Bright Side Of The Sun

Phoenix Suns Power Forward Analysis: Offense

2012-05-27T16:00:26Z

Summer has begun, classes are over and I have nothing but time on my hands (until I get a summer job anyway). So, armed with MySynergySports.com, I've decided to assign myself the task of going through the Suns' roster and breaking down the usage and success rate of each position group.

I've previously taken a look at the two centers on the Suns on both offense and defense. Now it's time to move on to the power forwards, and we'll begin again with offense.

Both Channing Frye and Markieff Morris had difficult years on the offensive end. Despite that, however, they still had their strengths and provided value to the offense.

I'm not going to give Hakim Warrick a full breakdown here because I don't feel like it is worth it, but for those that are interested he was good in the post but either sucked or barely contributed everywhere else.

Now, make the jump for a look at the two men that made up the regular rotation at the four this year.

First, allow me to explain in more detail the numbers I looked at. Here's a key for the terms Synergy uses:

Synergy Stat Definitions

• PPP – Points Per Play. A "Play" is always ended with a shot attempt, turnover or getting to the free throw line. PPP is the player’s total points, excluding technical free throws, divided by their total plays.

• Rank – This is where a player or team’s PPP ranks amongst their league peers. A player must have at least 25 plays for a given category in order to qualify for a league ranking.

• %SF - Percent Shooting Foul. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team drew a shooting foul.

• %TO – Percent Turnover. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team turns the ball over.

• %Score – Percent Score. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team scores at least 1 point, including any resulting free throws.

So these numbers track the raw results. They don't factor in everything, which is where the interpretation begins and where watching the games live helps.

The offensive categories are Isolation, Pick-and-Roll Ball Handler, Post-Up, Pick-and-Roll Roll Man, Spot-Up, Off Screen, Hand-Off, Cut, Offensive Rebound, Transition, All Other Plays and Overall. On defense, the categories are the same minus the Cut, Offensive Rebound, Transition and All Other Plays categories as there aren't really any individual defenders assigned on these plays.

With that out of the way, let's dive into the numbers.

Channing Frye: The Phoenix Suns' designated Long-range chucker. (image via NBA.com)

Channing Frye

Channing Frye is known primarily as a spot-up shooter. His ability to stretch the floor is how he makes his money, and it’s what makes him so valuable in the Suns’ offense. However, as we all saw, he wasn’t very good at it last year.

Frye spotted up on 41.5% of his plays, which comes as a surprise to absolutely no one. But his PPP was only 0.96, which ranked him 163^rd. He only shot 34.6% from beyond the arc, where 185 of his 280 spot-up attempts came from, and 36.1% overall. As a jump-shooter, he was rarely fouled and only scored 35.7% of the time. [Insert stats from last year or two]

Frye also has a reputation as an incompetent post player, but the numbers do not support that assessment. 88 of Frye’s possessions came in the post, a distant second to his spot-up total. On those post touches, he averages 0.99 PPP, good for a rank of 14 overall. He shot 54% in the post and drew a foul on another 9%. However, he did cough the ball up pretty often (17 %TO). Overall, Frye scored 50% of the time in the post, which is a great number. We have to remember, though, that he has a smaller sample size than a lot of other post players, and many (I’d go so far as to say most) of his touches have come when Frye has a smaller player switched onto him.

Although his most common play was to spot-up, Frye did a little of everything on offense. He saw the ball 64 times in the pick-and-roll (pick-and-pop half the time in his case) and while his PPP number is good (0.98, Rank 63), it is given a boost by his pick-and-pop 3-pointers (11-33 3FG). The 3-pointers actually hurt his %Score, though, as he shot 13-24 from inside the arc but only scored 39.1% of the time due to the missed 3-pointers and his 9.4 %TO rate.

Frye also saw 64 possessions while running off of screens, which is not a commonly used play for your typical power forward. It wasn’t a terribly effective play as his PPP was 0.67 and he only shot 30%, but that 0.6 was still good enough for 110^th in the rankings.

Channing was also a threat in the open court, as he got the ball on 62 plays in transition. He scored 1.35 PPP which ranked him 24^th, and he converted on 56.6% of his attempts. Overall he scored 58.1% of the time in transition.

