Stephen’s Notebook, Vol. 6: Richards Early Returns, Booker Buckets Back & Containing of Cade

The Phoenix Suns have finally made changes, and it feels as though more are imminent.

They acquired center Nick Richards from the Charlotte Hornets, as well as a second-round pick in exchange for Josh Okogie and three second-round picks.

Richards joined the Suns in the middle of what tied for a season-long road trip and quickly ascended into a starting role, immediately following his tone-setting debut against the Detroit Pistons.

Phoenix went 3-2 on their East Coast swing.

As it stands, the Suns are 22-21, with an Offensive Rating of 115.0 (11th), a Defensive Rating of 116.3 (24th), and a non-garbage time Net of -1.2 (18th) — all per Cleaning the Glass.

Here’s some of what caught my attention over the last week of play.

Table of Contents

Assessing newness with Nick

Richards’ impact was immediate on arrival for Phoenix, especially defensively.

The sample size is small through just three games, but the Suns have a defensive rating of 108.0 in the 73 minutes when he’s on the floor, 8.28 points better than when he’s rested. That defensive rating is top-10 in this window of play across the league and is the equivalent of the fourth-ranked defense in a season-long comparison.

Yes, that does include a game against the Brooklyn Nets who had six players out due to injury.

However, it is still a shift when considering their matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, where the Suns had an astronomical defensive rating of 132.6, which was not a good showing from him.

His abilities in providing size and doing so with depths of activity are simply something the Suns did not have prior to his debut Saturday.

These abilities don’t come without flaws, whether in the process from his teammates or the coaching staff, but he’s been a positive influence nonetheless.

Let’s speak about some of his defensive early returns, specifically in pick-and-roll.

“Drop coverage” is the base pick-and-roll defense for Phoenix. It keeps their big men in a position to provide rim protection, and is each of their most comfortable coverages.

The issue is that it keeps them in a position of reacting to an opponent, in the coverages nature, which we spoke at length about postgame on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, following their loss to Cleveland.

Take here for instance.

Richards doesn’t quite get up to touch, or to the level, before retreating back into his drop, and concedes the three-point pull-up — a favorite shot of Darius Garland’s (38.8% on 165 attempts) — to him. The result shows, below.

To my point, following the shot being made, you can see an animated sequence of gesturing from coach David Fizdale on the Suns bench as he implores for Richards to be (much) closer to the level of the screen.

Rinse and repeat below. First-half coverage from the Suns in pick-and-roll was entirely too laid back.

This one results in a miss, but below you can see the freedom Garland again navigates to, as Richards isn’t up on the screen.

Again, you can see coach Fizdale lean back in discomfort as he watches Garland get up another uncontested pull-up three in the pick-and-roll context.

Last one from here vs Cleveland with Richards defending against Garland. Notice, the difference with him being up on the screen.

Below is the result from the possession above.

Adjustments were made after the half, but it was in reaction to a barrage of pull-ups in the first half. Phoenix has minimal room for error defensively with how they’ve performed, they need to stay ahead of their opponents in at least being sharp with the game plan to start games.

More with Richards, this time in his debut vs Detroit, up to touch and near the level of the screen — notice on each of these, his foot is almost if not on the three-point line, before getting back into his drop.

Having a true big that can consistently get to that point, is an asset that’ll pay dividends for the Suns, and Tim Legler spoke with us about just that on yesterday’s podcast with us.

I’ll dive into more detail on that to close this Notebook session when talking over film of Phoenix defending vs Cade Cunningham.

Booker back to bucket-getting

Over the last nine games, Devin Booker is averaging 30.8 PPG on 60.4% from two, and 36.3% from three.

The balance in his shot profile that’s surfaced in this window has been fun to observe (8.6 3PA, 12.9 2PA), and the ways in which he’s gone about scoring feel a lot more akin to what made him one of the best scorers in the league the last handful of seasons.

The Suns’ better organized offense of late can also be tied to how well Booker has been featured, from the second side of action but also via a better blend of their quick hitters, in a flow.

Also, his drives that are more of the “hunting for attention” variety, rather than pressure on the rim, have hit in manipulating defenses into multiple advantages for his teammates.

Phoenix has registered an offensive rating north of 120.0 in five of their last seven games. Looking specifically in the halfcourt; they’ve registered a rating north of 100.0 in seven of their last eight and nine of their previous 11.

It seems to be coming back around, and true tests of that against teams that get after each in unique ways are ahead of them, in the likes of the Clippers, Wolves, Warriors, and Thunder — all of which rank top-10 at the moment in general defensive efficiency, and top-6 in the halfcourt.

Of note, the league average offensive rating against teams that are top-10 in defensive efficiency this season is 110.0.

Phoenix is 3-7 in said games, with an offensive rating of 108.9, ranking 17th.

Containing Cade

Phoenix has had their bouts with consistency and sustained competition levels within their defensive process this season.

They’re presently 26th in halfcourt defensive efficiency, in lockstep with their aforementioned 24th ranked general defensive efficiency, which both speak to a team that lacks ability to execute to the demands of their gameplan.

The Suns are often are in a position of reacting to an opponent’s desires, rendering themselves to play the game on their terms and always playing catch up. That’s why it was refreshing to see them execute in a more sustained manner compared to Cade Cunningham in Detroit, even though there were some mistakes.

Let’s look in detail at some of what was spoken in the Nick Richards segment, as well as from the team as a whole in this one.

Cunningham claims the third-highest possession total of the league’s “high volume” pick-and-roll ball handlers (25 players who’ve compiled 450+ pick-and-roll possessions).

He also has the seventh-best points per possession mark, at 1.085, ninth-best score percentage, and has compiled the third most points (869, including assist points) of that elite group of 25 players.

Phoenix did well in funneling him to certain pockets of the floor, dictating to him the spaces he’d be navigating in, and forcing others to score.

Past just being solid against Cunningham, it is this type of performance — in the execution of a game plan — that stands out because it was as consistent of a showing that they’ve had in quite some time, and was connected more often than it wasn’t.

Tim Legler would speak to the lack of consistency they’ve seen, and offer analysis on how they can find pockets to do so successfully more often.

Keep an eye out on the Suns defense as they return home, will have some practice time, and have a slate of high-level opponents awaiting them.

Remember, with this team it’s about the timely stops and finding successful pockets in games, where they compile “kills” (three stops in a row) to create scoreboard separation.

Of note

• Grayson Allen has knocked down double-digit threes in nine of the last 11 games, shooting 55.2% from deep on 5.3 attempts per game — averaging 12.1 PPG.
• Since January 7th, Phoenix has been 22nd in 3PM (12.3), 23rd in 3PA (33.8), and 12th in 3P% (36.5%).
• Kevin Durant has scored double-digit points in the paint in seven of the last eight games.
• The new starting lineup of Jones-Booker-Dunn-Durant-Richards in 27 minutes: 120.4 Offensive Rating, 114.5 Defensive Rating, +5.8 Net.