Suns' Trade for Brandan Wright Could Be Perfect Move to Keep Playoff Hopes Alive
The Phoenix Suns stockpiled their arsenal with a shiny new weapon and kept pace in the Western Conference arms race Friday by acquiring center Brandan Wright in a trade with the Boston Celtics.
Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news:
According to Wojnarowski, the Suns will send a protected first-round pick to the Celtics in exchange for Wright, who has now been traded twice this season after being shipped to Boston by Dallas in the Rajon Rondo blockbuster:
The pick—which originally belonged to the Minnesota Timberwolves—is top-12 protected in 2015 and 2016. If it isn't credited to Boston in that time, it will turn into two second-round selections in 2016 and 2017, according to RealGM.
While the protections ensured this was a low-risk move for Phoenix, the expiring nature of Wright's deal also made it a financially palatable one.
And if the Suns wind up being smitten with Wright's contributions, they'll have an advantage entering contract negotiations this summer since they own his Bird rights.
| 16.9 | 7.5 | 3.6 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 24.2 |
"We are excited to add Brandan to our roster," general manager Ryan McDonough said in a press release, according to the Suns. "His length, athleticism and finishing ability make him a great fit for our style of play. He is one of the most efficient scorers in the league, and his shot-blocking ability will help anchor our defense."
For Phoenix, this is a move made with sights set firmly on the playoffs. After missing out on the 2014 postseason by a single game, McDonough made a power play to fill the team's biggest need. And while Wright may not look like a game-changing piece on the surface, he unquestionably helps mask Phoenix's biggest flaw.
As things stand, the Suns rank No. 26 overall in opponents' field-goal percentage at the rim, according to SportVU player tracking data, and 29th in opponents' paint points (46.8 per game), per TeamRankings.com.
By bringing Wright aboard, the Suns acquire a proven rim protector who's limiting opponents to 55.3 percent shooting inside of six feet—3.5 percent better than the league average, according to NBA.com.
Comparatively, Suns bigs Alex Len and Miles Plumlee are allowing opponents to shoot 54.3 and 58 percent shooting inside of six feet, respectively, per NBA.com. Given Plumlee's relatively lackluster performance to date, Grantland's Zach Lowe hypothesized that the 26-year-old center could watch his minutes slide in tandem with Wright's arrival:
Aside from his shot-blocking capabilities, Wright is an efficient finishing machine at the rim. Wright's shooting 72.4 percent from the field, with a career-high 32.1 percent of his field-goal attempts coming via dunks this season, according to Basketball-Reference.com.
Furthermore, Wright is attempting 68.6 percent of his shots within three feet, per Basketball-Reference.com, which represents a 28.3 percent increase in volume from a season ago.
Because his distribution of shots is so heavily concentrated around the rim, Wright has bolted up the league's player efficiency rating charts to No. 10 overall with a mark of 24.27, according to ESPN.com.
Among power forwards (which is how he's categorized in ESPN's PER rankings), Wright ranks No. 2 overall behind only Anthony Davis.
The Suns already have a stable of point guards in Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas who can torment opponents with lightning speed and quick releases off the dribble. Now, they have a viable above-the-rim pick-and-roll presence who should provide Phoenix with an extra offensive dimension as it seeks to stave off the frisky Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Suns joined the Houston Rockets (Corey Brewer and Josh Smith), the Dallas Mavericks (Rajon Rondo), and the Thunder (Dion Waiters) to sell off future assets in the name of short-term gains before the Feb. 19 trade deadline.
The Memphis Grizzlies are also in that group, as Jeff Green will reportedly be traded to Memphis in a deal contingent upon a third party entering the fray, per Wojnarowski.
Now the Suns aren't in the thick of a title chase like several of those squads. But acquiring Wright makes them legitimate threats to capture the conference's No. 8 seed and stave off the Thunder's aggressive postseason overtures, as NBA.com's John Schuhmann pointed out:
Entering Friday night's action, Phoenix owns a four-game cushion on Oklahoma City in the standings with a five-game edge in the win column. For the Thunder to reach 50 wins—which has been tossed around as a baseline for postseason qualifiers in the West—they would need to go 33-13 over the season's final 46 games.
By comparison, Phoenix needs to go 28-16 over its remaining 44 games in order to reach the 50-win plateau, a record that equates to a .636 winning percentage.
It helps that Phoenix has been particularly hot of late, winning eight of its last 10 games at the time of Wright's arrival. During that span, the Suns have throttled opponents to the tune of a 113.3 offensive rating, fractional points behind the Golden State Warriors (113.5), per NBA.com.
The team's 19th-ranked defense could use a tad more more refinement, but with an offense that's catching fire and Wright's 7'4'' wingspan ready to engulf the paint in a crucial reserve role, the Suns are restocked and ready to roll as they seek to capture the franchise's first playoff berth since 2009-10.
All statistics current as of Jan. 9 and courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com unless noted otherwise.
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