Aided by his 3-point shooting, Frye’s overall PPP was 0.95 and he was ranked 114^th despite his %Score only being 40.7%. So even in a poor shooting year Frye was still able to provide plenty of value to the Suns’ offense. He spaced the floor, scored in the post when he had an advantage and ran the floor hard.

Markieff doing his best Channing Frye impersonation. (image via NBA.com)

Markieff Morris

Markieff Morris was similar to Channing Frye in his versatility and the way he was used in the offense, but his inconsistency really hurt his overall numbers.

Morris was actually better than Frye in spot-up shooting. The rookie spotted up on 26.6% of his plays and finished with a PPP of 1.01 and a rank of 106. He only shot 38.9% from the field, although over 60% of his attempts were from beyond the arc where he shot 40.2%. 40% from 3-point range is a very good number, but unfortunately, it seems like most of those makes came in the first half of the season. Overall he scored on 39.6% of his spot-up opportunities, which was better than what Frye did this year.

19.2% of Morris' plays came via post-ups, and he ranked 78^th with a .82 PPP. He only shot 39.3%, but he was also fouled on 8.7% of his touches. Overall, his %Score was 43.3%, better than both Gortat and Lopez. The rookie has potential in this area.

Morris was used as the roll man on 46 plays, and did quite well with a PPP of 1.09 and a rank of 31. That number is alittle skewed however by his limited sample size and the six 3-pointers he hit (out of 19 attempts). He only made 14 of his 32 attempts overall. He did draw fouls at a decent rate (15.2 %SF or seven total trips to the line), but he also turned it over five times. His %Score was 47.8%, better than Frye but not close to the two centers. These numbers tell me he probably provides more value as a pick-and-pop man than a pick-and-roll man.

Morris scored 44.4% of the time on 45 plays as a cutter, 56.1% of the time on 41 transition possessions, 36.6% of the time in 41 isolation situations, 50% of the time on 40 offensive rebounds and 30.3% of the time on 32 plays coming off a screen.

Overall, Morris finished with a 0.87 PPP ad a rank of 252, scoring 40.4% of the time. As a rookie, Markieff Morris was a jack-of-all-trades but a master of none. He showed ability in a lot of different areas, but he still has a lot of work to do. Most importantly, he needs to learn how to finish plays at a much higher rate.

Conclusion

The Suns have a pretty versatile pair of power forwards. They are both capable of stretching the floor and knocking down perimeter shots, but they are also able to step in the paint and make some things happen. However, the Suns will need much more from these two next year. They have to shoot better, plain and simple. The Suns can't afford to have them fail to connect at the rate they did this year.

I have faith in Channing Frye getting up plenty of shots this summer and returning to form, and Markieff Morris strikes me as the kind of guy who is going to put in the work to get better. Both of these guys should be valuable contributors next season, whether we bring in another power forward or not.

I'll leave you with this. I have no clue what type of play this happened on and I don't care. Enjoy.

Image via thehoopdoctors.com

Phoenix Suns NBA Draft Series: Kendall Marshall, PG, North Carolina

2012-05-26T16:00:30Z

With the NBA Draft fast approaching on June 28, we at Bright Side of the Sun want to cover all the bases regarding the possible players who the Suns could draft with the (likely) #13th pick.

Depending on the decisions the Suns make in free agency this season, nearly every position could be considered an area of need.

Being that this is considered the most talented draft in recent years, there will likely be several very good players left on the board when it's time for the Suns to make their selection--and they'll likely have a very tough decision to make as to which player they think will be the best fit for this organization.

So what better way to start off our NBA draft coverage than with the position at the very heart of the team?

Without further adieu, I give you my favorite point guard of the draft...Kendall Marshall

Kendall Marshall is a 6'4" point guard from the University of North Carolina who is known for his outstanding passing ability and his game management skills.

Marshall averaged 9.7 assists per game this season, which was second in the NCAA behind Scott Machado of Iona, who averaged 9.9. But Marshall played against much tougher competition than Machado--competing in the ACC at North Carolina, one of the best basketball schools in one of the toughest conferences in the nation.

However, though Marshall is almost unanimously regarded as the best passing point guard in the nation, there are also some concerns over his ability to score at the next level along with his mediocre athleticism.

So would Marshall be the right player for the Suns to take with the 13th pick in the draft? Read on after the jump as I attempt to help answer this question.

Here are the stats from Marshall's two seasons at UNC:

Basic Statistics

Year			GP	Min	Pts	FG	FGA	FG%	2Pt	2PtA	2P%	3Pt	3PtA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	Off	Def	TOT	Asts	Stls		TOs	PFs
2010/11			37	24.6	6.2	2.1	4.9	41.8	1.5	3.5	43.4	0.5	1.4	37.7	1.6	2.3	69.0	0.2	1.9	2.1	6.2	1.1		2.5	1.4
2011/12			36	33.0	8.1	2.9	6.3	46.7	2.1	4.1	52.7	0.8	2.2	35.4	1.5	2.2	69.6	0.2	2.4	2.6	9.8	1.2		2.8	1.6

Efficiency Statistics

Player Info			Shooting Ratios							Passing Ratios
Year	GP	Min	PTs/g	FGA/g	Pts/Play	TS%	eFG%	FTA/FGA	3PA/FGA	Ast/g	Ast/FGA	A/TO	PPR	STL/g	PF/g
2010/11	37	24.6	6.2	4.9	0.73	0.52	0.47	0.46	0.29	6.2	1.26	2.50	6.56	1.1	1.4
2011/12	36	33.0	8.1	6.3	0.81	0.56	0.53	0.35	0.35	9.8	1.56	3.48	11.00	1.2	1.6

Usage Statistics

Player Info			Complete Metrics				Possession Info			Possession Ratios
Year	GP	Min	PER	EFF	EFF/40	WS/40	Pos/g	Tm Pos/g	% Tm Pos	Pts/Pos	FGA/Pos	FTA/Pos	Ast/Pos	TO/Pos
2010/11	37	24.6	14.5	9.6	15.6	5.4	7.4	72.9	10.2	0.84	0.66	0.31	0.84	0.33
2011/12	36	33.0	17.1	15.1	18.2	7.2	8.8	72.9	12.1	0.92	0.71	0.25	1.10	0.32

Looking at these stats it's easy to see Marshall's biggest strengths and weaknesses. His passing is of course his greatest asset while his shooting and scoring seems to be only average at best. But there's much more to Marshall as a player than just that.

Marshall excels at passing in pick and roll plays as well as in transition, and his court vision and overall feel for the game are unmatched. Anyone who watched Marshall play in college will likely tell you that Marshall is also a great floor general who does a fantastic job of leading his team on the court and who makes a difference simply by being in the game.

This is why Marshall's impact on the game is sometimes hard to quantify in stats. For example, after Marshall's outstanding game against Creighton during the NCAA tournament in which he fractured his wrist, North Carolina was never the same. Although the Tarheels had other top prospects such as Harrison Barnes, John Henson, and Tyler Zeller, without Marshall they often looked lost and disorganized on the floor and were barely able to get by Ohio in the Sweet 16 before finally being eliminated by Kansas in the Elite Eight.

If Marshall would have stayed healthy, many analysts and avid NCAA basketball fans (such as myself) believed North Carolina would advance all the way through the tournament to meet Kentucky in the championship game. But without Marshall at the helm, North Carolina was simply a sum of various parts without the glue to hold them all together. Does that sound like someone else we know on the Suns?

So just how good is Kendall Marshall?

Well, according to DraftExpress.com, Marshall's 10.7 assists per 40 minutes adjusted stats this season aren't just the best of this draft class, but the best in at least the last decade.

The biggest questions about Marshall are about his average jump shot and his less than ideal athleticism. His underwhelming athleticism is also a concern on the defensive side of the ball as he has sometimes struggled to keep up with quicker guards. While both of these areas are legitimate concerns, Marshall has also shown the ability to score when necessary and also displayed an improved jump shot during the NCAA tournament, and his solid defensive fundamentals help him compensate for his lack of quickness as well.

In addition, Kendall's intelligence and craftiness in and around the paint help make up for his average athleticism. Again, does this sound familiar?

