The Phoenix Suns made a big acquisition this offseason when they signed Tyson Chandler to a four-year $52 million deal. The 33-year-old center was expected to come in and provide great defense and rebounding while also opening things up on the perimeter for the Suns' shooters. So far, Chandler's defense and rebounding have been as good as they would have hoped, but he has yet to open things up for the three-point shooters, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic.
The Suns have some good shooters on their team, and because of that they rank 10th in the NBA with their 35 percent mark. But the odd thing is that they have been shooting threes better with Chandler on the bench. Chandler is not a great offensive player, as he doesn't have much of a post game or a jump shot, but he is extremely dangerous in the pick-and-roll. Chandler has finished alley-oops off of the pick-and-roll many times throughout his career, so the Suns figured defenses would flock to him which would open up wide-open three-point opportunities. But so far the numbers show that Chandler's presence hasn't helped.
With Chandler on the floor, the Suns are making just 32 percent of their threes, compared to 39 percent when he isn't on the floor. Chandler believes that the opportunities are there and that they will figure it out as the team starts to gel more.
"It takes a while for teammates to start understanding that they're open and the looks that they're going to get. I just think it's a matter of time before we start being able to make those reads. We haven't figured it out yet, but we will because it's open on both ends," said Chandler.
These numbers could just be a fluke, as the sample size is somewhat small, but through seven games the number of opportunities with Chandler on the court and off the court has been similar, yet there is still a big difference in the percentages. This is something the Suns were not anticipating, and it is worth keeping an eye on as the season progresses. Despite the lack of three-point success with Chandler on the floor, he is sixth in the league with 10.9 rebounds per game and is still elite on defense, so his impact is being felt.
