The Phoenix Suns have a lot of questions surrounding their roster this offseason following a first-round sweep against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Because of this, the Suns will be operating over the second-tax apron next season, which is projected to be $190 million.
In this threshold, Phoenix is unable to sign free agents outside of the Suns to anything other than veteran-minimum contracts. In terms of trades, the Suns will not be able to take in more salary than they send out, include cash in deals, aggregate contracts or use a preexisting trade exception.
The Suns will also be picking 22nd overall this summer in a draft that has been heralded as one of the worst in a long time. On the day of the first round of the draft (June 26), the Suns are able to trade both the No. 22 pick as well as their 2031 first-round pick, but not before then. These are the only first-round picks until 2031 that the Suns have the immediate ability to trade.
President of basketball operations and general manager James Jones has said the team will not be trading any of the Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
So what does Jones feel the Suns’ biggest need this offseason is to build around these three and new coach Mike Budenholzer? Shooting.
“Never forget the object of the game of basketball is to put the ball in the basket,” Jones said at Budenholzer’s introductory press conference last week. “If we can continue to find guys that can put it in the basket and also train every day to get our guys to be more efficient at it, that makes us a better team.”
The Suns ranked fifth in the NBA in 3-point percentage last season at 38.2%, but only 25th in attempts at 32.6 per game.
However, they had plenty of shooting to compliment the Big 3, including the league leader in 3-point percentage, Grayson Allen. Eric Gordon, Yuta Watanabe and Damion Lee among others were all brought in or retained last season to help Phoenix in this category. On paper, Phoenix should have been one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the league. But, the Suns instead severely underperformed overall. Of these aforementioned players, Lee was out all season due to injury and Watanabe was benched and then traded at the deadline.
Budenholzer’s teams have been known to shoot a lot of threes in the past (h/t Desert Wave Media’s Trevor Booth on X).
If Mike Budenholzer becomes the next coach of the #Suns, expect them to shoot more threes.
Budenholzer's teams by 3-pointers attempted and NBA rank:
2014: 26.4 (Second)
2015: 26.6 (Sixth)
2016: 28.8 (Fifth)2018: 31.0 (Seventh)
2019: 38.2 (Second)
2020: 38.7 (Fourth)… pic.twitter.com/84fqJY7Gye— Trevor Booth (@TrevorMBooth) May 10, 2024
With that said, Budenholzer described his approach in 3-point shooting, highlighting the Big 3, who have been known to masters of the mid-range, rather than from deep.
“There’s gonna be philosophical approaches to how we practice every day, how important shooting 3s is, and the spacing, and all the value and things that come from being a high-volume 3-point team,” Budenholzer said. “I’m gonna work with the whole group to help them embrace it, understand why it’s important to us. And when I think about Kevin and Devin being two of the greatest maybe all time, certainly this generation, as we talk about today’s NBA, in the mid-range, I think of it as just adding to what they do.
“They’re so talented. They are so good at everything they do. I don’t want to take away from anything that they do, I want to add to what they do, I want to make them better. I want to push them to be their best, and what’s best for our team, and to get all of us to understand, ‘How do we win?’ And there’s no doubt that these guys will know, I think 3s are a part of it. But we’re going to do it from day one. We’re going to do it starting in the gym, probably on Monday, training camp, all throughout the summer. The whole team, it’s going to be important, including Brad, all those guys. They’re incredible players, I just want to add to what they do. That’s my mentality is to push them and to make them their best selves. And for us to have our best team.”
There seems to be three positions on the Suns that are more important than shooters: a rim-protecting center, athletic forward and point guard. However, with today’s NBA, there’s no doubt the Suns need to incorporate shooting more 3s into what they do, and like most areas with the team, it starts with the Big 3.
With Jones’ remarks and Budenholzer’s approach, shooting could end up being the statistical area the team improves most in.
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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