I believe that Marshall would be the perfect fit for the Suns, who are already used to his style of play from one of the best pass-first point guards of all time, Steve Nash. Who better to become the heir apparent to Steve's throne than a player who shows the same kind of potential?

I'm not saying Kendall Marshall will be the next Steve Nash...The odds of landing another player of Nash's caliber are extremely low as he is the type of player that only comes around once every couple decades, if that. But Kendall Marshall does have a good chance of becoming a very talented player in his own right, and his rare ability as a true point guard makes him a very attractive option for the Suns in this year's draft.

*All stats provided by DraftExpress.com

Poll

Would you approve of the Suns drafting Kendall Marshall with the 13th pick in the draft?

Sunscast Podcast: Rebuilding Targets And NBA Playoff Chat (Ep. 21)

2012-05-26T16:00:18Z

After a few weeks off, we begin the process of looking at the various options the Suns have for rebuilding their team. We also get into the Spurs-Thunder series and some other fun stuff.

Hosted by Bryan Gibberman and Seth Pollack and presented by Arizona Sports 620 and SB Nation Arizona.

Subscribe on iTunes or stream online after the jump.

Enjoy

Phoenix Suns Center Analysis: Defense

2012-05-25T16:00:36Z

Earlier I took a look at how Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez were used on offense by the Suns this year and how effective they were. Now it's time to examine the centers on the other end of the court: defense.

Gortat and Lopez both have pretty good defensive reputations. Make the jump to see if the numbers support this belief.

First, allow me to explain in more detail the numbers I looked at. Here's a key for the terms Synergy uses:

Synergy Stat Definitions

• PPP – Points Per Play. A "Play" is always ended with a shot attempt, turnover or getting to the free throw line. PPP is the player’s total points, excluding technical free throws, divided by their total plays.

• Rank – This is where a player or team’s PPP ranks amongst their league peers. A player must have at least 25 plays for a given category in order to qualify for a league ranking.

• %SF - Percent Shooting Foul. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team drew a shooting foul.

• %TO – Percent Turnover. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team turns the ball over.

• %Score – Percent Score. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team scores at least 1 point, including any resulting free throws.

So these numbers track the raw results. They don't factor in everything, which is where the interpretation begins and where watching the games live helps.

One thing to keep in mind on these defensive breakdowns is that Synergy does not track help defense. All these numbers relate strictly to individual man defense.

With that out of the way, let's dive into the numbers.

Marcin Gortat

At a listed 6-foot-11 and 240 pounds, Gortat is a bit undersized and at times struggled against some of the league's bigger centers. This has lead many here to question his ability to hold his ground in the post. Looking at the numbers, most teams were not able to take advantage of him too much.

Gortat defended post-ups on 44.7% of his plays, and he gave up 0.77 PPP, which gave him a ranking of 91. He held opponents to only 40% shooting. One are where his size disadvantage might cause him problems is how often he fouls, but that is not played out in the numbers as he only fouled his opponent 6.8% of the time, which equals out to 15 shooting fouls all year. Gortat also forced turnovers 10.9% of the time, which is another check in his favor.

Overall, Gortat gives up points in the post at a 39.4% clip. Gortat is not an elite post defender, but he was still quite good. He holds opponents to a low field goal percentage and doesn't foul very often, and you can't ask much more than that.

Where Gortat's size could be a problem at times, his mobility gives him a real advantage against a lot of opposing big men. After post-ups, Gortat's second-most defended play (24.9%) was spot-up shooting, and he did really well. Gortat's 0.80 PPP was good for a rank of 53 and he held opponents to 39.5% shooting. He even did well closing out all the way to the three-point line, where opponents only converted six of 22 attempts. Spot-up shooters scored 39% of the time against Gortat's defense.

Gortat's mobility is also a plus while defending the pick-and-roll, which he did 14.8% of the time. He gave up 0.96 PPP, which ranked him 69th. Roll men scored against him 49.7% of time (compare this to Gortat's %score on offense, which is 63%). His foul numbers are low here as well.

Gortat faced isolations 11.9% of the time, and he was ranked 127th with a 0.75 PPP. He was merely decent in this area (although his %TO was 18.6).

