The Phoenix Suns were one of the better teams in the Western Conference to start the new NBA season, although not everyone is convinced by their start. They can only play against the teams in front of them, but – most encouraging of all – they look competitive no matter what opponent they face.
Increasing free throw attempts will lead to more wins for Suns.
But if they could make a few more mistakes every night, they would certainly pull out some of the closer games they were involved in. Consider their most recent loss, a two-point loss to the Atlanta Hawks despite leading by 22 at one point in the game. Although they shot just five fewer free throws than the Hawks — 19 to their 24 — they converted 95 percent of them.
Devin Booker is the goods – would still get him over 99% of the players in the world
pic.twitter.com/3LBg2C5WZ9
— Hoop Herald (@TheHoopHerald) November 15, 2025
Compare that to Atlanta, which got 83 percent. A small margin you might think, but the Suns only lost the game by two points. The team also converts 81.7 percent of their attempts, which is good for 10th in the league. That gets to the real problem here, which is that the Suns take just over 22 shots from the charity stripe per game.
Only four fewer teams get to the line, despite the Suns having plenty of players capable of making contact and being physical inside. Names like Mark Williams, Oso Ighodaro and Dillon Brooks shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it’s actually Booker who’s leading the way in this area. His 7.6 attempts every night are a career-high.
It’s fair to say that Booker gets superstar whistles at times, but he’s also aggressive in the midrange and gets into the paint when necessary. The fact that Brooks is second in attempts (4.1) is unacceptable, with Williams (3.1) behind him. Grayson Allen (2.6) and Jalen Green (2.5) round out the top five, with Green having only played a little more than one game due to a hamstring issue.
Green’s eventual return should help open up the playing field and create more lanes, but in reality it’s up to the bigs to create better contact. It’s tough to expect fringe players like Isaiah Livers to contribute even more than they already are – he’s exceeding expectations and getting more and more minutes – but he can bring more than 0.4 attempts per game.
If everyone could get to the free throw line just once per game, it would give head coach Jordan Ott another valuable way to win games. If anything, it would also diversify their offensive game plan, which currently stands out because of Booker’s brilliance and some excellent three-point shooting. An easy solution.
#Suns #clear #obvious #win #games