Phoenix Suns: 5 Areas For Improvement
4. Three-Point Shooting
Despite Mike D’Antoni and the Seven Seconds Or Less Suns setting the course for the Golden State Warriors’ small-ball revolution and this ongoing pace and space era, this current Suns group couldn’t be further out-of-date.
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The irony of the forefathers of small-ball moving away from three-point shooting hasn’t been lost on everyone, especially with the Suns ranking 25th in three-point attempts (22.6 per game), 28th in three-point makes (7.5 per game) and 26th in three-point percentage (33 percent).
For a team that plays at the fastest pace in the NBA, you’d think the Suns would be running and gunning like the Steve Nash teams of old. Unfortunately, a whopping 74.5 percent of Phoenix’s field goal attempts are two-pointers, the fourth highest mark in the NBA.
Devin Booker‘s rough start from deep undoubtedly plays a factor in all of this, as does Watson’s refusal to actually install an offense (more on this later). But whether it’s the quality of long range looks or just actually putting the ball in the hole, the Suns’ miserable three-point shooting is a major area for improvement.