Celtics, Suns Each Get What They Want Out Of Brandan Wright Deal
By Phil Watson
The Boston Celtics—having dealt Rajon Rondo and Jeff Green in the last month—are in full tank gather-future-assets mode.
The Phoenix Suns give up a protected first-round pick from the Minnesota Timberwolves that could be of some value in 2016, but won’t be this year as it is top-12 protected each year.
If the pick falls in the top 12 both years, it turns into second-round selections in 2016 and 2017, per Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.
The Celtics get future assets—possibly 11 first-round picks in the next four years if the pick from Minnesota pans out.
The Suns get exactly what they need to solidify a possible playoff run this year—a rim-protecting backup center who is uber-efficient.
That’s Brandan Wright in a nutshell.
The Suns approach the halfway point of the season at 22-17, eighth in the Western Conference and 2 ½ games clear of the ninth-place New Orleans Pelicans and, more significantly, three games ahead of the 10th-place Oklahoma City Thunder (the real threat).
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Wright is a guy who will give a second unit energy with dunks and blocked shots, knows what he does well and sticks to it and knows his role and will be happy to contribute in the 18-20 minutes a game he ends up getting.
Even after going ice cold in his eight games in Boston and shooting just 57.1 percent (12-for-21), Wright is at a ridiculous 72.4 percent from the floor this season—he was at 74.8 percent with the Dallas Mavericks before he went to The Hub in the Rondo trade last month.
He averages 7.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks in just 16.9 minutes per game.
His player efficiency rating for the season is 24.2—about as elite as you will get from a bench player.
I mentioned earlier that Wright is a player who knows his strengths and plays to them.
Of his 156 shots attempts this season, 32.1 percent of them are dunks. He takes less than 1 percent of his attempts from beyond 16 feet and only 2.5 percent outside of 10 feet.
Around the rim is where his bread is buttered and man, does he butter it—to the tune of 69 percent of his shot attempts coming from within three feet of the rim.
This is the shot performance chart of a man who knows what he does well and does it.
At this point, at age 27 and in his seventh NBA season, Wright isn’t going to stop being who he is—a high-energy guy who will rebound, score when he gets the ball near the rim and block shots.
And he’s the perfect addition to a Suns team that ranks just 19th in defensive rating, allowing 103.9 points per 100 possessions and is allowing teams to finish 62.1 percent of their shots in the restricted area (24th in the NBA).
Besides the restricted area and the corner 3-pointer—Suns opponents are hitting an alarmingly good 41 percent (22nd in the NBA), the Phoenix defense has been effective.
The Suns rank 11th in the NBA, allowing just 37.8 percent of shots taken in the paint’s non-restricted area, third in the NBA at 36.8 percent shooting allowed in the mid-range area and 11th with a 33.4 percent success rate allowed on above-the-break 3-pointers.
So even though Wright’s offense is entertainingly limited to things such as this …
… he is precisely what the Suns need on the second unit—a defensive presence who can finish around the rim, but does not need the ball to be productive.