Meet Brandon Knight Of The Phoenix Suns

The NBA Trade Deadline has come and gone. Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas, Miles Plumlee, and Tyler Ennis are no longer on the team. The Phoenix Suns gained three more first-round picks of questionable quality and value.

However, they also gained a good player in Brandon Knight, formerly of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks were having a Renaissance season, becoming the first team ever to double their win total from the previous season before the All-Star break.

Most people, including the Phoenix Suns front office, put most of the improvement on Brandon Knight. But how much of the improvement in Milwaukee was from Knight, and is Knight a player finally making the leap?

Knight is only 23 years old, and his productivity has risen each year he has been in the league.

Season	FG%	3P%	FT%	TRB	AST	STL	TOV	PTS
2011-12	.415	.380	.759	3.6	4.2	0.8	2.9	14.3
2012-13	.407	.367	.733	3.8	4.6	0.9	3.1	15.2
2013-14	.422	.325	.802	3.8	5.3	1.0	2.8	19.4
2014-15	.435	.409	.881	4.7	6.0	1.8	3.5	19.7
Career	.419	.367	.795	3.9	5.0	1.1	3.1	17.0

Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 2/20/2015.

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Those are Knight’s per 36 minute numbers over his first four seasons. You can see the steady rise in his shooting percentage, assists, and rebounds. You can also see how he has become more aggressive on offense as his scoring averaging has also risen.

Nothing in those numbers screams “contract year” or “unsustainable.” Those look simply like a younger player who has worked hard to improve his game. Those kinds of numbers are not All-Star caliber in the Western Conference, but they are the numbers of a quality starter with a real chance to be an All-Star in the future.

His advanced statistics show that he was definitely a positive for the Bucks team, as his plus/minus was a solid plus 2.3, after three years of below-zero numbers. His biggest jump this season would appear to be on defense, where many young players struggle.

His defensive plus/minus numbers have jumped from minus-2.9 all the way to 0. So he has gone from a major liability on defense to being an average defender.

On offense, Knight is a dynamic player. He has good athleticism, and while not the finisher around the rim that Dragic was, he is still good enough, hitting 58 percent of his shots within three feet of the rim. To put that in perspective, that is roughly the same as Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

He also shoots better than 41 percent from behind the three point line. So he can drive and finish, and shoot from long range. His assist numbers are good for a combo guard, and his presence will give the Suns both a long range threat off the ball and a quality option to run the point when Eric Bledsoe rests.

I would imagine that is head coach Jeff Hornacek‘s plan for Knight and Bledsoe. They will start and finish games together, but in between the team will feature one or the other on the court at all times. This will give both players a chance to run the offense, hopefully keeping Knight happy.

The biggest question regarding Knight is his impending free agent status. Knight will be a restricted free agent come summer, and the Suns will have to decide, based on the last stretch of the season, if Knight is worth committing big money and a big percentage of the salary cap toward.

Being restricted, the Suns will have the right to match any offer that Knight and his agent receive, but we have seen how messy these situations can get. Just last summer, Bledsoe and the Suns nearly parted due to acrid contract negotiations. While the near max money Bledsoe eventually got healed the wounds, it was still a scary time for Suns fans.

Not to rip open old wounds, but no Suns fan will ever forget what happened with Joe Johnson, and how his restricted free agency turned sour after he received what he felt was an insulting offer from owner Robert Sarver.

Johnson’s relationship with the team could not be mended, and he eventually went to the Atlanta Hawks in a sign-and-trade. It is not just the Suns, either–Omer Asik, Jeremy Lin, Chandler Parsons, and other have all had to deal with the shenanigans that go on in restricted free agency.

If the Phoenix Suns were comfortable giving up that coveted Los Angeles Lakers’ first-round pick, then they must believe that either Knight is worth big money, or that Knight will want to stay in Phoenix. Either way, Suns fans have put their trust in general manager Ryan McDonough, so let us all hope he knows what he is doing this time.

Next: Goran Dragic In The Right To Leave Suns

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