The beauty of niche stars is that they don't have the glamour of those superstars, but they do have their own brilliance. They are not perfect players and have significant strengths and weaknesses. However, it is such a player in the "mortal world" who is more likely to get the empathy of fans.
Many niche stars are grown up by fans step by step, and this kind of happiness is the reason why many fans like to chase a niche star. Suggs is a typical "niche star".
In yesterday's game against the Celtics, Suggs opened the game with a Curry-style step-back three-pointer and showed his hot form. However, in the first quarter, Suggs chased after Pritchard, but lost his balance when he landed and fell to the ground with his left hand.
As soon as he fell to the ground, Suggs covered his left hand and returned to the locker room unable to hold on to the game. Under normal circumstances, a hand hit like this would not have been able to keep the game going. But Suggs returned to the dressing room, took an X-ray, found no structural damage, and returned to the game.
We wrote about the Magic earlier, and that was when the Magic were still in first place in the East, and we said that the Magic have improved defensively this season. And Suggs is an important part of the Magic's defensive system. His ability to switch defenses, his biting of ball carriers, his hard work and ruthlessness, all affect the game on the field all the time.
The Magic needed Suggs' defense from the perimeter too much, so the latter returned to the court with a thick bandage on his hands. You may say it's just a regular season game, but for Suggs, every game counts.
In the second quarter, Suggs came back and went 0-of-2 from beyond the three-point line, losing the touch he had before the fall. The Magic also trailed by more than double digits at halftime, and trailed by 20+ at the end of the third quarter, and the game was basically out of suspense.
But Suggs didn't give up yet, hitting two three-pointers in the third quarter and a 2-of-2 three-pointer in the fourth. Even after trailing by more than 20 points, Suggs' fighting spirit was always high. Don't forget, his three-pointer was scored with a hand injury.
Speaking after the game, Suggs said: "I'm fine, injuries are part of the game. All the tests were negative (no major problems), so in that respect, it was just a matter of playing with a little pain. ”
Suggs played 26 minutes in the game, shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 5-of-9 from three-point range, scoring 19 points, 4 rebounds and 1 block. The score is the highest in the team, and the fighting spirit is the highest in the team as always. Many Celtic fans were impressed by Suggs, and saw in him the shadow of Smart, the soul of the former Green Army.
Although Suggs is only 22 years old now, in the magic with such a young average age, Suggs already has a shadow of the team's spirit. He's certainly not the core of the Magic, and when he entered the league with the fifth pick, the Magic didn't train him as a core.
It was a time for Suggs to lose his place, and he was certainly at the heart of his college years at Gonzaga, leading the team to a 31-game winning streak all the way to the final. But Gonzaga won the whole year before losing to Baylor University in the final Crazy Three, but that didn't affect Suggs' top-five pick.
But after entering the NBA, the fierce competition in the backcourt of the Magic team, coupled with the poor shooting state at the beginning, Suggs played in questionable. He shot just 21 percent from three-point range in his rookie season and less than 50 percent from the field.
It is worth mentioning that the best rookie team that year, the top four in the 2021 draft, were selected, and the other was the eighth pick, Suggs's teammate Wagner Jr. Then the Magic drew the top pick, and Banchero came in the air.
Suggs lost his consistent starting spot the following year and averaged fewer points per game than he did in his rookie season. But that's not a 100 per cent bad thing for Suggs, who has improved his efficiency on the bench and defended himself, and he has figured out what to do in the future.
He is no longer obsessed with being the heart of the backcourt, but contributes to the team by defending. According to the original draft report, Suggs didn't have the best height and reach, but his explosiveness and physical coordination were excellent.
Defensively, Suggs has always been hardworking, he can consistently interfere with the opposition's passes, and his competitive nature gives him the opportunity to do something special on both ends of the floor.
In his third year in the league, Suggs got those things back from his draft report. His defensive talent is far worse than that of his teammate Isaac, but his hard work. Resilience and timing make up for the lack of talent.
When Suggs hit a three-pointer from beyond the clock before the NCAA semifinals before entering the league, I knew he was going to be able to do it. When it comes to the hardest man in the league later, Suggs definitely deserves a place.