ULIS UNLEASHED
Rookie point guard making his presence felt as new leader of Suns’ second unit
During last summer’s pre-draft workouts, Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough noticed something. Whether it was 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 competition, Tyler Ulis’ team always seemed to win. ¶ “From what I remember, he won as much as anybody we had in last year’s pre-draft process, which for us is about like 75-100 players,” McDonough said Monday. “He seemed to win everything, and that’s been a habit throughout Tyler’s career.” ¶ After the All-Star break, the Suns entered an evaluation stretch. Part of that process was to determine whether the 5-foot-10 Ulis could consistently run the second unit in the future. After Sunday’s win over Boston – in which the rookie point guard swished a 3 just before the buzzer – coach Earl Watson pretty much declared the question answered. ¶ In just six games, Ulis had showed that much and more.
Entering Tuesday’s home contest against the Washington Wizards, Ulis has changed the Suns on both ends. In 20.2 minutes, he has averaged 9.8 points and 5.5 assists. Perhaps more important, his presence has led to better ball movement. Before the All-Star break – with Brandon Knight running the second unit – Phoenix’s 18.6 assists per game tied for last in the NBA. After the break, its 24.8 ties for fifth.
“Any time the ball gets sprayed around like that you see the scoring has become more balanced for us,” McDonough said. “Players run harder in transition, they cut harder off the ball and it just becomes more of a fun environment. Hopefully, we can keep it going over the last 19 games to build on something heading into next season.”
Ulis has made a similar impact on defense. Over the past three games – all wins – the Suns have gone against three of the NBA’s top point guards: Charlotte’s Kemba Walker, Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook and Boston’s Isaiah Thomas. All three stars got their points, but Ulis disrupted each during short stretches, pressuring full-court, taking seconds off the shot clock.
“I don’t like being scored on,” said Ulis, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year his final season at Kentucky. “Earl is pushing me to pressure guys full court and at my size I have to. I have to make it an advantage for me. Once you get into the half court, that’s a disadvantage so I try to make the guards uncomfortable.” There’s a comedic element to this. Over the weekend, a video surfaced of Ulis playing defense in a California neighborhood – only it isn’t Ulis in the video. It’s Marcelas Howard, a 21-yearold Div. II basketball player with a sense of humor. Howard has done similar NBA videos, most of which exaggerate a player’s strength, and this one hits the mark.
“Me and Tyler Ulis were in the same (high school) graduating class, 2014,” Howard said Monday. “I always liked how he played basketball at Kentucky because I used to catch most of their games. One thing that stood out to me was he played defense very unorthodox, so I always wanted to do a video on it and recently I had a chance to do it.”
In the video, Howard hounds an opponent, waving his arms, moving his feet in comedic fashion. At one point he turns and defends with his back to the ball, hands and feet still a blur. As of Monday afternoon, Howard’s video had nearly 1,000 retweets. Among those sharing it: Suns guard Devin Booker and forward Marquese Chriss.
“He’s very light by NBA standards,” McDonough said of the 160-pound Ulis, “but he’s got incredible anticipation, he’s got really quick hands and he’s got the ability to slide his feet to stay in front of his man. And he’s got that weird thing, I don’t even know how to describe, where he kind of runs sideways with his back turned to the ball-handler and he just stops and starts. It’s disruptive. I’ve never seen anybody do that before.”
Ulis doesn’t deserve all the credit. With more minutes, big man Alan Williams has flourished, posting four double-doubles in six games. Overall, the entire second unit has produced. Veteran guard Leandro Barbosa scored 16 points against Charlotte and 14 against Oklahoma City. Veteran forward Jared Dudley has been steady and rookie forward Derrick Jones Jr. has shown flashes. But Ulis has been the catalyst. “Any time you watch a game Tyler’s involved in he stands out, first and foremost, because of his size,” McDonough said. “He looks different than the other guys, especially if you’re watching the McDonald’s All-American game or one of the high school games. You’re immediately drawn to him, but as you study him further you’re able to see all the special things he does in terms of vision, the feel for the game and the quickness. He really is a unique player.”
No rotation change
A byproduct of Phoenix’s youth evaluation: No minutes for Knight and veteran center Tyson Chandler. Both played significant roles before the AllStar break, but neither has played since. For now, that isn’t likely to change.
“With the way our current group is playing, we’ll probably roll with those guys, at least in the immediate future and then maybe take it week-by-week and re-evaluate,” McDonough said. “... We wanted to see what we had (with the young players), and luckily those guys have played pretty well for the most part. That helps us in our evaluations as we go into the offseason and into the pre-draft progress, trying to figure out which guys are keepers and which positions we might need an upgrade.”
Contact Doug Haller at 602-444-4949 or at doug.haller@arizonarepublic .com. Follow him at Twitter.com/ DougHaller.