The Phoenix Suns have battled injury adversity all season long.
Mark Williams still hasn’t played guard on a back-to-back, Devin Booker is coming off a groin strain, and Jaylen Green has been out for the last month with a hamstring injury.
advertise
Phoenix currently has a record of 15 wins and 12 losses (7th in the Western Conference), an offensive rating of 115.7 (14th), a defensive rating of 114.3 (11th), and a non-garbage time net rating of +1.3 (15th) – all data from “Cleaning the Glass”.
Here are some of the things that caught my attention from the game over the past week.
Note: All statistics below are accurate as of the start of play on December 18, 2025.
grayson allen avenue
This was the best season of Grayson Allen’s career in many ways.
The Duke product is a direct example of Jordan Ott’s coaching style, the creation of an ecosystem and an offensive process rooted in empowering and freeing his players.
advertise
He also often makes decisions with the ball, partly due to the Suns’ injuries, but also because he’s so efficient with the ball.
His ability on the ball adds a new dynamic to him and the team.
grayson avenue
If you’ve been following me on Twitter over the past few seasons, you know I’ve long since clicked the sign that his breakout deserves more attention. Seriously, go into my Twitter account, search “Grayson Allen driving” and you’ll see a compilation of clips of his decline and some changes over the past two seasons.
His improvements in ball-handling allow him to dominate and counterattack his top-tier shooting skills.
advertise
Think about it. If Allen were to get a shot inside, would the defense react to help? If they do that, because it’s him with the ball, what kind of shot quality or advantage does that create? for Their main creator?
He starts the blender and creates catch-and-shoot opportunities arrive Those guys, and even better, allow them to deal with a defense that has to rotate arrive They are when the Suns are at their best offensively.
He’s averaging 15.3 drives per game over the past four games, which is equivalent to eighth in the league. He also tallied four of his six highest kickoff totals this season in this window.
Let’s talk about the Suns. create Allen’s ball-handling opportunities get him downhill, and more.
advertise
suns Defense leads the dance
The Phoenix Suns currently rank fourth in switch rate. They defend 31.1% of pick-and-roll switches, rank third from the bottom in blitz rate, and rank 11th from the bottom in frequency of double plays in the pick-and-roll.
Ott and his staff have made it clear they don’t want to rotate opponents — at least not outright — by playing two defenders against one offensive player on the outside.
See my last notebook for a detailed look at what that looks like when they do send double teams on the outside (if at all) and what the process looks like there.
Still, as Colin Gillespie continues to grow and get more playing time and the Suns’ defense remains disruptive, opponents are struggling to find what they think is an advantage — often manipulating the game through screens and motion to get Gillespie to their best ball-handler.
advertise
Some teams call it “Dove Hunting,” I call it “Where’s Waldo,” but overall, it’s “Mismatch Hunting.” I’d like to take this opportunity to point out that teams target defenders for a variety of reasons – to attack a weaker defender, to attack a smaller defender, to create a reaction on the perimeter that creates an overreaction on the ball to gain an advantage, or simply to eat away at the legs of the opposing team’s key player defensively (which often results in a foul as well).
As far as Gilespie is concerned, it’s an attack on the smaller defender’s part. He’s by no means a bad defender, in fact, he just lacks size near the paint.
With that in mind, and knowing he could “guard his own yard” at the point of attack, Ott and his teammates responded by not doubling directly or taking false “show and recover” coverages that would have resulted in the offense being rotated.
Guards like Darius Garland (in Cleveland with Ott), Trae Young, Mike Conley, Ja Morant, Jalen Green (in Houston), Jalen Brunson, Tyus Jones (with the Suns), are why I have questions about Ott and his staff’s development process with Garland last season, and the decision they made on Gillespie (which will be tested in time with Green).
advertise
This is the interaction with Ultra that I mentioned earlier. Pay close attention to what he documents, which details why in their process they switch and show in the gap, rather than show and resume.
“We are substituting now because Colin can defend”, the words at the end were not just the words of the coach.
Among 152 pick-and-roll defenders, Gillespie allowed 0.86 points per opportunity, which ranked 25th—very good. Furthermore, he replaced 57.5% of them, while the Suns still Conceded less than 1 point per chance – 0.96.
A week or so after my conversation with Ott, I had a chance to talk to Colin about it.
advertise
I also discussed with both men that in their pick-and-roll coverage, they tend to use ball switches to flatten the ball handler.
Those layers and how well they execute within them are why their defense ranks second in opponent turnover margin.
They also ranked in the top five in other categories such as steals (first) and deflections (fourth).
New sign in
Rookies Kaman Maruachi and Raheel Fleming have performed well in the past three games behind the G-League.
Maluach averaged 21.3 points, 66.7% shooting, 15.7 rebounds, 3 rebounds and 1.3 fouls per game. He excels on defense while staying out of foul trouble, adds offensive value with three-pointers (four this period), and continues to grow as a screener.
advertise
There’s still a lot of work to be done defensively to improve on pick-and-rolls and quick/sharp ball-handling decisions with consistent activity, but he’s growing at this level.
Fleming averaged 20.3 points per game, 52.3% field goal percentage, 3.3 three-point percentage, 7.7 rebounds and 2.3 rebounds per game.
He fouled out in his most recent game but is still practicing his two-point play. However, his defense and activity are still top-notch, and his corner three-point shooting has obviously improved greatly in terms of confidence and efficiency.
It is worth noting:
-
The Suns ranked fourth in second-chance opportunities (357).
-
The Suns also rank 11th in second-chance points (409 points).
-
Phoenix ranks fifth in backcourt possession rate (23.2%).
-
Suns opponents need 6.1 seconds to start their offense (third-longest in the NBA).
