Last season Phoenix Suns rookies not drafted in the first round started a combined 50 games for the team. This stat alone should illustrate why last season went the way it did. Throw in another 56 starts for Mikal Bridges, and 70 from Deandre Ayton and you are left with a grand total of 176 starts for rookies.
To put that in perspective, with 82 games and five starting slots there are 410 opportunities to start throughout the year.
Starting a rookie 176 times equates to just under 43% (42.9%) of the starting spots from last season being taken by a rookie.