PHOENIX — After committing 26 turnovers in a preseason outing, the Suns reportedly asked their analytics department to determine whether that number qualified as bad, eventually receiving a detailed report concluding that it did.
Team sources say the department spent several hours reviewing the film, cross-referencing league averages and courageously confirming that handing the ball to the other team 26 times falls outside the organization’s preferred offensive process.
“The data was pretty clear,” one analyst said. “There were simply too many moments where we completed a pass directly into somebody else’s happiness.”
Phoenix coaches appreciated the rigor of the analysis, though multiple staffers admitted they were also suspicious as soon as the turnover total started climbing into the kind of territory normally reserved for experimental offense or emotional distress.
Players reportedly understood the concern and agreed that 26 giveaways can create mild difficulties, especially when possessions are valuable and opponents tend to enjoy free basketball.
To address the issue, the Suns are said to be considering several adjustments, including crisper decision-making, fewer casual live-ball donations and a modest organizational commitment to not dribble into crowded areas just to see what happens.
The analytics report stopped short of calling the performance catastrophic, but it did categorize the number 26 under a section labeled “Would prefer less.”
At press time, the team was hopeful the lesson had landed, provided nobody turned the report over too.
