Suns Week 22 Stock Exchange: Real Deal Beal, plus net rating, and a Frank Vogel/Dave Roberts comparison

I’m feeling more optimistic this week. It’s funny how a 3-0 will change your mindset and your point of view. Of course, the Phoenix Suns did what they were supposed to do. Maybe that’s where the optimism comes from… because they did what they were supposed to do!

That hasn’t been the case this season for Phoenix. They have 7 losses this season against teams under .500. No team in the Western Conference playoff race has more. You never know what to expect from this team, which version will stand out and what the end result will be. You sit uncomfortably, climb onto the barrel and get stung. So piqued.

You are timidly excited about this week’s results. The functionality of the attack combined with the effort on the defensive side? This is what the Suns can be! This is the vision we dreamed of in September! It’s Sparta!

Here. Take a look at their performances this week:

• Record of week 22: 3-0
• Week 22 OFFRTG: 126.8 (3rd)
• Week 22 DEFRTG: 109.5 (8th)
• Week 22 NETRTG: +17.3 (3rd)

Now the question is, is it sustainable? Was Week 22 a flash in the pan against exhausted competition? Or have they crossed the proverbial threshold?

Stocks are improving this week. If you purchased cheaply from Bradley Beal, you are happy with your returns. There is one area that the market is a little concerned about. We will come back to this soon on your Bourse des Soleils.

Real Deal Bradley Beal: Actions ↑

Leadership means something. We haven’t seen much this season from the Suns. The team exudes talent. But talent without leadership is talent wasted.

For most of the season, Phoenix lacked intangible leadership. You feel the loss of Chris Paul in this capacity, especially in clutch moments. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant are elite scorers, incredible shooters, and basketball junkies. However, would you define them as the best leaders in their category?

When the opposition puts a point on the Suns and head coach Frank Vogel takes a timeout, you see Kevin Durant sitting at the end of the bench. He focuses and, at 35 years old, saves his energy to perform as best as possible. These actions, however, are not what you would define as “leadership.”

And that’s okay. This is who KD is. This is how he focuses on being the best of all time. Again, these are not the actions of a leader.

Leaders must make sacrifices. They praise their teammates when successes occur and take responsibility when failures happen to them. Leaders hold themselves and their teammates accountable. They lead by example.

Bradley Beal is becoming that leader that Phoenix desperately needed. The role he has filled throughout his career is that of primary scoring, and due to his offensive skills, there is no doubt why. He has speed that is difficult to guard and keeps defenders on their heels.

This is not what Phoenix needs. They need someone who can facilitate, someone who can hustle on the defensive side of the ball, and someone who can hold themselves accountable for defensive rotations. In Week 22, Beal filled that role.

Beal attributes his development as a leader to the experience he gained as a father.

The Real Deal Bradley Beal showed in Week 22 what he can be. The statistics confirm this. He posted an offensive rating of 124.5 this week as well as a defensive rating of 106.1. This gives a net rating of +18.4 for the week.

His score plunged; his 7.7 shot attempts were fourth on the team. Previously, he averaged 14.6 attempts per night. His game has increased considerably, however. His 9.3 assists this week helped propel his team to a 3-0 record, allowing his teammates to execute in the space where they are most successful.

A leader in actions and a leader in words, Bradley Beal could prove to be the X-factor the Suns needed heading into the playoffs.

Dominating both sides of the ball: the stock ↑

Week after week, here at the Suns Stock Exchange, we analyze the numbers. We feed them into our imaginary computer and make hypotheses based on the measurements provided. There’s one thing that’s clear after the Suns’ Week 22 performance: It’s the best overall performance we’ve seen so far this year. At +17.3 on the net rating scale, Phoenix had its best week of basketball of the season.

A peak at the right time? Or a trend in the right direction? Or a competitive product?

These are valid questions and the only thing that is clear is that the accent mentioned by Frank Vogel last week perimeter defense was taken seriously by his team. “I’m coming to the plug,” Vogel said. “Be in the breach, show presence, but close with urgency to capture and contain.”