Overall, Gortat's PPP against was 0.81, good for a rank if 127, and his %Score against was 40.5. Gortat is savvy enough to hold his own in the post and his mobility allows him to close out on spot-up shooters and defend the pick-and-roll quite well. Gortat is not Dwight Howard or Tyson Chandler, but he is a very good defender and his mobility fits our defensive scheme quite well.

Marcin is pretty good at closing out on shooters.

Robin Lopez

Where Gortat is a bit small for a center, Robin Lopez is a true seven-footer with some meat on his bones. One would think that his size, strength and length would give him an edge over Gortat in post defense. However, the numbers show them to be almost equally effective. Lopez gives up 0.76 PPP and ranks 78th, both slightly better than Gortat. However, opponents convert at a higher rate against Lopez as his field goal percentage against is 43.5%. He makes up for this by forcing more turnovers (16.5 %TO), though, so his %Score is slightly better at 39.2%.

Lopez isn't as mobile as Gortat though and has more trouble closing out on shooters, as he gave up .96 PPP is spot-up situations with a %Score of 45.8%.

Lopez has seen limited defensive plays on other play types as his isolation and pick-and-roll roll man totals combined are only 45, but he did well on both, holding opponents' %Score to roughly 36%.

Overall, Lopez finished with a 0.81 PPP against and a rank of 127 which tied him with Gortat (albeit with a much smaller sample size). He only fouled a shooter 4.3% of the time, which is better than I would have thought. Opponents scored against him 39.9% of the time, which is slightly better than against Gortat.

Conclusion

As was the case on offense, the numbers point to Gortat and Lopez being a pretty good defensive duo. Both are plus defenders overall and each have their strengths. Gortat's mobility gives him an edge while closing out on shooters and defending the pick-and-roll, and he can hold his own in the post. Lopez's size is also an asset and having him means we don't have much of a drop-off defensively when Gortat takes a seat.

One interesting thing to note is how much more Gortat is used in the pick-and-roll versus the centers he plays against. I suppose that feeds into the thought that Gortat would be better at PF. But he's doing just fine at center for the Suns.

The Suns have a decision to make with Robin Lopez. His overall numbers are pretty good, especially for a back-up, and we've seen him play even better than his final numbers indicate. Having a seven-footer with some ability is nice, but how much is that advantage worth? We'll see this offseason.

Suns.com Report: Grant Hill Not Retiring; Will Work With Suns Training Staff All Summer

2012-05-25T00:47:01Z

Just in case you were wondering about the venerable and somewhat vulnerable Grant Hill, we can thank Stefan Swiat of www.suns.com for giving us some answers today.

1: Grant Hill is not retiring

Although he'll turn 40 during next fall's training camp, Hill has zero plans to end his career while on the mend.

2: Grant Hill loves the Phoenix Suns training staff

One of the few Suns who hasn't skipped town this offseason, Hill has been a consistent visitor of the the team's training and weight rooms throughout the week.

"I'm just focusing on being healthy," the veteran small forward said. "One of the exciting things of being able to spend most of my time here this summer is that I could work with our training staff and get myself right and ready for next season."

3: Grant Hill is a BAMF

Sure, he could still leave for another team after working with the Suns training staff through June. But this doesn't sound like a guy with one foot out the door. It doesn't sound like a guy pandering to NBA GMs. He has spoken only to a Suns reporter while working out at the facilities, rather than passing rumors through agents and friends.

This is a straight up guy. And I would be more shocked than Lon Babby if Grant didn't end up back in purple and orange next fall, right where he belongs.

Phoenix Suns Center Analysis: Offense

2012-05-24T19:05:24Z

We here on this blog are all fairly familiar with the players on the Suns' roster. We know what their strengths are. We know how they are used on this team.

We know Marcin Gortat is used primarily as the roll man in the pick-and-roll. We know Channing Frye spots up more than he does anything else. We know Robin Lopez likes to post up.

This is all common knowledge to those of us who watched the Suns play this year. However, this common knowledge wasn't enough for me. I wanted to know more. That's where MySynergySports comes in.

For those of you that don't know, Synergy goes through every game and records the result of every possession. They break possessions down into categories such as isolation, pick-and-roll, and post-up, recording how often players are used in those situations and how successful they are.

