It is no secret the Phoenix Suns have struggled to find consistency with the backup center spot behind Jusuf Nurkić this season.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Drew Eubanks was brought in to fill this spot, and he has maintained that position throughout the season. The Suns liked Eubanks so much they were punished for tampering to get him to sign this offseason.
There have been a few games where two-way center Udoka Azubuike saw these minutes instead of Eubanks. There have also been times where the Suns have elected to go small at the 5. Phoenix also has 7-foot-3 Bol Bol, who has become a consistent rotation player, but like Bol at the four spot rather than the five.
With all this being said, Eubanks has been the mainstay.
However, it seems abundantly clear the Suns could try a different option, at least for matchup purposes. Last night, fan cries grew even louder. Eubanks was a team-worst -20 in terms of plus/minus (how much Phoenix was outscored by when he was on the floor) in the Suns’ 117-107 loss to the Celtics, despite only playing 11 minutes. The only stats he recorded were one rebound and one foul.
There is nobody more detrimental to this Suns team than Drew Eubanks.
— PHX Fans (@PHXFansAZ) March 10, 2024
That’s not to say Eubanks hasn’t had moments where he played really well this season, including the past two matchups before last night’s game. He had eight rebounds in each of these games, both Suns’ victories, and was a combined +9. For reference, his season high in rebounds is nine and his plus/minus for the entire season is -1.9.
The problem is that this high-level play is not consistent at all. Additionally, some teams don’t play traditional backup bigs anymore.
Many thought Thaddeus Young could fill in the gap when he was signed via the buyout market by the Suns on Feb. 20. However, Young has only appeared in two of the nine contests he has been with the Suns for, registering DNPs for the rest of the seven. Both of these times were either because Nurkić was out or got injured mid-game.
There is a simple reason as to why Young isn’t playing, coach Frank Vogel explained after last night’s loss.
“If a matchup fits, then we’ll use him, but right now he’s behind Drew (Eubanks) on the depth chart,” Vogel said.
Young, at 35 years old and an NBA journeyman, is a perfect fit for the Suns’ locker room, but he is also 6-foot-8 and fits a small-ball 5 mold the Suns could choose to run.
Last night, the Celtics were without Kristaps Porzingis, so they were lacking size. The problem with Young, like Eubanks, is that he is not a shooter at all, so he does not provide any spacing offensively. The benefit of Young is that he can switch onto any position defensively, something Eubanks hasn’t shown consistently.
Eubanks has proven to be a capable rim protector, but once again this hasn’t been consistent. His blocks-per-game average has decreased from 1.3 last season to 0.9 this year.
“Drew’s ahead of (Young) in the depth chart,” Vogel added. “Unless there’s a game we feel like Drew can’t play, which (yesterday) was not the case.”
Young averaged 5.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 15.2 minutes per game across 23 contests for Toronto this season. Eubanks is averaging 5.5 points and 4.3 rebounds in 16 minutes per game across 57 contests for Phoenix.
Here is an in-depth chart on how the two players compare. (via Crafted NBA)
Vogel has shown a willingness to try out new players. We have seen this in just the past few games with Saben Lee and David Roddy.
With the Suns now sitting at 37-27, good for a play-in seed at No. 7 in the Western Conference, and only having 18 more games left, is there anymore time for lineup changes? Or should they just wait until they’re fully healthy with Devin Booker back and figure it out then? This is one of a lot of questions on the table for the remainder of the season.
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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau
