A look at what the Suns can expect from Collin Gillespie on two-way contract

One of the bigger disappointments for Phoenix Suns fans this week — especially watching an NBA Summer League squad that could use a true point guard — is that Collin Gillespie wouldn’t be available to play in Las Vegas.

It’s not an injury concern, thankfully, but after signing his two-way contract with the Suns a little late in the game, the timing of it just didn’t make sense.

“Logistically, when I signed, coming from Denver, they were already a couple days into practice, and when I had gotten to Phoenix, they had already been there for a couple days,” Gillespie explained. “So logistically, I talked to the coaches and the timing didn’t really work for me.”

The Suns agreed on that point, but Gillespie joined the team in Phoenix and then Las Vegas to start practicing with the coaching staff and working with the Summer League guys.

“He’s here in Vegas, he’s working every single day, he’s getting better, working out with our coaching staff, our medical staff.” coach Vince Legarza said. “And so we just thought it was best for him to get better a different way.”

It’s a bummer we won’t get to see Gillespie in a Summer Suns uniform, but the 25-year-old Villanova product wanted to support the team and work out with them. And despite not suiting up yet, he’s already making an impression.

“He’s been awesome to be around, he’s been coming to our film sessions, he’s been coming to our practices, working out with our strength staff, working out with the other coaches,” Legarza said. “We’re really excited about having him here, and he’s been great, participating, getting to know our guys, coming to practice. A lot like [David Roddy], he wants to learn the terminology, he wants to see how we do things, how we practice, how we go about our day.”

“Yeah, he’s been great,” rookie Oso Ighodaro agreed. “I looked up to him at Villanova when he was there, my freshman year, and I’ve just been asking him questions, trying to learn as much as I can.”

The question is, what can this new arrival provide for the Suns on the court, and does he have a legitimate shot at earning a full roster spot? Let’s take a look at Collin Gillespie’s game and what he showed during his first crack at NBA minutes last season.

What Collin Gillespie brings to the table

Collin Gillespie is a five-year player out of Villanova who took advantage of an extra year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After winning a state title in high school, Gillespie became an NCAA champion in 2018, a two-time Third Team All-American, the Big East Player of the Year (twice), and won the Bob Cousy Award in 2022.

Despite going undrafted in 2022, he found a way to continue winning the NBA, latching onto the Denver Nuggets on a two-way contract the year they won the title. Unfortunately, he underwent lower leg surgery in his first summer with the team, meaning he didn’t play a single minute during that championship year.

His true rookie year came this past season, but Gillespie’s more substantial opportunities to show his full game came in the G League. In eight appearances for the Grand Rapids Gold, he put up an eye-popping 21.1 points, 10.5 assists, 8.9 rebounds and 2.0 steals in a whopping 40.4 minutes per game. He only shot 44.8 percent overall but made 39.7 percent of his 7.9 3-point attempts a night.

Eight games isn’t a massive sample size, but Collin Gillespie looked too good for that environment:

Because of how well he played, and because Denver needed extra guard depth when Jamal Murray went down, Gillespie got his chance with the Nuggets as well.

He only appeared in 24 games at the NBA level, and his 3.6 points and 1.1 assists in 9.4 minutes per game didn’t leap off the page, but he was efficient on a limited number of shot attempts, shooting 46.4 percent overall and 39.5 percent from 3-point range. Playing on such a high-level team rubbed off on the rookie.

“They do things the right way, and I was around a lot of great vets,” Gillespie said. “I had a lot of great vets that I played with, so I got to kind of learn the game, how to go about every day, and learn it at the NBA level.”

His career-high 18 points against the Portland Trail Blazers in February were a good example of those lessons bearing fruit:

In terms of what he brings to the table, Collin Gillespie is a capable shooter off the catch and off the dribble. He actually shot a better percentage on pull-up 3s (41.7 percent) than he did on catch-and-shoot 3s last year, but bear in mind, these are tiny sample sizes for a guy who only attempted 38 3-pointers total.

Either way, having a point guard who can play off the ball as a catch-and-shoot threat or force defenses to respect his pull-up ability comes with obvious benefits. Gillespie won’t hesitate to let it fly if he finds enough space from beyond the arc or in the midrange, and he’s got a nice little pump-fake and side dribble to free himself up when defenders close out on his shot:

Despite the confidence in pulling the trigger, Gillespie emphasized the steadiness he wants provide for a team that lacked structure and consistency — or a backup point guard at all — in the second unit.

“Just a sense of calmness,” Gillespie said. “I feel like I’m an elite shooter. I can run the point guard position really well, get guys shots, especially the guys that I’ll be playing with, who are elite scorers. Just find them in spots for them to get the ball and score and have the best opportunity to help us win.”

If Gillespie can work his way onto the court with the likes of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal, that’s a useful trait to have. He didn’t get to initiate a ton of offense for the Nuggets, which, duh: He played a grand total of 225 minutes, and more than half of those were spent sharing the court with Denver’s primary initiator, Nikola Jokic.

