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Phoenix Suns: Lack of point guard production becoming a problem

By Gerald Bourguet

Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images
Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images /
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With Tyler Ulis and Mike James struggling, Devin Booker has become the Phoenix Suns’ best point guard, which is probably not ideal.

Devin Booker has done an excellent job expanding his playmaking and ball-handling skills this season, but it’s probably not ideal that he’s the best Phoenix Suns point guard right now.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but the Suns’ options at the 1 have become extremely limited following the Eric Bledsoe trade. With only a 5’10” second-year point guard and a 6’1″ floor general on a two-way contract to choose from, Phoenix is sorely lacking production from one of the most important positions on the floor.

So far this season, Tyler Ulis has struggled to replicate his strong finish to his rookie year, averaging 6.4 points and 3.4 assists in 21.0 minutes per game. The biggest problem is he’s shooting an abysmal 32.7 percent from the field and 2-for-20 (10 percent) from 3-point range.

Against the Los Angeles Lakers Monday night, interim head coach Jay Triano rode the hot hand by letting Devin Booker bring the ball up the court, but with Ulis being such a non-shooting threat, the defense was able to play off him and swarm pick-and-rolls designed to free up the team’s go-to scorer.

Even though Booker finished his night with a game-high 36 points on 14-of-27 shooting, it’s no surprise he missed his last four shots over the final three and a half minutes. With Ulis and Josh Jackson — who was subbed in to provide longer defense and at least some hope of keeping the defense honest — incapable of spreading the floor, and Mike James struggling with his shot, Phoenix’s point guard problem was as obvious Monday as it’s been all season.

Triano wouldn’t throw anyone under the bus, repeating the word “everyone” to describe who needed to step up when asked about the point guard situation. But on a night where Ulis and James combined for seven points and three assists on 3-of-17 shooting, it was readily apparent James and Ulis aren’t getting the job done.

To be fair, 15 games is a small sample size. Then again, Ulis was terrific in his 15 starts last season, averaging 16.1 points, 8.5 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game on 41.7 percent shooting. But whether it’s due to his summer ankle surgery, the coaching carousel in Phoenix or just a sophomore slump, he hasn’t looked anything like the player who showed so many flashes of brilliance last year.

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His lack of a 3-point shot is a glaring hole in his game, and though he’s brought the defensive intensity, providing a pair of critical steals in the fourth quarter to keep Phoenix in the Lakers game, he hasn’t been setting up his teammates like he was last year.

Ulis is always going to be outsized and prone to giving up offensive rebounds, but he hasn’t been able to counter it with his production on the other end. Defenses are leaving him on an island on the perimeter, making him borderline unplayable when Booker is running things. Even with Triano switching him into the starting lineup to ensure he’s not improperly used as a bench scorer, he’s struggled in his first two starts.

Meanwhile, Mike James has regressed to the mean after being an incredible Summer League success story. In October, he put up an eye-popping 13.7 points per game on blistering .444/.476/.944 shooting splits, but that pixie dust seems to have worn off, with his numbers plummeting to 11.0 points per game on .361/.267/.690 shooting splits in November.

Triano said the Suns decided to bring James off the bench because of his offensive skill-set.

"“”We needed him to score a little bit for this second unit,” he said. “He could be the guy coming in because we didn’t feel like we were getting enough points out of the second unit.”"

Through two games, the results have been mixed. The first was a nine-point, five-assist night in the Suns’ best win of the season over the Minnesota Timberwolves, in which he was a perfect 4-for-4 in 19 minutes. The second was a five-point, 2-for-10 stinker in Monday’s loss to the Lakers.

James’ scoring has remained intact following his hot start, but it’s because he rarely looks to pass and like Ulis, he’s simply outsized on the defensive end most nights. He’s still averaging 11.9 points and 3.7 assists per game, but even those numbers indicate the Suns will be outmatched at the point on a nightly basis in the NBA.

With scorers like Booker and T.J. Warren on the floor, Phoenix doesn’t need scoring point guards; they simply need someone capable of facilitating, spreading the floor to 3-point range and not being a complete liability on the defensive end.

Unfortunately, they don’t have that in either option right now, which is part of the reason Triano has resorted to putting the ball in Booker’s hands. Book has 59 assists this season to lead the team, while James has 56 and Ulis has 50.

Letting Booker create more with the ball in his hands was a focus coming into the season, and has remained so under Triano. Rough shooting nights like his nine-point, 3-for-10 outing against the Orlando Magic made it a higher priority for the new head coach to get his top scorer the rock early and often.

With Booker assuming more point guard duties against the Wolves, he finished with 35 points and six assists on 13-of-22 shooting.

"“That was one of our thoughts coming in compared to the other night where it was just so hard for him,” Triano explained. “Terrence Ross did a nice job on him and made him work for everything, so we thought, ‘If you have the ball, keep it, we don’t have to worry about getting it to you.'”"

Devin Booker is averaging a career-high and team-high 3.9 assists per game, and his game is more well-rounded than ever. Putting the ball in his hands prevents defenses from roughing him up off the ball (which is a clear objective for defenses trying to contain a 21-year-old who still needs to get stronger), and allows him to capitalize on his ability to create his own shot.

Without a legitimate facilitator setting him up, Book is still averaging 23.2 points on efficient .455/.374/.886 shooting splits — impressive numbers for a player who’s generating so many of his own looks.

"“He’s such a gifted player, we’re just trying to create different ways to have the ball,” Triano said. “We know he’s good enough to make plays for other people, he’s good enough to score.”"

That will have to be how the Suns get Booker his offense for now, but it’s not the ideal path for this rebuild long-term, or even the rest of this season. Making life as easy for a 21-year-old franchise star should be the goal, especially for a player whose skill-set fits more like a more diverse Bradley Beal or Klay Thompson than a James Harden.

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Devin Booker can run the offense in spurts thanks to his high basketball I.Q., his ability to navigate the pick-and-roll, the threat of his shot and his advanced playmaking skills for a 21-year-old, but he’s probably not the next star shooting guard to make a revolutionary switch to point guard.

Ignoring the three-game stint from hell under Earl Watson, the Suns’ Net Rating has cratered from -0.7 with Booker on the court to -10.3 whenever he takes a breather. This speaks to the team’s reliance on him on both ends of the floor now that he’s vamped up his defensive effort, but it all goes back to not having a reliable floor general to hold down the fort when shot-creators like Booker or Warren aren’t doing it for them.

Ulis is only 21 years old, and James is a two-way contract success story, so no one’s saying they have no place with the Suns or that they can’t serve as adequate backups.

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But acquiring an elite playmaker and facilitator who fits The Timeline — Luka Doncic, anyone? — was always going to be a priority with Bledsoe being 27 years old. Now that he’s gone and the Suns are getting an extended, underwhelming look at their current point guard situation, it’s clear this is the biggest position of need moving forward.

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