New Phoenix Suns coach Frank Vogel knows defense, but has been blessed with stoppers
The Phoenix Suns became more offensive driven as the 2022-23 season progressed under Monty Williams.
Having Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, two of the game’s premier scorers, can lead to that.
Moving their best perimeter defender, Mikal Bridges, to Brooklyn as part of the blockbuster Durant deal right before the Feb. 9 trade deadline played a role in that defensive dip, too, but they’ve hired Frank Vogel, who has won with defense.
Three of Vogel’s 11 teams finished first in the NBA in defensive rating while two more ranked third.
2012-13 Pacers – 1st in defensive rating, reached Eastern Conference finals, lost to Heat.
2013-14 Pacers – 1st in defensive rating, reached Eastern Conference finals, lost to Heat.
2015-16 Pacers – 3rd in defensive rating, made playoffs, lost to Raptors in first round.
2019-20 Lakers – 3rd in defensive rating, won NBA championship.
2020-21 Lakers – 1st in defensive rating, made playoffs, lost to Suns in 1st round.
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Vogel clearly has a proven defensive philosophy, but that success went beyond strategy.
He had players who could defend.
Paul George was emerging as one of the top two-way players on those Pacers teams. He made NBA all-defensive second team in 2012-13 and first team in 2013-14.
David West was a physical defender and Lance Stephenson got under your skin.
Then there was 7-footer Roy Hibbert, who averaged a career-high 2.6 blocks in 2012-13 and 2.2, his second-best career numbers for swats, in 2013-14. He was defensive second team in 2013-14.
As for those Lakers teams, Alex Caruso was starting to establish himself as a stout perimeter defender. He made the all-defensive first team this season with Chicago.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope got after it defensively as well for the Lakers. He’s brought that to the Denver Nuggets, who are up 1-0 in the NBA Finals on the Heat.
As for the interior, Anthony Davis was defensive first team the season the Lakers won it all, but that championship squad also had Dwight Howard and JaVale McGee as rim protectors.
Vogel knows defense, but he had strong perimeter and interior defenders.
Looking at the Suns, they finished the 2022-23 regular season seventh in defensive rating, but were ninth from Feb. 10, the day after the trade deadline, to the end of the regular season.
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In this year’s postseason, they’re 13th in defensive rating out of 16 playoff teams.
They don’t have a lockdown defender even though that’s harder to determine considering teams switch everything, but Bridges, a runner up for the 2021-22 NBA defensive player of the year award, was their best defender.
Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder were also solid defenders, but both were in the same trade for Durant.
Crowder didn’t play a single game for the Suns in 2022-23, but he, Johnson and Bridges were part of the 2021-22 team that ranked third in the league in defensive rating behind Boston and Golden State.
The Celtics and Warriors reached the 2022 finals Golden State won in six games.
McGee and Bismack Biyombo, who has 1,040 career blocks, were on that 2021-22 Suns team as well that posted the NBA’s best record at 64-18, a franchise record.
Watch Mikal Bridges👀.
Someone is lurking behind the media while he was doing his postgame interview.
"Hey man, talk about I covered for you on that block."
Bismack Biyombo.
"Man, Biz gave me my turnover. I'm off Biz right now."
That's just the beginning." #Suns pic.twitter.com/WqvwCgGXWj— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) January 22, 2023
Deandre Ayton averaged a career-low 0.7 blocks on the 2021-22 team, but he was viewed as the defensive leader for the Suns. He’s averaging one block per game in his five NBA seasons.
Torrey Craig and Josh Okogie are solid perimeter defenders and Landry Shamet competes on that end. Okogie and Craig are free agents while Shamet is on a four-year rookie extension for $43 million.
Durant is a sound secondary interior defender while Williams praised Booker for taking on the toughest perimeter matchup. However, that became more challenging in the postseason as they carried the offensive load.
Chris Paul has made the all-defensive team nine times, led the league in steals six times, but the 38-year-old isn’t the same defender he once was.
Vogel will now look to put his defensive imprint on a team that didn’t play at a high level on defensve in the postseason.
The Suns and Vogel agreed to a five-year deal worth $31 million.
Moore: Frank Vogel is a safe, obvious and smart hire as new Phoenix Suns coach
Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Frank Vogel takes over Phoenix Suns team that struggled defensively in postseason
