Nash and Amare. Stockton and Malone. Peanut butter and jelly. Batman and Robin. We’ve always had a fascination with dynamic duos.
In the context of the modern NBA, analysts often consider two-man lineups. These allow a good sample size of more minutes than three- or even full five-person lineups. Further, they provide an isolated look at chemistry combinations that work. I looked at the top 25 (minutes volume) Suns two-man combinations from last year and sorted by net rating. Here are the ten best
combos:
Key implications
- Oso Ighodaro appeared in five of these top ten combos. This underscores his impact. Phoenix needs to find more ways to get him on the floor. And he needs to keep working on his shooting. A bump of even a few percentage points in free throw shooting or short jumpers would increase efficiency, and more importantly, allow him to be on the floor at the end of quarters when over the team foul limit.
- Jordan Goodwin was a beast last year. The numbers bear out what many of us saw watching the games. As team depth has improved, it’s important he gets minutes and stays engaged.
- Ryan Dunn appears twice in top 10 combos. There is still good value with this player, and like Oso, just a small shooting consistency improvement will make a big difference.
- Booker and Gillespie were each part of four of the top combos, and it’s interesting that the two of them together was Book’s top pairing at +7.0. This justifies playing them together heavily even in staggered lineups to allow optimal starting size and evaluating the Green/Booker dynamic.
- The five worst combinations all included Grayson Allen or Royce O’Neale (-2.7 to -8.7 net ratings). This surprised me. For floor spacing purposes and to allow minutes for the top combos above, it will be important for Luke Kennard to get his long-range shots, Gillespie to continue at a high clip, and Booker to get back above 35% on three-point FG%, as he has done six of his eleven seasons.
What about the key new piece? Miles Bridges is bound to get a high volume of minutes as the primary addition. I looked at the same top volume lineups for the Hornets. His best pairing (+11.2 net rating) was with Moussa Diabate, a center who stands only 6’10” but is athletic and an effective rebounder. That sounds a lot like an Oso-Miles pairing! If Khaman Maluach can develop a shot, Oso can then play some at the four-position for a big frontline of Maluach/Ighodaro/Bridges.
Each season has its own dynamics, chemistry, and player development. This look backward at last year’s duos gives clues on what to watch and hope for as the Suns start camp. I can’t wait to see it play out. Comment below if you see other implications from this data.
Welcome to the Bright Side writing team, Mark Bowser!
