Phoenix Suns: 5 Midseason Takeaways
4. Brandon Knight Is Not A Point Guard
The advantage of having two point guards share the same backcourt was that when one had an off night, the other one could step up. Both Knight and Bledsoe had logged plenty of minutes in this league as primary ball-handlers, so even with Bledsoe taking on the official title of starting point guard, the Suns thought they’d have an advantage with two playmakers attacking from all angles.
But the Bledsoe-Knight pairing hasn’t shown any of the chemistry that Bledsoe and Goran Dragic once had. Both Bledsoe and Knight are terribly turnover-prone, and Phoenix’s offense has cratered with the 24-year-old Knight running the show. (We’re not going to harp on his defensive flaws again, since they’ve been covered at length already.)
On the season, Phoenix is scoring 100.3 points per 100 possessions — the fourth worst mark in the NBA. But since the Philadelphia 76ers game when Bledsoe had to be helped off the floor with his season-ending injury, the Suns have been even more helpless on that end, posting 97.5 points per 100 possessions as the worst offense in the league.
Knight had already been streaky sharing the court with Bledsoe, but he was averaging 19.8 points, 5.2 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 3.3 turnovers per game on 43.2 percent from the field and 35.1 percent shooting from three-point range. Since the Philly game, those numbers have declined to 19.3 points, 4.8 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 3.7 turnovers per game on 41.8 percent shooting from the floor and 28.8 percent shooting from deep.
The Suns are 1-10 since Bledsoe’s injury (1-11 if you count the Philly catastrophe) and Knight has failed to step up for a team in sore need of an on-court leader. According to NBA.com, his 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio is the 10th lowest in the league among guards who have started in at least 35 games this season…and all nine players ahead of him are shooting guards.
Even on the rare occasions when Knight has found Tyson Chandler rolling to the basket, wide open, and tossed him an on-target pass, the basketball gods have spurned the Suns’ advances:
Knight has tied his career high of eight turnovers three times this season, including Wednesday’s contest against Indiana. He’s committed key turnovers at the worst moments, including narrow losses on the road against the Detroit Pistons (Dec. 2) and Memphis Grizzlies (Dec. 6).
On the nights when he’s on, Knight is spectacular, as his 38-point outing in Denver (Nov. 20) or his 30-15-10 triple-double (Nov. 16) showed. The problem is those nights haven’t come often enough.
He’s Phoenix’s only option at the 1-spot with Bledsoe and Ronnie Price injured, and he’s one of the few players on the roster who can create his own shot. But between his inability to facilitate, his high volume of turnovers and his shooting ability that’s better suited for playing off the ball, Brandon Knight is not a true point guard.
Next: No. 3