NEW YORK — Tyler Ennis didn’t play at all on Saturday afternoon when the Phoenix Suns visited the Knicks at Madison Square Garden.
About 100 miles South, his brother Dylan Ennis played 32 minutes in Villanova’s 82-77 OT win over Syracuse in Philadelphia.
It was an odd moment, to be sure. If Tyler were in the college game (where his parents went to support Dylan), he surely would have been a factor.
“It’s kind of weird watching [Syracuse] because I felt like I was just in practice with those guys a couple weeks ago,” Ennis told SNY.tv.
“The first game I watched, I wondered how different this would be if me and Jerami [Grant] were still there. But I don’t regret any decision I made in the past year.”
How could he, really?
He was a guaranteed first-round pick after an impressive freshman season, and he had to take the money and the opportunity.
Perhaps ideally, Ennis would’ve been picked by his hometown Toronto Raptors at No. 20, but instead the Suns grabbed him at No. 18. That was before they had re-signed Eric Bledsoe or signed Isaiah Thomas.
Now Ennis is often inactive on a team loaded with point guards in Bledsoe, Thomas and Goran Dragic, who combined for or 57 points, 15 rebounds and 8 assists in a 99-90 win over the Knicks.
“Obviously, I’m not playing as much as I would want to, but being a young guy everybody tells me, ‘Just be patient, keep working hard,'” Ennis said. “I think it’s been kind of a blessing in disguise for me, just giving me a chance to work on my body. I get to lift and because I’m not playing as many minutes as some other rookies, I’m able to get in the weight room and work on my body.”
Still, the irony is that Phoenix has too many point guards while Syracuse doesn’t have enough and has struggled with freshman Kaleb Joseph running the point.
“It’s so hard to go in there in the first six games and get compared to guys like Michael Carter-Williams or Dion [Waiters] or anything like that, so I think just being patient,” Ennis said of Joseph. “Not everybody’s going to play well their freshman year. But I think he has potential. He’s definitely an athletic point guard, he can score the ball. He just has to take his time and learn the college game and he’ll be alright.”
Meantime, Ennis said he hopes to get up to about 190 pounds after weighing 180 at Syracuse last year.
“I’m just working on getting stronger and playing against these guys I can feel myself getting better in practice and one-on-ones,” he said.
Ennis and fellow rookie T.J. Warren out of N.C. State did a two-game stint with Bakersfield of the D-League. Ennis averaged 22.0 points and 7.5 assists on 51 percent shooting during his time there.
Still, he joked that some people think he’s still in the D-League.
“I was at the mall [Friday] and somebody came up to me and said, ‘Are you back in the NBA?'” Ennis said with a laugh.
“It was good to get out there and just see the progress…and show everybody that I’m able to play on this level. Not that it’s the NBA, but it’s not college, and I think that was good for everybody to see the progress I’ve been making.”
Suns coach Jeff Hornacek says he believes Ennis has a bright future.
“He’s got a great sense of the game,” Hornacek told AZCentral.com last month. “He’s one guy on our team that when we’re practicing, I don’t have to call out a play for them to run because he just calls it. He sees things. He’s going to be great. It’s just a matter of time.”
Hornacek added: “He can do one of two things. He can whine about it and not try to get better or he could look at the positive side and say, ‘Look, I’ve got three great players in front of me that I can learn from every day in practice, from watching games and watching tape. When my time comes, I’ll be ready and having that advantage.’ I think that’s what he has done.
“He’s making great strides.”
For a guy who was a star at St. Benedict’s Prep, on the CIA Bounce AAU team and with Syracuse, it has to be hard not playing.
But Ennis maintains a positive outlook.
“I have to look at the bright side,” he said. “I get to play against Isaiah Thomas, Goran and Bled every day, get to ask them questions and learn from them every day. And I’ve gotten a lot better even since training camp.
“Just staying ready. You never know when someone’s going to go down or get hurt or get suspended, whatever it is, I just gotta be ready to play. You only get so many chances when you get your opportunity to play, so I just gotta be ready.”
Photo: Michael Chow/azcentral sports
