Phoenix Suns: What to expect from Brandon Knight
By Luke Swiatek
No position to succeed
It’s tempting to just blame injuries, and to assume that if he’s healthy, he’ll be good. However, there’s more to it than just that.
For one, his role needs to be taken into consideration. Detroit wasn’t a great fit. Monroe and Drummond demanded the ball, and didn’t offer good spacing. It was beneficial that the wings Knight played with were mostly just shooters, like Kyle Singler and Rodney Stuckey.
That allowed him to be the creator, even if he wasn’t always the best at it.
Milwaukee was his most productive spot, and a big part of that probably has to do with who was around him. He had dirty-work bigs who didn’t need the ball in Zaza Pachulia, Larry Sanders and John Henson.
He also had a floor spacing 4 in Ersan Ilyasova, and non-ball-dominant wings in Middleton, young Antetokounmpo, and O.J. Mayo. Maturing physically from his first two years in Detroit helped too.
The Phoenix Suns were a horrible fit for him. In 2016-17, their five most common starters were Booker, Marquese Chriss, Bledsoe, T.J. Warren, and Tyson Chandler. Of those five, Booker is the only reliable shooter. Understandably, that team finished 27th in the league in 3-point percentage.
Additionally, Knight has played shooting guard and come off the bench much more in Phoenix than anywhere else. He hasn’t been great in those roles.
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 8/9/2018.
The chart above shows the effect of playing in a different position on his game overall. Surprisingly, it says he was at his best in Detroit, but On-Off numbers and similar stats can admittedly be iffy.
Additionally, these split stats include a section showing how significantly less efficient he is coming off the bench.
Perhaps there’s some noise here; it’s never a good idea to assume correlation equals causation. But in this case the stats back up the logic that a score-first guard needs to be in a certain role and position to succeed.
The takeaway here is that Knight is simply a much better on-ball player than he is an off-ball one. When he has the opportunity to be the primary ballhandler and a starter who can get in rhythm, he can be quite the useful basketball player.
Slot him in as a shooting guard next to Bledsoe or bring him off the bench, and he’ll score less often and with worse efficiency.