Phoenix Suns: 5 Midseason Takeaways For 2016-17
3. Rooks Still Need More Minutes
We should give Watson credit: He’s made more moves geared toward the youth than people would care to admit. Hindsight is 20-20, but don’t forget that Devin Booker starting over Brandon Knight was not a guarantee heading into training camp.
Watson made that call. He also made the call to start Marquese Chriss over Jared Dudley; to start giving more of Knight’s minutes to Tyler Ulis; and to start T.J. Warren over P.J. Tucker, and keep him there even after Tucker returned healthy.
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However, we also can’t go overboard giving Watson credit since many of these decisions have revealed themselves to be no-brainers.
Chriss is still only playing 18 minutes a night despite being the starter, Dragan Bender’s 12.9 minutes a night is unacceptable considering he has more claim to the starting job than Chriss, and we’ve already covered how Len should be getting way more time than he is. It also took Watson way too long to bump Warren back into the starting five after he returned from his head injury.
Even with some of Knight’s minutes heading the rookie’s way, Ulis is still only averaging 9.4 minutes per game. He hasn’t cracked 15 minutes since Dec. 29, and that’s inexcusable when Knight isn’t playing and Booker is suddenly playing 37-40 minutes a night.
It’ll take time for those rookies’ averages to increase, of course, but any night where Tucker and Chandler are logging 30+ minutes in a loss is a night where at least one Suns rookie is missing out on valuable learning opportunities.
They’re all still young, but the more they can learn now, the better Phoenix’s core will be when it’s time to start contending again. Bender, Chriss and Ulis are all project rookies who need time to grow, make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. This issue is starting to get better, but there’s still clear progress to be made.