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By AUSTEN BROWNE
Cronkite News
PHOENIX — In the NBA landscape, a lost season could also inspire hope for the future.
Franchises across the league who will spend the playoffs on their couches use the last few weeks of the season to experiment with different lineups and unorthodox gameplans. The Phoenix Suns are no different.
Tyler Ulis is a question mark in the grand scheme of Phoenix’s plans. The 5-foot-10 point guard has had an up-and-down season, with some questioning whether his performance has earned him a spot on the roster in the future.
In the midst of team injuries and mounting losses over the final stretch of the regular season, Ulis has shown coaches he might just be the right man for the job.
“I think his ability to get in the lane, to use the pick-and-roll and to share the basketball (is important),” Suns coach Jay Triano said. “For me, the biggest thing is understanding the pace of the game. When can we score in transition, when do you pull it out? I think his ability to orchestrate a team has been really important for us over the last five or six games.”
After taking the starting job back from Elfrid Payton, the Kentucky alum has shot better than 50 percent from the field and has eight or more assists in five of the last six games, including a season-high 23-point performance against the Clippers.
The result is a possible longer tenure with the squad through the summer and into next season.
“Just developing, staying aggressive and shooting the three-point shot,” Ulis said. “I feel like I’m doing pretty well at it. I have a long summer to work on my game and I’m looking forward to it and getting better.”
Team scoring leaders Devin Booker and T.J. Warren have missed extended periods of time to conclude the season with hand and knee injuries, respectively. To prevent a league-worst offense from becoming even more stagnant, role players, including Ulis, have stepped up to handle the burden.
“I think that’s the one thing I’ve been most pleased with the last couple of weeks,” Triano said. “The guys are getting a chance to play, they’re executing our offense and they’re running stuff they did in practice all year.”
Eight straight seasons without a playoff appearance and clinching the worst record in the league hasn’t negatively impacted Ulis or the locker room, however. The players are still in good spirits, despite the historically poor year, looking ahead with higher expectations as they further develop their skill sets.
“It’s great, it’s even better that we like each other,” Ulis said. “We all get along because with a season like this, with a lot of losses and not many wins, it wears on you, but we get along off the court. We’re happy to be around each other each day and just learn and get better.”
Time will tell whether off-the-court chemistry will equal on-the-court success, but according to emerging superstar Devin Booker, the time may be now to begin putting the pieces together and field a competitive and sustainable team.
“I’m done not making the playoffs,” Booker said. “I’m serious. This is probably my last year ever not making the playoffs.”
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