Phoenix Suns rookie forward Ryan Dunn surprised everyone with how well he performed in the preseason and now has continued that strong play into the regular season.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Through the Suns’ (2-1) first three games, Dunn, the No. 28 overall pick in June, is averaging 8.0 points (sixth among rookies) while shooting 50% from the floor and 46.3% from 3 in 14.5 minutes per game. He’s also guarding the opposing team’s best player when he’s on the floor.
Dunn got his first career start in Saturday’s 114-102 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in place of the injured Bradley Beal, finishing with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 3-for-6 from 3 and matching up Luka Dončić on defense.
“I think it was a great night for Ryan (Dunn),” Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said postgame. “That there (Dončić) is one of the top, top players in our league, a top test in our league to go into the lab and learn from it. He had some good possessions, and he had some possessions where we can look at it and talk about where he can improve.
“I thought the defense and his athleticism were a positive and then the three in the fourth quarter was huge, the threes throughout the game, shooting it with confidence. A good night for Ryan.”
Confidence and big shot making.
????️ KD on Ryan Dunn pic.twitter.com/uaKzfb2cUU
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) October 27, 2024
The Virginia product is leading all rookies in 3-pointers made with six so far, an incredible transformation after he shot 7-for-35 (20%) from deep all of last season (34 games) with the Cavaliers. Defenses rarely even guarded him for 3 just one season ago in college, and now he’s knocking them down with confidence in the NBA.
The Athletic’s John Hollinger labeled Dunn as his rookie of the week from the first week of action in the NBA. This was his reasoning.
“Is it possible for a rookie to win Most Improved Player? Can we show the voters video of Dunn shooting last season and make it possible?
“The Suns forward from Virginia, selected 28th in June, has unexpectedly been the most accomplished member of the 2024 draft class thus far, starting for Phoenix on Sunday while guarding Luka Dončić in a Suns win.
“More shockingly, he leads all rookies in made 3s through Sunday’s games. That damns with faint praise — nobody in the class is even averaging double figures — but still. You could have found approximately a zillion-to-one odds on ‘Ryan Dunn will lead all rookies in 3s’ before the season, and so far, it’s happening.
“As many of you know, I went to Virginia and watched a lot of Dunn’s college games. Dunn’s defensive talent was obvious, but offense was another story.
“He showed occasional flashes of perimeter development in his first two seasons, but those quickly petered out in lost confidence and untaken looks. By midseason of 2023-24, he was college basketball’s record-scratch king, not even looking at the rim when he caught the ball on kickouts at the 3-point line. He didn’t eclipse 10 points in any of Virginia’s final 14 games and air-balled a free throw in the season finale.
“Dunn then followed that up by shooting 1 of 13 from 3 in summer league — hey, at least he was taking them — but it didn’t exactly get anyone’s hopes up that he’d start raining bombs.
“So imagine my shock — and every scout’s — when Dunn showed up in Phoenix letting it rip this fall and knocking down deep 3s from everywhere — above the break, off the dribble, all over. He launched 30 triples in just 111 preseason minutes and thus far has taken 13 3s in his 43 NBA regular-season minutes. And they’re going in! He’s 19-of-43 from deep.
“It’s an amazing difference in a few months’ time, but what’s equally incredible is that it doesn’t seem like there were massive modifications.”
As many fans and media members were saying in the preseason, Hollinger described why Dunn could easily be the steal of the draft.
“He’s not thinking about shooting anymore, as he clearly was at Virginia. He’s just shooting.
“Dunn might not keep shooting at 40 percent from 3 all year (I must report one of his makes banked in by accident from the corner), but the good news is that he doesn’t have to. Whatever the Suns get from him on the perimeter is basically gravy; they drafted him to be a defensive stopper. If he’s going to rain 3s on top of it, then Phoenix has perhaps the biggest steal in what otherwise is looking like a weak draft class.”
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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
