Oso The Great

It’s been a busy summer, and it’s been a few weeks since my last post. Hopefully everyone’s doing well. And, hopefully my schedule gets more structured with the kids going back to school next week!

As the dedicated reader can easily tell, this transition season for the Suns has really given me a lot to ponder. In the national NBA discourse, a lot of negativity is being spread about Phoenix, and in the Suns press conferences, everything seems all gravy. Some say that Devin Booker will be the point guard, while others have been saying that Jalen Green will be the primary ball handler. Is Maluach anywhere near ready for real minutes in the NBA? Can Ryan Dunn play the 4 almost full-time? I think that the Suns have a better chance to be decent than the consensus might believe, but it’ll still be an uphill battle. Here’s a team-level review of where their roster is at, and then you’ll get to read my straw-grasping idea of what could really make the difference for the team.

Check out the depth chart:

Point guard

Devin Booker - All-NBA level shooting guard who I am sharpie-ing in as the starting point guard as long as Jalen Green is on the team. Point Book has been the white whale many Suns fans stopped seeking years ago, but perhaps this is our moment to get it back.
Collin Gillespie - Feisty NCAA champion and NBA champion who does the best TJ McConnell impression on this side of the Mississippi. Surely, his 11/4/4 on 43/45/78 shooting over his last nine games last year will scale up big time.

Shooting guard

Jalen Green - The second-draft swing from the Kevin Durant trade. With 99th percentile athleticism and a need for improved decision making, perhaps Jordan Ott can turn him into our Donovan Mitchell.
Grayson Allen - Capital S shooter (44.5% on 3’s over two seasons with the Suns on over 7 per 36 mins) who is probably the main trade piece (for salary matching purposes) on the roster.
Jordan Goodwin - Is he a journeyman yet? No matter what, his stout perimeter defense and hustle will be welcomed.

Small Forward

Dillon Brooks - Tone setter who will take +/- 3.5 annoying shots per game, but we haven’t had a defender like him in a long time.
Royce O’Neale - Modern coaches love a player who will shoot any three that comes available. Royce O’Neale is one of those players.
Nigel Hayes-Davis - Another NCAA → NBA → Europe → NBA path has been forged, and it’s worth a shot for both parties involved. Should be fun.

Power Forward

Ryan Dunn - Ideally a small forward, this is a guy we are really, really looking at to make a leap this year both on defense and on offense.
Rasheer Fleming - High ceiling second round prospect who I am calling the next Pascal Siakam. Just you wait.

Center

Mark Williams - When he plays, he’ll be everything we wanted Deandre Ayton to be on offense. He’ll also be a lot of what Ayton was on defense. Check out what I wrote about him last year.

Oso Ighodaro - A power forward sized Brandon Clarke variant who you can learn more about below…
Khaman Maluach - Summer league showed us how raw he is, but also he’s willing to go for big plays. If he can put together his stretch big giant schtick, they’ll be cooking with gas.
Nick Richards - The ultimate utility big (averaged 10/9 on 60% shooting for the Suns last year) who will almost surely finish the season on another team, unless Mark Williams’s injury woes come to roost.

The new Suns coach, Jordan Ott, is coming from the euphoric regular season success in Cleveland, which was hailed for its clever reinvention of their offense under new coach Kenny Atkinson, who came from the euphoric land of Golden State playing with house money with the rest of Steph Curry’s career (especially after the 2022 finals).

The Phoenix Suns of this year cannot be the Warriors with their controlled chaos ball movement enabled by Steph Curry’s movement and Draymond Green’s bear-hug embrace of the role of moving screener and hand-off hub for Curry and formerly Klay. But they need to have enough ball movement, as they also don’t have a Luka Doncic/James Harden I-am-the-system king who can will their way into a good offense all by themselves.

This is where Oso Ighodaro comes in.

Check out some of Oso’s flashes from last year. The middle of the floor is where he thrived most, making quick decisions to pass to guys filling in small gaps on the floor.

Here, he is in the short roll off of a VERY SURPRISING double team on Devin Booker. With Ryan Dunn on the wing and Mason Plumlee in the dunker’s spot, they are not playing with very much space, but Booker’s quick pass to Oso flummoxes the Magic’s plans.

Nik-Oso Jokic? On the elbow, he’s able to do more than just wait for Tyus Jones or Durant to come off of a screen (which is what most bigs seem to do). Clearly, Oso has the split-second decision making capability that many bigs lack.

Oso is not big enough as a center to play the full-time 5, which makes it tricky, as he can’t space the floor much at all. There aren’t many who can make this work, but there are frameworks that can be used to maximize its chances so that Oso-at-the-4’s passing can be an asset.

Last year’s Cavs did something interesting, encouraging guys to cut towards the basket while the ball handler had the ball near the rim. Notwithstanding the risks involved, this can provide interesting spacing as there are gaps where defenders are trying to track both guys at once. The passes aren’t as easy as, say, to the corner, but also this plays to the strengths of the players involved (as you can see, below, with Jarrett Allen).

Many of these types of plays will involve the passing big (Oso) starting in the PnR, and then finding the other big for a lob or a cut. This was popularized by Draymond Green passing to Andre Iguodala when teams started to double Steph.

This second variation feels like the more likely scenario (as well as the one above with Devin Booker), because teams much more often will show, hedge, or double on Booker rather than be in drop. In drop coverage, Booker feels most comfortable to rise up in the midrange. But what happens if the Suns end up with a more trustworthy presence in the short-roll? Does that unlock something for Booker?

But for other guards on the team (especially Gillespie) facing consistent drop coverage, it does seem likely that the Mobley-Allen framework could be used.

The Suns have a lot of guards, and they can’t just have their best shooting guard pounding the ball all the time. Oso can also see and then hit cutters well.

If Jalen Green can lock in on his off-ball role as a shooting guard and take advantage of that athleticism, hopefully we can also see more of what he sparingly did with Sengun.

Yes, it’s a simple concept. But the Suns are in a unique situation in the NBA without having someone who is most comfortable with the ball in their hands for the majority of possessions. Devin Booker is an extremely willing off-ball player. Jalen Green’s been at his best while next to FVV and Sengun. So, in all reality, we kind of need this from someone. And no, we aren’t doing the 3-guard starting lineup again. Please. Go Suns.