Phoenix Suns NBA News - Suns Basketball Blog

The Phoenix Suns need more production out of their shooting guards

alleyoop — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 04:09:26 +0000

Jared Dudley started out this season as the starting shooting guard for the Suns, but he is now the starter at small forward. 27-year old Shannon Brown has taken over as the Suns’ starting shooting guard and they need him to start stepping up offensively. Brown has played in 44 games (22 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 26.8 minutes, 12.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game. 27-year old P.J. Tucker is starting to show something lately off the bench for the Suns as of late. Tucker has played in 42 games (13 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 21.2 minutes, 5.0 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. 25-year old Wesley Johnson has been a huge disappointment for the Suns so far this year. He has played in 17 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 7.4 minutes, 2.3 points, 1.1 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game. Johnson is only shooting 29.4% from the floor, 30.4% from three point range and 66.7% from the free throw lie so far this year. Johnson isn’t going to see a bump in P.T. any time soon.

The Phoenix Suns have gotten next to nothing out of their rookies so far this year

alleyoop — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 03:59:17 +0000

Despite being awful so far this year, the Suns have not increased P.T. for their rookies. 21-year old point guard Kendall Marshall was the Suns’ first round pick last June. He has played in 11 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 4.7 minutes, 0.8 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. 25-year old center Luke Zeller was an undrafted free agent. He has played in 12 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 3.2 minutes, 1.3 points and 0.5 rebounds per game so far this year. 23-year old point guard Diante Garrett was also undrafted. He has played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 5.0 minutes, 0.8 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. I don’t see any of these guys seeing a bump in P.T. any time soon.

The Phoenix Suns fire Alvin Gentry

alleyoop — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 23:56:35 +0000

The Suns have fired head coach Alvin Gentry. The Suns were only 13-28 (31.7%) under Gentry in 2012-13 at the time of his firing. Gentry was 158-144 (52.3%) during the regular season in his five years in charge. He was also 10-6 (62.5%) in the playoffs for the Suns. The Suns have hired 42-year old Lindsey Hunter to replace Gentry as the new head coach. He has a lot of playing experience in the NBA, but not much coaching experience.

Marcin Gortat could be on the trade block for the Phoenix Suns

alleyoop — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 16:28:21 +0000

28-year old center Marcin Gortat could be on the trading block for the Suns. He has played in 40 games (all starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 32.3 minutes, 11.7 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.9 blocked shots per game. Gortat has now played in 161 games (118 starts) in his first three years with the Suns and he is averaging 31.3 minutes, 13.7 points, 9.5 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.5 blocked shots per game so far this year. The Suns could get a nice haul for Gortat in a deal, but they better think twice about it as good centers are very hard to find.

Larry Nance was pretty darn good for the Phoenix Suns

alleyoop — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 22:55:45 +0000

Power forward Larry Nance was a pretty darn good basketball player for the Suns. He played in 487 games (389 starts) in his seven years with the Suns and he averaged 32.3 minutes, 17.3 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.9 blocked shots per game. His best year with the Suns came back in 1986-87, when he played in 69 games (67 starts) in which he averaged 37.2 minutes, 22.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.1 blocked shots per game. Nance is still the Suns’ all-time leader in blocked shots with 940 of them. He is also #4 in offensive rebounds (1,232), #4 in defensive rebounds (2,559), #4 in total rebounds (3,791), #9 in steals (516) and #9 in points scored (8,430) in Suns’ history.

P.J. Tucker has been stepping up for the Phoenix Suns

alleyoop — Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:27:36 +0000

The Suns have been playing 27-year old SG/SF P.J. Tucker more lately and the results have been good so far. He has played in 33 games (4 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 19.1 minutes, 4.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. In his four starts so far this year, Tucker is averaging 31.4 minutes, 8.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game. The Suns hope that Tucker keeps up the good work.

Jermaine O’Neal is making every minute count for the Phoenix Suns so far in 2012-13

alleyoop — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 00:36:48 +0000

34-year old C/PF Jermaine O’Neal has adjusted to his new bench role after starting for most of his career. He has played in 24 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 16.9 minutes, 7.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.5 blocked shots per game. O’Neal is shooting a rock solid 51.4% from the floor and 76.7% from the free throw line so far this year. The Suns are getting solid production every night out of the Marcin Gortat/Jermaine O’Neal combo at center so far this year and I don’t see that changing any time soon.

The Phoenix Suns don’t have much P.T. available for their rookies in 2012-13

alleyoop — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 01:24:31 +0000

The Suns have high hopes for this season, so they don’t have much P.T. available for their rookies, as of right now. 21-year old point guard Kendall Marshall has only played in 7 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 5.4 minutes, 1.0 point, 0.1 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game. 25-year old center Luke Zeller’s brother is a rookie for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has played in 9 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 3.8 minutes, 1.4 points and 0.7 rebounds per game. 24-year old guard Diante Garrett has only played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 5.0 minutes, 0.8 points, 0.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game.

Alvin Gentry isn’t getting enough out of the Phoenix Suns so far in 2012-13

alleyoop — Sat, 29 Dec 2012 01:20:57 +0000

58-year old head coach Alvin Gentry just isn’t getting the job done so far this year for the Suns. The Suns are now 11-18 (37.9%) on the season, which has them in 4th place in the Pacific Division, 12 games behind the Clippers. The Suns are now 156-134 (53.8%) in the regular season in Gentry’s first five years on the job. Gentry needs to get the Suns back on the right path soon if he wants to keep his job for a while longer.

The Phoenix Suns are getting decent work from their point guards so far in 2012-13

alleyoop — Sun, 23 Dec 2012 04:39:22 +0000

26-year old Goran Dragic is doing a solid as the Suns’ starting point guard as he is the team’s leading scorer right now. He has played in 25 games (all starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 32.5 minutes, 15.0 points, 3.0 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game. Dragic is shooting 46.2% from the floor, 36.2% from the three point line and 74.5% from the free throw line so far this year, so he has been efficient. 27-year old Sebasitan Telfair is Dragic’s caddy. He has played in 25 games (1 start) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 18.1 minutes, 5.9 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. He is only shooting 38.1% from the floor, 35.3% from three point range and 73% from the free throw line so far this year. 21-year old rookie Kendall Marshall has been sitting at the end of the bench or playing in the D-League so far in 2012-13. Marshall has played in 6 games (0 starts) for the Suns so far this year and he is averaging 5.7 minutes, 1.2 points and 0.8 assists per game.