Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports:
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It figured that Childress would need time to find his niche on a team loaded with wing players, but he already fits.
In an intrasquad scrimmage Saturday at University of California-San Diego, Childress’ 28 points and fellow newcomer Hedo Turkoglu’s 22 points led a team with Steve Nash and Jason Richardson to a 101-80 rout of a team with Grant Hill, Robin Lopez, Goran Dragic and Channing Frye.
Turkoglu stuck to perimeter scoring on 7-of-11 shooting, but Childress was all over the floor, like he had been all training camp.
“Don’t let it fool you,” Childress said. “I’m dragging.”
It was hard to tell with how often Childress beat teammates upcourt on fast breaks, cut in half-court offense, got steals and deflections and crashed the boards.
He had five rebounds Saturday, when he scored almost exclusively by moving without the ball.
“He has an unbelievable feel for the ball,” Suns coach Alvin Gentry said. “He’s athletic enough that he’s going to get out and run. He’s going to be able to get out in front of the pack enough that he can come up with easy plays.”
InsideHoops.com editor says: Childress’ European basketball experience probably gives him a court IQ advantage over a lot of other NBA players. Keep an eye on the away-from-ball things he does this season, like cutting, creating passing lanes, setting effective screens, etc.
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