There's a lot of information, so I'm breaking it down by offense and defense, and only looking at one position at a time. First up is the center position: Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez.

First, allow me to explain in more detail the numbers I looked at. Here's a key for the terms Synergy uses:

Synergy Stat Definitions

• PPP – Points Per Play. A "Play" is always ended with a shot attempt, turnover or getting to the free throw line. PPP is the player’s total points, excluding technical free throws, divided by their total plays.

• Rank – This is where a player or team’s PPP ranks amongst their league peers. A player must have at least 25 plays for a given category in order to qualify for a league ranking.

• %SF - Percent Shooting Foul. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team drew a shooting foul.

• %TO – Percent Turnover. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team turns the ball over.

• %Score – Percent Score. This is the percentage of plays where the player or team scores at least 1 point, including any resulting free throws.

So these numbers track the raw results. They don't factor in everything, which is where the interpretation begins and where watching the games live helps.

With that out of the way, let's dive into the numbers.

Marcin Gortat

In what should be a surprise to absolutely no one, Marcin Gortat was used as the roll man in the pick-and-roll more than anything else. In fact, he was the roll man on nearly one third of his 962 plays. That is a very high number, but it is understandable when you look at how successful he is.

His numbers are fantastic across the board. Gortat scored an incredible 1.22 PPP as the roll man, ranked 11th out of all the qualifying players. He shot 63.6% and was sent to the free-throw line 9.7% of the time (where he only shot 65%, but still). Factoring everything in, he scored 63% of the time when used as the roll man. That's what I call efficient.

A lot of Gortat's success can be attributed to Steve Nash and his incredible powers of distribution, but to say he's nothing without Steve is doing him a disservice. The fact is that he's a tremendous pick-and-roll finisher. He knows how to find the gaps and has a good touch on his finishes around the basket. He may not be Amar'e Stoudemire with his explosive dunks, but he's still one of the best pick-and-roll finishers in the game.

Second on the list with 20.9% of Gortat's plays is cutting. Gortat was decent as a cutter, sporting a 1.13 PPP and a rank of 111. He shot 57.2% and drew fouls 14.4% of the time for a score% of 59.7. This again does require some ability by the cutter, considering he's the one who finds the gaps and puts the ball in the basket, but it also relies heavily on the ones passing him the ball and the others drawing attention and opening up the cutting lanes.

Third on the list is post-ups, which account for 18.6% of his plays. His PPP was .75, ranked 118th. He shot 42.2%, was rarely fouled and turned it over 14% of the time. He scored 38.5% of the time while posting up. Overall, he's decent as a post player, but he still needs a lot of work as we all know. Despite his work with Hakeem "The Dream" Olajuwon, a post-game is not something he can rely on at this point.

Gortat is decent on the offensive glass, but he's not all that effective as a spot-up shooter. His .82 PPP was ranked 233rd, and he only converted his shots 40.7% of the time. He still has some work to do on his jumpshot.

Interesting to note: Gortat only recorded 13 isolation plays all year. He shot 3-10 and got fouled 3 times. He's not exactly a go-to scorer.

Including all plays, Gortat's PPP was 1.05, ranked 18th. He scored 54.4% of the time. These numbers are excellent, but Gortat's pick-and-roll and cutting numbers account for most of this. He is very good at what he does, but we are in trouble if we need him to do more on a consistent basis.

ROBIN SMASH!

Robin Lopez

Robin Lopez was featured much less offensively than Gortat was. In fact, he only recorded 368 total plays. Part of this is due to him being a back-up (duh), but I also believe the fact that none of our guards knew how to feed the post early in the season.

Even with the reserve guards' struggles, Lopez was used primarily as a post player, as 36.7% of his plays came in the post. His PPP was .74, good for a rank of 115. However, we've all seen plenty of bricked hooks, and that shows in his shooting percentage of 37.5%. He also turned the ball over in the post more than he was fouled. Overall, he scored at a 40% clip while in the post. 40% doesn't look all that great, but Robin grades out as a pretty average post player. One thing I've discovered while doing the research for this is that post-ups are not a very efficient source of offense all things being considered.