But the glimpses of pocket passes in the pick-and-roll, probing off the dribble and locating open cutters were enough to reassure everyone he’s a legit backup point guard, especially since he put up 10.5 assists a game in the G League.

“His feel for the game, his ability to handle and drive,” Legarza said. “I think he’s a tough kid. Those Villanova guys, they’re tough, they’re strong, they’re winners.”

At this point, his path to getting a real opportunity in Phoenix may rely on injuries. The Suns currently have 15 fully-rostered players, plus two guys — Gillespie and Jalen Bridges — on two-way deals. Bringing in Monte Morris filled this team’s need for a backup point guard about as well as Phoenix could’ve hoped for on a veteran minimum deal.

But Morris struggled coming back from injury last year, and you never know when an injury or trade could change everything. For his part, Gillespie believes Phoenix was the right fit.

“I thought it was a really good opportunity,” he said. “Obviously last year, I think everybody saw they didn’t have really many point guards, and obviously we signed Monte, who I’ve known for a little bit now, been able to play with and work out with him a little bit, great player.

“But yeah, the situation and fit here, being on a two-way, trying to hopefully earn a contract, and just have more opportunity to play. Last year I played a little bit, but not as much, just kind of spots when Jamal [Murray] went down. So hopefully I’ll be able to get a little more opportunity here and show what I can do more consistently.”

Monte Morris was on his way out of Denver by the time Collin Gillespie arrived there, but Morris remained close with the Nuggets staff, and the two got to know each other while working out and playing together at a CP3 Elite Guards Camp last year.

In any case, Gillespie hopes to build those same types of connections with the Suns’ Big 3, and he looks forward to going from guarding KD in the post to feeding him the ball.

“I’d rather play with him than play against him,” Gillespie joked. “Obviously one of the best players to ever play the game, and I’m excited to share the floor with those guys and be able to watch them and be around them, pick their brain. They’ve been around for a long time. They’re three of the greatest players to play, so I’m excited for it.”

Obstacles for Collin Gillespie

In Las Vegas, Adam Mares of DNVR Nuggets gave PHNX Sports some insight into the Suns’ three new players who used to play in Denver — Monte Morris, Mason Plumlee and Collin Gillespie. Mares summed up his biggest obstacle perfectly.

“He’s a really good player, just a true point guard,” Mares said. “He’s too tiny. That’s his only problem. He shoots the ball well, he does everything well, but he’s really small.”

Listed at 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, Gillespie is undersized in the modern NBA. He’s got a plus wingspan at 6-foot-4, but he doesn’t possess explosive athleticism to create enough space to escape defenders in midair.

Gillespie makes up for that as a cerebral, high-IQ player with a sturdy handle. He’s got a good first step, a quick crossover and can pull up from anywhere on the floor off the bounce, making him a tougher perimeter cover when he’s got the ball. Gillespie also likes putting guys in jail off the bounce, creating contact to keep longer defenders from crowding his dribble or smothering his shot.

However, at a certain point, that lack of height and length matters, and it’s a more glaring issue when he’s looking to score in the paint. The tiny sample size is somewhat unfair, but Gillespie only shot 8-for-14 at the rim (57.1 percent). Against NBA length, speed and recovery shot-blocking, the film backs up how he may struggle to create separation as a driver or apply rim pressure as a scorer:

In fairness, Collin Gillespie is skilled, calculated and cunning, which was enough of a winning combination for him to finish some incredibly tough looks around the basket.

He’s small and quick enough to take defenders by surprise on his drives, especially with how tight his handle is, and he knows how to use the baseline and the backboard as shields on some of his layups. When he was able to initiate contact or power through it, he got some tough ones to fall:

With that being said, the degree of difficulty on these shots is incredibly high. It’s not that he can’t continue to make them, but it’s asking a lot, and it puts more strain on Gillespie to develop a reliable floater, a go-to Euro-step, or some other counter for when he drives and is met with weak-side shot-blockers.

“Two-way players, some of them are prospects to later be in the rotation,” Mares said. “Other guys are, ‘Yeah, but if our point guards get hurt, we need one, do we have one?’ I think he’s the latter. He’s a guy that if you need him for 10 games in a row, he could step into that role, ’cause he’s so solid. He can play at this level, he plays at the right pace and everything. But yeah, he’s a good player, and he’ll be a nice little emergency backup.”

That sounds eerily similar to Gillespie’s role was in Denver, which sounds like the precise reason he left for Phoenix in the first place. Gillespie wants to have more of an opportunity to show what he can do, and even on a roster with only one “traditional” point guard, it’s unclear whether he’ll get it.

But for the time being, this is the exact type of swing the Suns need to take with their two-way spots, especially now that they have a G League affiliate again. And for his part, Collin Gillespie understands what comes with a two-way contract and how he wants to approach it.

“The same way: Be a pro,” he said. “Obviously come in every day, get your work in, and hopefully just get a little bit of opportunity and take advantage of the opportunity. I feel like — I know I could play in this league. I’m ready for a bigger opportunity, a bigger role, so I think this situation was good for me, not having a lot of point guards on the roster. But I’m excited for it.”