Suns Summer League, Las Vegas, July 10th- 20th, 2025

[Yuma]

I'm thinking sometime during the regular season. Dunn got some starts last year. Just lowering my expectations.

Listened to Kellan Olsen on his podcast and he says Suns are telling him they want to get Flemming into the starting lineup sooner than later. Kellan was like, so you tell a veteran like Royce we are starting the kid in front of you?

 

[Mainstreet]

Khaman has a lot of confidence in his three. He often stands in the corner on offense calling for the ball. He moves very well for 7-2 and you can tell he is mentally engaged in the game. He needs to add some muscle, which his frame will support, and the game needs to slow down a bit for him mentally.

I don't want him to play outside like Bol Bol. His bread and butter needs to be inside.

 

[Hoop Head]

I don't want him to play outside like Bol Bol. His bread and butter needs to be inside.

He needs a solid mix. He needs to be outside more than Ayton was but not stuck behind the 3pt line like Bol². I think how Cleveland used Mobley would be ideal. He is always moving around. Mobley averaged 12 attempts a game, which might be high for Maluach, but only 3 attempts from outside. 75-25 sounds good to me if he's shooting in the mid 30's in terms of percentage.

 

[Mainstreet]

I haven't been paying attention to the summer league games, and I see ^^^ this post above, but how did Maluach, Brea, and Fleming look in the actual games? Look promising or a lot of work ahead of them?

All three players are raw, but the talent seems to be there. I will be disappointed if all three don't stick in the NBA long term.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Listened to Kellan Olsen on his podcast and he says Suns are telling him they want to get Flemming into the starting lineup sooner than later. Kellan was like, so you tell a veteran like Royce we are starting the kid in front of you?

Watch the video. I know its summer league. You get a sense for this kids game. He is the ultimate complementary player. His D is disruptive. He protects the rim. He gets steals. He gets rebounding position. He has an easy confident corner three shot. He moves well without the ball. He kinda reminds me of a bigger Mikal Bridges. Just looking at him, I would play him over O Neal.

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[Carolinacacti]

Fleming will get minutes this year. Summer league for the Suns was a joke. Fleming missed the first two games and did not get enough touches in the others

 

[Yuma]

Watch the video. I know its summer league. You get a sense for this kids game. He is the ultimate complementary player. His D is disruptive. He protects the rim. He gets steals. He gets rebounding position. He has an easy confident corner three shot. He moves well without the ball. He kinda reminds me of a bigger Mikal Bridges. Just looking at him, I would play him over O Neal.

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He's number twenty because that's how old he is. We have some YOUNG talent in Fleming and Maluach.

 

[Chaplin]

Watch the video. I know its summer league. You get a sense for this kids game. He is the ultimate complementary player. His D is disruptive. He protects the rim. He gets steals. He gets rebounding position. He has an easy confident corner three shot. He moves well without the ball. He kinda reminds me of a bigger Mikal Bridges. Just looking at him, I would play him over O Neal.

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There's a lot of nice stuff by Oso in that video. LOL

Man, if Oso could develop a jumpshot, he could be a good player in the league.

 

[JCSunsfan]

There's a lot of nice stuff by Oso in that video. LOL

Man, if Oso could develop a jumpshot, he could be a good player in the league.

And if Charles Barkley could develop a golf swing, he could play on the senior tour. That Oso shot is just a lost cause. We have to accept that.

 

[Chaplin]

And if Charles Barkley could develop a golf swing, he could play on the senior tour. That Oso shot is just a lost cause. We have to accept that.

Why? We don't have the accept it. Changing your shot as a 23-year-old is still possible. And coaching wasn't exactly stellar last season either. He may never develop one, but it is WAY too premature to give up on him.

Charles is 62 and is a completely different person than Oso, so that comparison doesn't hold any water.

 

[Hoop Head]

Why? We don't have the accept it. Changing your shot as a 23-year-old is still possible. And coaching wasn't exactly stellar last season either. He may never develop one, but it is WAY too premature to give up on him.

Charles is 62 and is a completely different person than Oso, so that comparison doesn't hold any water.

What NBA player dramatically changed their mechanics to become a shooter between 22-25 years old? I can't think of any.

Oso is a cheap insurance policy whose BB IQ is high enough that he's better than a 7 foot cone but ultimately he's not worth investing playing time in if he can't get his shot working. He can try to learn to shoot in practice and the G-League until he's needed because of an injury.

 

[Chaplin]

What NBA player dramatically changed their mechanics to become a shooter between 22-25 years old? I can't think of any.

Oso is a cheap insurance policy whose BB IQ is high enough he's better than a 7 foot cone but ultimately he's not worth investing playing time in he can't get his shot working. He can try to learn to shoot in practice and the G-League until he's needed because of an injury.

Ok... so what are you disagreeing with? Yes, he can try to learn, in fact, he should heavily concentrate on improving his shot. So we agree there. Unless, like JC, you think there is no hope of any improvement whatsoever, that's really the only place we would disagree, although I don't get that gist from your post.

He doesn't have to become a "shooter". He just needs to be a little more dangerous 15 feet from the basket. If he can actually get a working 3-point shot, all the better, but that's probably a bridge too far.

 

[Hoop Head]

Ok... so what are you disagreeing with? Yes, he can try to learn, in fact, he should heavily concentrate on improving his shot. So we agree there. Unless, like JC, you think there is no hope of any improvement whatsoever, that's really the only place we would disagree, although I don't get that gist from your post.

He doesn't have to become a "shooter". He just needs to be a little more dangerous 15 feet from the basket. If he can actually get a working 3-point shot, all the better, but that's probably a bridge too far.

I don't think he's worth NBA minutes at this point unless we suffer a few injuries. No reason to waive him but I think he should be a fire extinguisher of sorts, at most, as far as "use in case of emergency".