While posting up isn't all that efficient and Robin is little more than average at it, the pick-and-roll is a tremendous source of high-percentage scoring and Robin is pretty good at it. He was only used as the roll man for 53 plays, but he converted 23-33 field goals and was fouled an insanely high 24.5% of the time. He averaged 1.15 PPP, and was ranked 20th. He did turn it over 9.4% of the time though, so his final %score was 66%. His pick-and-roll numbers each of the last two years have been similar. Perhaps he should be used as the roll man more often?

Robin was very good around the basket in other ways as well. He frequently crashed the offensive glass (19.8% of his plays) and his PPP was 1.12, ranked 63. His numbers as a cutter are even better: 1.39 PPP, Rank 54. He drew fouls at a high rate on both play types.

So Robin Lopez is pretty good when he's close to the basket. What about when he steps away from the basket? Well, he doesn't actually do that too often. I don't have his pick-and-pop numbers (those are included with the pick-and-roll numbers I believe), but he was only used as a spot-up shooter on 21 plays. He made six of his 19 shots. So although we've seen Robin hit that mid-range jumper in the past, he wasn't asked to show it very often nor was he very effective when he did this year.

Overall, Lopez finished the season with a .93 PPP, a rank of 145, and a %score of 49.7%. The problem with Robin was his inconsistency. There were many times Robin looked like a complete stiff and did little right offensively. But there were also times he came out like a man possessed and beasted on opposing big men (these games usually came when he was a sporting some kind of hair or headband I believe). All that evens out to around average, which was where Lopez ended up.

Conclusion

Based on the numbers, the Suns had one of the more formidable center duos in the league this year. Marcin Gortat was one of the most efficient scorers in the entire NBA, and when Robin was on he did some very good things. The eye test backs this up.

However, as good as they are as a rotation, the Twin Towers look advocated by many on this blog is not supported by the numbers. Neither one of these guys will make it into the scouting report as spot-up shooters. Robin Lopez is better the closer you get him to the basket, and Marcin Gortat is at his best when he's rolling to the basket and has room to operate in the paint. There is a possibility these two could play together and be effective, but that doesn't appear to be the case at this point in time in this offense.

NBA Playoff Schedule And Scores: Ugly East Rolls On

2012-05-24T15:01:43Z

The Philadelphia 76ers beat the Boston Celtics in one of the ugliest games of the 2012 NBA Playoffs. Philly held the beat up and depleted Celtics to just 75 points but instead of a blow out, they only managed 82 themselves. Yes, both teams play good defense but making open shots would be a nice change as well.

The series goes back to Boston for a Game 7 on Saturday. Even though they barely have enough players to wear the uniform, most people expect the Celtics to win. We'll see.

Thursday's 2012 NBA Playoff schedule:

Miami Heat at Indiana Pacers at 8:00 p.m. ET on ESPN

The Pacers will also try and force a Game 7 and they have a very good chance of doing just that. The Heat will be without Udonis Haslem and Dexter Pittman. Haslem got one game and Pittman three for their roles in the Game 5 hard foul fest. Needless to say, the already depleted Miami front court will be even thinner. The question is, can the Pacers stop taking jump shots and feed the ball inside?

Phoenix Suns Evaluation Series 2011-12: Alvin Gentry

2012-05-23T20:21:11Z

The final installment of our reviews for the 2011-2012 Phoenix Suns features head coach Alvin Gentry. Having just completed his third full season as coach, Gentry has compiled a 145-116 record, leading the Suns to the playoffs once and, of course, winning two series when they got there during their run in 2010.

This past season, the Suns were bottom feeders before the All-Star Break at 14-20, then went on a 19-10 run to put themselves temporarily in the West's eighth spot with less than a week to go before losing their final three games to finish 33-33.

These Suns had all the trappings of an average team: an above average offense (9th in O-Rating) balanced by a below average defense (24th in D-Rating); they beat some playoff teams and lost to a few of the league's worst. Their logo might as well have been a yin-yang symbol instead of a sun.

Let's examine Gentry's role in the Suns mediocre season, after the jump.

All of the league's teams were forced to deal with the quirks of the lockout-condensed season, among them a shortened training camp and preseason, no summer league for young players, back-to-back-to-back situations, and fewer time to rest players between games or work on improving through in-season practices.

