Phoenix Suns: 3 reality checks after loss to Nuggets
3. Hit or miss, the 3s are going to fly
Last year, the Suns averaged 27.9 3-point attempts per game (20th in the league) and 9.3 makes per game (23rd). They spent the summer adding 3-point shooters, and head coach Igor Kokoskov said numerous times before the start of the season his team would be aiming for 30 3s a game.
It’s one thing to be a new head coach promising improvements in keeping with modern NBA trends, but it’s another to deliver on them. Make or miss, it appears as though the 2018-19 Phoenix Suns won’t be shy about letting the long range bombs fly.
Suns have gotten up 30 3PA which is somehow not enough so far for them and way too many for Denver to have given up.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) October 21, 2018
In their first game, the Suns were a scorching 19-for-34 from deep (55.9 percent). Saturday night in Denver, they were far less efficient in shooting 28.2 percent from downtown, but they still made 11 triples because they attempted a whopping 39 of them.
Does this team really have the personnel for that kind of heavy 3-point onslaught? Only time will tell, but T.J. Warren (5-for-9 from deep on the season) has looked more confident shooting the 3-ball than ever before, showing zero signs of hesitation the moment defenses — which have surely read his scouting report over the last few years — give him space from the 3-point line.
Between a more confident Warren, Booker, Trevor Ariza, Ryan Anderson, Isaiah Canaan, Mikal Bridges (2-for-4 Saturday in his NBA debut) and even Josh Jackson, the Suns are not lacking players who will be willing to launch from deep. The key will be finding the happy medium between blistering hot and ice cold.