What Happened To Goran Dragic? Channing Frye

he just couldn’t play in the system he was given with the players around him.

the 2nd unit was usually 4 shooters and a big down low. It worked best when LB was working the floor with him because if the other team sent their pg to harass Goran up the floor, they could just run the same play with LB at the point because they had identical skillsets. When LB was out, Jrich also filled this roll, tho his handling wasn’t as developed.

This year, you take out some shooters, and the shooters you have are in terrible slumps ( including the pg)..your big man down low doesn’t work the boards like Lou…well it’s kind of a disaster, and ’be more aggressive" is no longer an option since the paint can be packed and going to the rim will usually result in a strip or a block.

SO basically we had the perfect personelle for the 2nd unit and we said hey, let’s roll the dice…

As I stated in my many posts against the Aaron Brooks trade, Goran was unfairly blamed for the lack of bench production. Quite simply, it was not just Channing Frye that he lost, but Lou Amundson as well. Goran was asked to adjust to a whole new supporting cast that quite frankly, does not fit together well.

Last season, the best three defensive 5 man group for the suns were [points per possession allowed]:

1. Dragic-Barbosa-Dudley-Hill-Amundson: 0.98
2. Dragic-Dudley-Hill-Amundson-Frye: 1.01
3. Dragic-Barbosa-Dudley-Amundson-Frye: 1.02
4. Nash-Barbosa-Hill-Stoudemire-Frye: 1.04

If you also look at the most efficient offensive 5 man groups, you will notice a similar pattern [points per possession scored]:

1. Nash-Barbosa-Hill-Stoudemire-Lopez 1.36
2. Dragic-Richardson-Dudley-Stoudemire-Frye 1.32
   T#3 Dragic-Barbosa-Dudley-Hill-Amundson 1.31
   T#3 Nash-Barbosa-Dudley-Stoudemire-Frye 1.31

If you notice, the unit of Dragic, Barbosa, Dudley, Hill and Amundson were the third most efficient scorers and the most efficient defensive unit. In fact, that unit would have been the 3rd best defense IN THE LEAGUE had their stats held for the entire game.

When you look at those units, you see that on a position by position basis, that bench team was a great fit for running the Suns offense without changing anything. You had three guys that could shoot/spread the floor in Barbosa, Dudley and Frye, and you had your rim attacker in Amundson. When Barbosa was down, it allowed Dudley to move over to the 2 and Hill would stay at the 3 [which by the way is why they traded Barbosa – they didn’t really need him]. Offensively, you didn’t have to tinker with anything to find ways to score. The middle opened up for Dragic to behave in much the same manner that Nash does. Add in the fact that defenders had to stay at home on guys like Frye, Dudley and Hill [and Lou to a degree – or he would kill you on the offensive glass], Dragic had much more freedom to roam and found himself more open for scoring opportunities.

But more than offensively, it was defense where this unit really clicked, and where they actually punished other teams. With Dragic, Dudley and Hill on the floor, we had three quality perimeter defenders. The real linchpin here was Amundson. His ability on the defensive end allowed the perimeter players to overplay the passing lanes more, because he had a great knack for help defense and was quick enough to hedge hard on p-n-r situations and recover to his man quickly, he provided the Suns with the quality defender at the 4 that they lacked in their starting unit.

So in summary, while Dragic’s play was subpar this season, a lot of that had to do with the roster changes and the current second unit’s inability to fit the system.