Brighter days for Suns?
Suns, Kings both young, but Sacramento already winning
This week’s 20-point victory over the San Antonio Spurs may have given the Phoenix Suns a needed boost as the team sits with a 3-11 record.
Youth has been a common theme when discussing the Phoenix Suns’ poor start. They’re still learning. Trying to figure it out.
“We’ve got a new coach, new system, new faces, young team,” said Suns starting point guard Isaiah Canaan earlier in the season. “It’s going to take a little time to get it going. We’re just taking our knots upside the head right now.”
Even those who’ve played against the Suns (3-11) see Phoenix’s youth as a reason why they’re struggling early this season.
“It’s hard in this league to win with all young players,” said New Orleans coach Alvin Gentry after the Pelicans’ 20-point win over the Suns last week.
Sacramento heard the same thing going into the season, but unlike the Suns, the Kings (8-6) are winning and have been the one of the NBA’s surprise teams.
“I was really impressed,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich after Monday’s 104-99 loss at Sacramento. “Their culture is changing — it’s changed drastically.”
Phoenix ran past San Antonio (7-6) by 20 points Wednesday night, showing signs they too may be ready to turn the corner, but Sacramento is already on its way.
“Guys are committed, guys are physical, taking some pride in defense,” Popovich continued. “I think (Kings general manager) Vlade (Divac) and the team have made some good moves and I think (Kings coach ) Dave (Joerger)’s done a great job of bringing that group together. They look really good.”
Popovich praised Phoenix’s ball movement and confidence after Wednesday night’s game, but felt like the Suns were motivated to avenge last month’s 30-point to the Suns at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
“I’m sure there was a little bit of a hangover from the last time we played them,” Popovich said. “They didn’t want that to happen again, but we talked about it. You respect everybody, you respect the basketball gods and I’m assuming that our guys are smart enough to know that it was going to be a tough game. That they’d come back at us.”
Coach Igor Kokoskov didn’t want to compare his Suns to the Kings during Wednesday morning’s shootaround before facing San Antonio.
He even joked the Spurs might have went to Napa Valley and “had a little wine over there,” but Kokoskov wanted to keep the focus on his team, not the Kings.
“We’re watching our yard,” said Kokoskov, whose Suns lost to Sacramento in their preseason opener, 106-102, in Phoenix.
“We’re taking care of our yard and our situation. We don’t really compare ourselves necessarily to any group, any young team, other team in the NBA. We are who we are and we’re trying to get better.”
However, the Suns and the Kings came into the season with essentially the same average age.
Suns: 25.10. Kings: 25.58.
The difference was Phoenix talked about this being the season to make the jump and contend for a playoff spot after rebuilding for three years.
Sacramento’s approach was fueled with wanting to prove they could be young and still win.
“Guys got pride,” Joerger said before the season. “They know where they’ve been picked. They know we got a lot of heavy lifting to do this year, but the spirits have been good and positive.”
The Kings also made it clear they were going to play their youth.
“We’re excited about the young talent that we have and it is a season where we’re going to commit to playing more young guys than we have in the past,” Joerger said.
Sacramento has stuck to that preseason script and it’s paying dividends.
“You have to give those young guys credit,” Spurs forward DeMar DeRozan said. “They are playing at a high level.”
The Kings have benefited from having the same starting lineup for all but four games, but their top six scorers are in their fourth NBA season or less with an average age of 24.
Buddy Hield, 24, and De’Aaron Fox, 20, are each averaging 18.7 points a game to lead the Kings.
Phoenix’s top seven scorers have an average age of 24.28 as Josh Jackson and rookie Mikal Bridges are both tied for sixth on the team in scoring at 7.2 points game, but Trevor Ariza, TJ Warren and Canaan have played at least four NBA seasons.
Ariza is in his 15th NBA season while Canaan and Warren are in their sixth and fifth, respectively.
“They are playing extremely free and you see the experience, especially for De’Aaron coming off his rookie year,” DeRozan continued about the Kings. “He’s looking a lot more comfortable. Buddy, a couple years in the league, understanding his capabilities. They play well together. They play extremely hard and they play free.”
Fox has ignited Sacramento at the point. He’s averaging 7.1 assists and plays at a pace and speed that enables the Kings to score in transition.
Sacramento leads the NBA in fastbreak points per game at 22.6 going into Thursday’s games. In contrast, Phoenix is 27th at 10.6 a game.
“We’re young and we’re having fun we’re having fun because I think they have confidence in that they can make some mistakes,” Joerger said on Halloween on NBATV’s 10 Before Tip “We’re playing fast enough where some of those mistakes are erased by the number of possessions in the game going up.”
Phoenix has played a tougher schedule than the Kings. Going in to Thursday’s games, the Suns’ 11 opponents were 29 games above .500 (92-63) as they’ve played the Oklahoma City Thunder (9-5), the Memphis Grizzlies (8-5) and San Antonio twice.
Sacramento’s 14 opponents are 10493.