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‘The sky is the limit’: Wendell Carter Jr. impressed by Jalen Suggs

Cody Taylor
·4 min read

ORLANDO, Fla. — Jalen Suggs on Tuesday drew praise from Orlando Magic teammate Wendell Carter Jr. for his ability to impact games on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

Suggs is off to a rather slow start offensively but his teammates and coaching staff still believe he is making a big impact. He is averaging 12 points, 3.5 assists and 3.2 rebounds in 11 games on 30.9% shooting from the field, including 22% from 3-point range.

Magic head coach Jamahl Mosley isn’t too concerned with Suggs’ early shooting struggles. He commended Suggs last week for continuing to put in the work and knows it will just be a matter of time before his shots begin to fall.

Suggs knows his offense will come around, too.

The offense is going to come, whether it’s missing easy bunnies, little layups, jump shots — all of those will start to fall. As time goes on, (I) continue to get comfortable and get my legs under myself. I am not worried about that at all. Just continuing to get the pace and comfortability to where I’m out there and people are not dictating what I’m going to do. I’m going to dictate that myself.

With the offense still a work in progress, Suggs has impressed on the defensive end of the floor. Rookie players often have a difficult time adjusting to defending tougher competition but Suggs has had minimal lapses in coverage.

Suggs said the biggest adjustment on defending in the NBA really just comes down to effort. He is more than willing to lock in defensively and put his body on the line and that is something that he wants to bring on a nightly basis.

Carter likes what Suggs brings on defense and on offense.

Defensively, he is phenomenal. He is just a pest on the ball. He just knows how to read the ball really well. Offensively, a lot of us have been trying to preach to him to take the open shot. Sometimes, I think he overthinks some things, which is normal. He just wants to make the right basketball play. Sometimes the right basketball play is just for him to shoot. We have just been preaching that to him.

He’ll get his own feel for the game on the offensive end. Other than that, he has been playing really well. He has been reading the court very well on the offensive end. The sky is the limit for him, for sure.

When shots don’t fall for players, they can often continue to manufacture points by driving into the paint and drawing contact. While Suggs has certainly done that — he has attempted 42 free throws, second-most among all rookies — he has noticed it is a challenge to earn those calls.

Houston Rockets rookie Jalen Green infamously struggled to get to the free-throw line to start the season, and acknowledged first-year players may not get the benefit of the whistle. It is something that Suggs has also noticed, as well.

(There are) definitely a lot of bump slaps, different kind of things that definitely could go other ways. Through the course of the game, sometimes you see it go for another All-Star or veteran and they may get that call. I think, at the end of the day, that’s just basketball and sometimes you’re going to get it and sometimes you are not.

I’m just trying to play through the fouls, play through the contact, get to my finishes and continue to find people and things like that. It’s a physical league and you’re going to have a lot of those plays in the course of a game.

Despite some offensive-shooting struggles, Suggs continues to make improvements each game and it seems like only a matter of time before he breaks out. He brings effort and energy to the court and it is clear he has earned his teammates’ trust to this point.

This post originally appeared on Rookie Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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