I'd much rather give any playing time he gets to Maluach and Fleming. Williams is also 23 so I wouldn't be opposed to him seeing as many minutes as he can physically handle before Oso is given playing time.

Basically let Oso try and improve but if he doesn't show improvement in the G-League first then he shouldn't be granted playing time and really shouldn't factor into the youth movement right now. He's a 14th or 15th man on a roster at best, IMO.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Ok... so what are you disagreeing with? Yes, he can try to learn, in fact, he should heavily concentrate on improving his shot. So we agree there. Unless, like JC, you think there is no hope of any improvement whatsoever, that's really the only place we would disagree, although I don't get that gist from your post.

He doesn't have to become a "shooter". He just needs to be a little more dangerous 15 feet from the basket. If he can actually get a working 3-point shot, all the better, but that's probably a bridge too far.

My point with Charles Barkley was that Oso's shot looks as bad as Barkley's swing. It is just sooooooo bad that if he has not learned by now after 8 or so years of organized basketball, it is extremely remote that he will. He has been in the league a year and nothing has changed. He is at best an end of the bench situational player.

Hoop is right. Flemming and Khaman should get playing time over Oso. Both have a much better chance to have reasonably complete games. Send Oso to the G-league and let him work on his shot. He can come back when it gets better. If we do that, we will never see him again.

Watching this video, its shocking that this is an NBA player. Most kids with this form would not make the Junior High team.

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[Suns_fan69]

What NBA player dramatically changed their mechanics to become a shooter between 22-25 years old? I can't think of any.

Lonzo Ball is the one that comes to mind but I think he was slightly younger:

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Here's the before, he basically launched from the leftside of his face as a right handed shooter:

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His first year in NO would have been his third year in the league and his age 22 season.

 

[Hoop Head]

Lonzo Ball is the one that comes to mind but I think he was slightly younger:

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Here's the before, he basically launched from the leftside of his face as a right handed shooter:

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His first year in NO would have been his third year in the league and his age 22 season.

That's fair. He has really bad mechanics but he was also not drafted for his shooting, neither was Oso. It kind of goes back to role and purpose and Ben Simmons and Oso is a bit of a better comparison since he's 6'10" and either plays PG or PF/C. Oso won't be given the ball and told to initiate the offense so he needs to learn to shoot to warrant playing time because he won't get the foot speed, handles, or finishing ability to be like Lonzo, Ben Simmons, and other non shooters.

I'd also argue that Lonzo was a #2 draft pick with elite skills other than shooting that kept him from being a non factor until he learned to shoot. Oso doesn't have those. He's not a good defender, inside or out. He also wasn't even a first round pick so the level of investment in his development is dramatically different.


It's encouraging though to see at least one player whose mechanics have improved. I do wonder if Lonzo would have developed if he didn't spend so much time rehabbing various injuries. That amount of availability likely opened up opportunities to work on his shot while he couldn't do much else. Kind of like Amar'e improved his jumper and range in the year he was out because of microfracture. Stationary shooting is easier on the body.

 

[Superbone]

And if Charles Barkley could develop a golf swing, he could play on the senior tour. That Oso shot is just a lost cause. We have to accept that.

This take is outdated. Barkley has fixed his swing. Did you see his eagle the other day?

 

[Mainstreet]

Lonzo Ball's jumpshot looked good before it was fixed, compared to Oso Ighodaro.

There must have been a player with worse shooting mechanics in the NBA than Oso, but none come to mind, especially if he is considered a power forward.

 

[Superbone]

Hornacek fixed his shot back in the day when he joined the Suns but I don't think it was so bad before.

 

[Hoop Head]

This take is outdated. Barkley has fixed his swing. Did you see his eagle the other day?

Did he kill one slicing a ball?

 

[BooksOrangePlanet]

the oso "logic" on display is nutty af - and some of yall even have the nerve to ben simmons - lmao and brea must be worthless too because he can't play a lick if defense - shoulda never been drafted - matter of fact can gillespie dunk? if not he doesn't belong either haha

 

[Mainstreet]

Hornacek fixed his shot back in the day when he joined the Suns but I don't think it was so bad before.

I watched Jeff at workouts after the Suns drafted him. Initially, the ball seemed to come off his hands a bit sideways when shooting, but nothing terrible.

Taping a couple of fingers together seemed to fix it. Afterward, his shot became a thing of beauty.

 

[JCSunsfan]

Lonzo Ball's jumpshot looked good before it was fixed, compared to Oso Ighodaro.

There must have been a player with worse shooting mechanics in the NBA than Oso, but none come to mind, especially if he is considered a power forward.

I have seen player with bad form that make it work--like Jamal Wilkes--but the problem with his form is that the timing is so wrong. I can't work that way. He would be better off shooting a set shot

 

[Hoop Head]

the oso "logic" on display is nutty af - and some of yall even have the nerve to ben simmons - lmao and brea must be worthless too because he can't play a lick if defense - shoulda never been drafted - matter of fact can gillespie dunk? if not he doesn't belong either haha

Why does Gobert get played off the floor? Lack of shooting. Unlike Oso he can drastically elevate a teams defense.

What skill does Oso bring that some journeyman 7' doesn't? Mason Plumlee is a good example of a journeyman. Mason is a better defender, rebounder, and finishes inside better. So why stan for Oso by bringing up guards who are tasked with entirely different facets of basketball.

 

[Mainstreet]

I have seen player with bad form that make it work--like Jamal Wilkes--but the problem with his form is that the timing is so wrong. I can't work that way. He would be better off shooting a set shot

Maybe the Suns should work on the other parts of Oso's game and free throw shooting. Try to maximize what he does best.