-
Ramona Shelburne, ESPN Senior Writer
FOR MOST OF his 13 years in the NBA Bradley Beal has had a good sense of who he is as a player. An elite shooter and scorer. A willing passer and versatile defender. The three All-Star games validated that self-concept. So too did the annual interest in him from contenders while he starred for the Washington Wizards.
But this past year was a strange one for Beal. Not just because he’d finally asked for and been traded to the Phoenix Suns last August. But because he’d been asked to and tried to play an entirely different position for the Suns than what he had played for most of his career: point guard.
“They were using me more as a facilitator than a scorer and honestly, that kind of f— with my head,” Beal told ESPN. “Literally this whole summer, I had just had a whole reflection, just like, ‘Who are you?’
“I had to have a real talk with myself, you know. I took some time to look at myself in the mirror to answer: ‘What do I need to do better? Who am I?’ And then just get back to that.”
At about the same time Beal was reflecting on his first year in Phoenix, the Suns were doing the same. How could a team with three superstars — Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker — amount to so little in the playoffs? Why had they come up so short of their collective parts?
Neither Frank Vogel nor the Suns had chosen to play Beal and Booker as their point guard because they believed it was the best role for them. Doing so was a consequence of having to trade Chris Paul to the Wizards to acquire Beal and his $46.7M salary, and being one of five teams to go over the NBA’s new “second apron,” which greatly restricts a team’s ability to make trades or fill out its roster with players who make more than a veteran minimum.
All season long, Beal, Booker and Vogel said they were committed to making the best of the situation. But it was clear early in the season – and after – that the experiment was untenable. The numbers told the tale. Beal averaged 18.2 points per game last season, his lowest since 2015-16, and 72% of his touches led to a pass, per Second Spectrum. His usage rate (22.4%) ranked as his lowest since 2014-15.
Booker, for his part, brought the ball up the floor on nearly 30% of the Suns’ possessions per game, per Second Spectrum, the highest rate of his career, while amassing his lowest overall usage (29.4%) since 2016-17. Just 25.5 of his touches led to a shot, the lowest rate of his career.
The Minnesota Timberwolves, the Suns’ first-round opponent in the playoffs, took full advantage.
Over the Suns’ final five games against the Wolves — their last regular season game and the four-game sweep — Minnesota pressured the player bringing up the ball on a combined 157 possessions, the highest number the Suns faced over any five-game span last season.
“I mean, it was just a different role, a different responsibility,” Booker told ESPN. “It was something we both weren’t accustomed to, but we were willing to learn and do it.”
Vogel was replaced after just one season by Mike Budenholzer. But the Suns knew they needed more than just a coaching change to change their fortunes, team sources said. They needed a player who could put Beal and Booker back into the positions where they’d become superstars.
“I think after the year we realized that it was about optimizing those three guys,” Suns president of basketball operations Josh Bartelstein told ESPN. “I mean, Bradley Beal has led the league in scoring. Let’s get him back to that. “It doesn’t mean there won’t be times this year where Brad and Devin are the guards, but when we stepped back to look at things, the most important thing was if we’ve got these three guys, how do we get them to be the best version of themselves?”
Those questions were answered quietly but firmly, nearly four weeks after the start of free agency, when the Suns spent $3 million on a player they believe will unlock the yet-unseen championship potential of the most tantalizing Big 3 in basketball.
IF ANYTHING, THE problem got even harder for Phoenix to address this summer as the new collective bargaining agreement went into full effect this July.
Phoenix couldn’t even afford to retain its backup point guard, Cameron Payne, trading his $6.5 salary and a second-round pick last offseason to San Antonio to save money, which was used on backup center Bol Bol.
New owner Mat Ishbia told ESPN last March that his fix, if one existed, would be to create a culture that veteran players would choose over more salary elsewhere.
“I understand all the rules that come with the second apron. I understand exactly what the CBA tried to do,” he said. “I read it, I know it inside and out, and we made a calculated decision that we think the team with the best players wins. Would I rather have Brad Beal, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker than just having two of those guys? I’d rather have all three a hundred times out of a hundred, and I don’t think there’s another GM or owner or CEO that wouldn’t say that exact same thing.
“So now how do you maneuver around that? Well, you have to differentiate yourself. … I have to create an environment where [we’re] trying to be the best franchise in sports where the players want to come play.”
It was an idealistic sentiment. And Ishbia understood that other owners or front offices thought he would soon be humbled by the harsh realities of the NBA, just as other ebullient new owners have been.
But he also believed it would only take one veteran player to prove him right.
That player, ultimately, was Tyus Jones.
THE 10TH-YEAR GUARD from Duke has ranked in the NBA’s top five in assist-to-turnover ratio for eight consecutive seasons. He’s led the league in five of them, and, last season, had the best ratio (7.35) since individual turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78.
In any other year, Jones would’ve been paid handsomely as the top point guard on the free agent market with a reputation as a mature leader. And indeed, Jones did weigh more lucrative interest from the Wizards, Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs and Brooklyn Nets, league sources said, with offers ranging from $8 million to $12 million annually.
But none of those teams offered the type of role and ceiling the Suns did.
“The first conversation I had with my agent , I was like, ‘Man I wish they had more money because basketball wise-the fit was ideal,” Jones told ESPN.
That conversation took place before free agency began. After the first week of free agency — during which the Spurs signed Paul to a one-year, $11 million deal and his other suitors started pressing him for answers — Jones’ choice became clear: Take the money in a losing situation and make the best of it. Or sign a veteran minimum deal with a contender and test free agency again next summer.
Bartelstein brought the idea up with Jones’ agent Kevin Bradbury over drinks at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas, figuring, at best, he was just doing some due diligence.
“That’s where it went from a 0.1% chance to a 1% chance,” Bartelstein said. “We just kind of kind of cracked the door open. …and then it became like college recruiting.”
Bartelstein got Ishbia on the phone with Jones and his wife, Carrie, after which they met in person in Phoenix with general manager James Jones. Then Tre Jones sat with Budenholzer to discuss the role he’d play and the coaches’ vision for how the team would play with Jones as its floor general.
“She actually was in on the talks with Josh and with Bud and with Mat,” Jones said. “Because this was more than just a decision for myself. It’s about her and the family as well. Just deciding where we want to be, what would be a good spot for them living-wise at the same time and organization-wise.
“Honestly, just them including her and understanding our family is a big part of the decision. We look at everything for our kids and what helps her be comfortable ultimately helped me be comfortable with the decision.”
Beal isn’t shy about what landing a player like Jones does for him on the court. He probably could’ve skipped all that soul-searching and self-reflection if he knew the Suns would land a point guard like Jones in free agency.
In the Suns’ first four games this season, Jones is averaging 10 points, 6 assists and less than one turnover per game — but he’s making an impact far beyond his individual production, easing the offensive burden both Booker and Beal carried last season.
Beal is dribbling 30 percent less before attempting a shot so far this year, and he’s shooting 42.1% from 3, nearly a career high, while Booker is dribbling 51% less before taking a shot, and shooting 41.9% from deep, by far the best mark of his career.
“I think anybody from the outside looking in last year understood that they were asked to do more than what they typically probably do. And so that’s where I felt like I could help,” Jones said. “I try to make their job easy. Try to set the table for them, put them in great positions to just score the ball and do what they do at an extremely elite level.”
Whether that will be enough to help the Suns win a title remains to be seen, but, for the first time, this Big 3 now has a setup man.
“Tyus makes our life so much easier,” Beal said. “I have a lot more weight off my shoulders. We can just go do what everybody knows us for.”