\u201cIt\u2019s easy to say in the pregame, it\u2019s easy to say in practice but it definitely takes a little bit more to focus on it and we have all (our) guys doing it,\u201d Booker said Thursday.<\/p>\n
There are three other teams in basketball entering play on Saturday that are also top-10 in these two stats. It\u2019s Cleveland (8-5), Detroit (11-2) and Portland (6-6).<\/p>\n
Take a look at the league standings further and you\u2019ll see the best NBA teams being elite in one of these markers.<\/p>\n
Oklahoma City (12-1) has the best turnover rate on both sides of the ball, as well as the second-best defensive rebounding percentage, meaning how it\u2019s preventing offensive rebounds. The Rockets (8-3) continue to set the bar as offensive rebounders, with a league-leading 40.4% sitting far above the 29.5% league average, while Denver (9-2) is top-10 in its own turnover rate on offense and then its defensive rebounding percentage.<\/p>\n
Outside of the Blazers, the rest of those teams have tremendous talent up and down their roster to help accommodate those margins. Teams like Portland and especially Phoenix don\u2019t have as much of a choice. They gotta pick up every inch they can wherever it is made available.<\/p>\n
The significance of 3-point shooting is still not going anywhere, so the Suns being quite good at that controllable margin is a game-changer as well. Ott has his guys jacking \u2019em up, owning the fifth best 3-point rate in the NBA. In turn, the Suns are sixth in 3-point percentage (39.2% excluding garbage time).<\/p>\n
This is what everyone in the NBA wants to do. They want to win the possession battle, and even deeper into the weeds, squeeze as much out of each possession by the potential points it can yield by getting up the best shot, which most of the time is going to be a 3-pointer.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s not that diluted. The Suns, in fact, wish it was.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ll welcome just a slightly longer stay in those weeds, that \u201cpoints per possession\u201d metric you might hear uttered from time to time does come up in two other pockets these Suns have to get much better at, and it\u2019s the most two efficient shots in basketball.<\/p>\n
Phoenix is 27th in free-throw rate and 24th in opposing free-throw rate, a troubling combination that can fully eliminate all the hard work done in those other categories.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah that\u2019s not a good margin, that\u2019s not the good one,\u201d Ott said Thursday. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be a low foul team. We\u2019re going to defend to the legal limit (and) we know that comes at a cost. \u2026 You don\u2019t ever want to go into a game with a negative margin in the free-throw game but we\u2019re going to continue to try to find ways to get into the paint, for us to get to the free-throw line and I think we have done a better job of taking away some of the free throws the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some of that improvement comes from headache-inducing errors like fouling jump shooters or letting the opponent get in the bonus too early, tying directly into the theme of how all of these are \u201ccontrollables.\u201d<\/p>\n
The other issue is shots at the rim. Like the low free-throw rate, this is just something from our vantage point to accept with the roster construction that it\u2019ll be rough all year. The Suns sit 29th (23.3%) in rim rate, nearly 10% below the league average (31.6%). Jalen Green\u2019s absence pretty much all season has not helped there<\/a>, and neither does every other ball-handler on the team owning a resume lacking in any serious type of volume at the basket.<\/p>\n To go back to that controllables term, there are elements the Suns can control, though. Ott likes how often they drive the ball still to at least put pressure on that rim.<\/p>\n Phoenix\u2019s pace numbers have also been just OK and Ott doesn\u2019t want \u201cjust OK.\u201d There are spreadsheets all over league offices that show the smaller the number on the shot clock is, the lower the probability is of a shot going in. Attack those defenses while they aren\u2019t set, or give yourself a chance to run multiple actions in a given possession, and you\u2019ve got a better opportunity to score.<\/p>\n Look, all of this might be mumbo-jumbo to you, and honestly, couldn\u2019t agree more in some ways with your sentiment. You know what isn\u2019t going anywhere? Getting a stop. The Suns are seventh in half-court defense and that\u2019s the most important statistic of this article. You know what else isn\u2019t going anywhere? Putting the biscuit in the basket. If Booker has the middy going, screw the pull-up 3. Run that clock down to get into the bag.<\/p>\n But this is part of what basketball has become, and you better get out in front of it if you\u2019re an NBA team. Ott certainly is.<\/p>\n
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