who, in any given game, is hot--IT or Gerald--and then go with the hot hand.

Now, if we could just get double digit rebounding from Markieff, we would have it made.

#4 . As long as he doesn't partake during the season thats all I care about. If he smokes during the offseason, just make sure you come to training camp in shape and ready to go. His muscularity and definition doesn't lead me to think he is much of a pot smoker.

[WTFsunsFTW]

Weed has nothing to do with muscle definition. Any stoner can be at 5% bodyfat if paid $12M/year

[Moochthemonkey]

Weed has nothing to do with muscle definition. Any stoner can be at 5% bodyfat if paid $12M/year

I'm sure they exist but I've never met a stoner with a body-builder physique. They're either slender or have some baby-fat e.g. Michael Beasley and Zach Randolph lol

[BurningHeart]

Great. Now make better decisions with the basketball, make free throws, close out defensive possessions by rebounding the ball and keep doing what we're doing and we'll be fine.