Theoretically, a Suns team led by veterans and returning its full starting five from the end of last season would have an advantage early on, wouldn't they? No, unfortunately, they would not. New bench players Sebastian Telfair and Shannon Brown were slow to adapt to the team, and the Suns started the season slow and sluggish, with jump shooters missing open shots.

It's hard to fault Gentry that Channing Frye showed up unprepared to play, or that Telfair and Brown looked lost early on, or that Suns jump shooters struggled trying to get their legs in NBA basketball shape after the prolonged time off. While there were additional decisions for coaches to make around player usage, especially managing minutes of starters, the shortened training camp and less time for in-season practices allowed coaches fewer opportunities to teach.

When it comes to NBA coaching, though, there aren't too many difference makers out there. A few coaches are clearly superior, a few probably have no business coaching, and most of them sit somewhere in the middle, able to win with the right players but unable to compete with Thoroughbreds if given a team of mules.

The main reasons Gentry was hired as head coach of the Suns were his style and his relationship with team leader Steve Nash. After the Terry Porter experiment bombed and Porter was fired, Gentry moved in as interim head coach, turned the tempo back up, let Nash do his thing, and the Suns were back to close to their old "Seven Seconds of Less" selves. A Western Conference finals berth in 2010 earned Gentry a 3-year contract extension which runs through the end of next season.

There wasn't much in Gentry's past as a head coach to endorse him for another shot at leading a team when then-GM Steve Kerr promoted him from assistant. One stint in Detroit followed by another in LA with the Clippers left him with one playoff appearance, zero playoff series wins and a record of 177-226, but he was the right fit at the right time for Phoenix in 2009.

Gentry's a player's coach, and as such relies on the leadership of his sagacious veteran team captains Nash and Grant Hill. Indeed, when we review the factors in Nash's decision to stick with the Suns through the conclusion of his contract this past season, and upcoming decision whether to re-sign or not, his affection for the "Suns way" is a compliment to Gentry. It's also a major point in Phoenix' favor as the Suns work to re-sign Nash.

Like Nash, Gentry believes in the importance of chemistry and relationships on a team, that players will be more willing to sacrifice for each other if they share respect and admiration for one another. This isn't as common as we might think, and several Suns players mentioned the chemistry of this squad as being among the best they've ever been around.

In a conversation about Gentry's performance this past season, the questions are:

Did any players significantly underachieve or overachieve?
Was the whole greater than the sum of the parts?

As we've seen in our grades and discussion about individual players, none of them jumped out as playing much better or worse than expected.

However, for a team with a bench unit comprised of castoffs and unprovens, a 38-year old star and a few starters who are seen as bench players promoted over their heads, the whole was greater than the sum of the parts for this Suns team. The credit for that goes to the head coach who created the environment of chemistry and cooperation, who empowers Nash and Hill to take the lead.

Was there one national media "expert" who expected the Suns to seriously challenge for a playoff spot? Even among the fan community, there wasn't much hope for that, yet there were the Suns in contention until the second to last game of the season. That's not overachieving individuals, it's an overachieving team.

That earns Alvin Gentry a B from me. A playoff berth would have been good for an A.

Poll

Bright Side Of The Sun

Phoenix Suns Power Forward Analysis: Offense

Channing Frye

Markieff Morris

Conclusion

Phoenix Suns NBA Draft Series: Kendall Marshall, PG, North Carolina

Would you approve of the Suns drafting Kendall Marshall with the 13th pick in the draft?

Sunscast Podcast: Rebuilding Targets And NBA Playoff Chat (Ep. 21)

Phoenix Suns Center Analysis: Defense

Marcin Gortat

Robin Lopez

Conclusion

Suns.com Report: Grant Hill Not Retiring; Will Work With Suns Training Staff All Summer

Phoenix Suns Center Analysis: Offense

Marcin Gortat

Robin Lopez

Conclusion

NBA Playoff Schedule And Scores: Ugly East Rolls On

Phoenix Suns Evaluation Series 2011-12: Alvin Gentry

What grade would you give Alvin Gentry for his coaching job of the 2011-12 Suns?