After allowing the opposition to shoot an incredible 37.1% of their three-pointers in Week 21, the Suns held their opponents to 32.3% from deep in Week 22. was the 8th best in the league. They allowed just 44.6% field goal shooting, which was 7th best in the league last week.

We hope the team starts to hit its peak. The fact is that the competition they faced was the easiest they will face for the rest of the season. THE 76ers and the Hawks were All-Star players, and the Spurs are the Spurs. Still, the Suns took care of business on both ends of the court, which will hopefully carry over to the remaining games of the regular season. And the playoffs await us.

Frank Vogel suffers from Dave Roberts syndrome: Stock ↓

(This is your annual warning reminding you that yes, I am a Los Angeles Dodgers fan. Born in Phoenix, I lived in Los Angeles from 1985 to 1994. The Dodgers World events The 1988 win happened when I was six years old and grew up going to Dodger Stadium. I will bleed blue forever. I’m sorry, Sun fans, because I know a lot of you don’t like him. But we are all products of our environment, aren’t we?)

I don’t expect many Suns fans to understand this reference, so let me explain what it means. I highly doubt many of you will spend your October evenings consuming Los Angeles Dodgers postseason baseball, watching intently and feeling frustrated by every move made by their manager, Dave Roberts.

I’ll give you a little background: Although Roberts has been a spectacular coach in the regular season (.630 winning percentage, 8 NL West pennants in 9 seasons), he makes countless stupid statistical decisions when the playoffs roll around. . That’s why their only championship during his tenure was 2020. Hmmm…kind of like Frank Vogel?

If a pitcher has thrown six scoreless innings and dominates the opposing lineup, he better not give up a single hit. If he does, Dave Roberts instantly goes into “matchup mode”, killing any momentum and giving opposing hitters a glimpse of someone who doesn’t we kicked their asses. He overmanages and the Dodgers never win. Which, I’m sure, delights the majority of our readers.

Frank Vogel shares a similar trait. This is something I continue to notice every time I watch Suns basketball. If someone has the hot hand, Frank doesn’t let them in the game. Instead, he sticks to his spreadsheets versus rotations and sits back, the player scores at will.

Consider two cases from last week.

Against the Philadelphia 76ers, Bol Bol came on as the Suns were down a point in the second quarter. He had an 18-foot jumper and made a pair of three-pointers. He also grabbed a few rebounds. The home crowd loved it (of course) and he was the catalyst that ultimately led to a 39-24 quarter for the Suns. How was he rewarded? With more minutes finally? No, Frank Vogel benched him.

The following night against the Atlanta Falcons, the Suns led 48-43 with 5:45 left in the second. Royce O’Neale was inserted and immediately made his presence felt. A bounce, a three, a motor float and three more. 8 points in two minutes played. Frank would surely ride the burning hand. No. With 2:52 left, Frank sat Royce down.

Vogel elected to put it back in the game with 0:43 left in the half and the Suns up 2. And Royce hit another three.

Week 22 was not a good week for Vogel when it came to managing some of his rotations. Sometimes you have to play the hot hand. Or A hand. Even opposing San Antonio fans were chanting for Isaiah Thomas to get minutes in a 29-point blowout.

Sometimes Vogel’s stubbornness can get in the way of his successes. This worries me as a Dodgers fan who sees him every postseason in Los Angeles with their manager Dave Roberts. I don’t want Vogel to fall into the same trap, where his confidence in analysis trumps his sense of the game and of cooking.

We are now on week 23. Three games this week, all on the road.

The first is against a familiar foe in the Spurs, but then it’s the Denver Nuggets and the Oklahoma City Thunder. You know, the two best teams in the Western Conference. They are currently 0.5 games apart. This means there will be no “end of season” rest games for Phoenix.

GOOD.

The challenge begins and it’s time to see if the learnings from Week 22 are transferable against the best teams in the NBA. Does Bradley Beal continue to be a leader who sacrifices his personal stats for the good of the team? Can Susn play hard on both ends of the court against top talent? Will Vogel play the hot hand or let analytics dictate his decision-making?

Week 23. Switch on, connect and push baby away.