NBA.com's John Schuhmann gets you ready for the 2017-18 season with a key stat for each team in the league and shows you why it matters. Today, we look at the Phoenix Suns, who didn't spend as much time beyond the arc as they had in the past.

THE STAT

Last season's Phoenix Suns took just 25.5 percent of their shots from 3-point range, down from 30.2 percent the season before.



THE CONTEXT

That was the biggest drop-off in a league that took 7,000 more 3-pointers than it ever had. The Suns were one of two teams (Detroit was the other) that ranked in the bottom five in both 3-point percentage and in the percentage of their shots that came from 3-point range. In regard to the latter, the Suns went from above the league average in 2015-16 (28.5 percent) to well below the league average in '16-17 (31.6 percent).

With an effective field goal percentage of just 43.9 percent from outside the paint, the Suns were the least effective jump-shooting team in the league. They had the league's worst effective field goal percentage (46.4 percent) on uncontested jumpers and the league's worst mark (33.8 percent) on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers.

But another part of the problem was that they were one of seven teams that took more mid-range shots than 3-pointers.



Though the Suns ranked 27th in 3-point percentage, those 3-pointers were still worth a lot more (1.00 points per attempt) than their mid-range shots (0.76) on average.

The lack of 3-pointers can be connected to the lack of ball movement in Phoenix, because *threes are more likely to be off the catch, while mid-range shots are more likely to be off the dribble. The Suns ranked in the bottom 10 in passes per possession and were one of two teams that recorded assists on less than half of their field goals.

* Last season, 73 percent of 2-point jump shots were pull-ups, while 74 percent of 3-point attempts were off the catch, according to SportVU tracking.

More than two thirds of the jump shots taken by Devin Booker and Eric Bledsoe were off the dribble. The Suns assisted on just 22 percent of their buckets in the clutch (with the score within five in the last five minutes) and their assist/turnover ratio on clutch possessions was a brutal 0.61. Their offense was too often a "my turn, your turn" scenario.

Better ball movement would result in more shots off the catch, more threes, and more effective shooting from the outside in Phoenix.