We are back with another edition of the SneakerReporter NBA Top 30 team analyses, and since we are 29 days left from the start of the regular season, why not continue the countdown until the new season? Coming in at No. 29, we have the Phoenix Suns.
A team that’s missed the playoffs every year since 2010, the Suns have been perceived as the league’s laughing stock, a pit stop of sorts when staggering squads need to get back on the winning track during a road trip. But will a new GM with championship experience, new coach and revitalized system shows promise and brighter days upon the valley, or more of the same, mundane tank show that Suns Basketball has become over the course of a decade?
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29. Phoenix Suns (19-63) – Some Good Pieces, But Not Competitive As A Unit Just Yet
The Suns are intriguing.
One one hand, a team awash with first-round talent, veteran-filled frontcourt rotations, and a scoring maestro at the 2 (who you could make a case as being top 3 at his position in the entire league) just look like long nights to be had if you have a road game at Talking Stick Resort Arena, on paper.
But more often than not, the harsh reality is almost always on the hand you don’t want it to be on. Giving Devin Booker that $158 Million extension in the July of 2018 sounded like a good idea, because well, let’s face it, what superstar of that magnitude would want to stick around all that failure for their entire career without the compensation to boot? The Suns were obligated to bring the brinks truck just to have him stick around for what is continuing to be a decade-long rebuild.
And conceivably so, the Suns are entering a ninth consecutive year out of the postseason and have finished among the bottom-five teams in the NBA for four straight seasons.
Keeping Booker had no risk-averse effects on the Suns’ cap situation. They desperately needed a point guard and were able to get one, but not the most complimentary piece for Devin Booker, at least not right now. They spent a hefty sum on now ex-Jazz guard Ricky Rubio, getting the 3-year, $52 million deal done back in June, and schematically, it does not provide any major upside for the Suns’ guard situation.
The Jazz moved in a different direction when they traded for Mike Conley before the draft, leaving Rubio to hit the open market. Phoenix took him in, with the hopes that he will play in a less-restrictive system with the Suns, who will, more than likely, attempt to run more pick-and-roll plays, and occasionally feed Devin Booker off drive-kick sets.
Rubio’s inconsistency has been the biggest red flag, dating back to when he suited up for the Timberwolves, but what he is not is a liability. Through his incremental adjustments to improve his shooting, however, he finished 2018 averaging 12.1 points per game, off 40.4 percent shooting and 30.1 percent from downtown. Not awful, but not terrible either. What shouldn’t be left out is the fact that he has never finished a season in his career averaging less than 7.3 assists per game.
We all know the Suns as a backcourt-producing franchise, with some of the most legendary names to ever grace a hardwood floor donning the Orange and purple. And the Suns, nearly since the beginning of the century, have not had a hyped backcourt in quite some time.
Great guard factions in Phoenix, such as Penny Hardaway/Jason Kidd (remember that?) and Kevin Johnson/Dan Majerle shined and made a bunch of prognosticators believe the hype, and not predictably prophesizing that the pair of Rubio and Booker will immediately live up to those iconic names, but you never know how much chemistry the two will have once they hit the floor together for the first time.
The Suns actually have a favorable bench when it comes to guard play as well. Their 2019 first-round draft selections in North Carolina’s Cameron Johnson (who amazingly shot 45.7 percent from deep in 2018-19!) and Ty Jerome, who was almost Devin Booker-esque in displaying his shot-creating skill as a high-IQ ball-handler during his four years at Virginia, show a bunch of promise being added to a bench that, with the experience, is correctly building to compete in the west someday.
As a result of last year’s mid-season trade to dump Trevor Ariza’s contract, Kelly Oubre Jr., came over from the Wizards and signed a two-year, $30 million deal to remain in Phoenix. Oubre should look to be aggressive in his first full year in a Suns uniform and in the new system, Suns coach Monty Williams should expect Oubre and Booker to be consistent playmakers and contribute to an already guard-heavy offense.
And then, you cannot forget to mention DeAndre Ayton’s sophomore season in the NBA. The first overall pick a little over a year ago posted up some solid numbers as the primary big in Igor Kokoskov’s system last year. In 30 minutes a night, Ayton scored 16.3 points per game while posting nightly double-doubles. The 7-footer has certain intangibles you just cannot teach and those were definitely magnified, and partially displayed, during Phoenix’s dismal 2018 campaign.
Yet, it was increasingly evident that Ayton was mismanaged in his usage last year by playing the center position, instead of playing the power forward role in which he was most comfortable playing at since his Arizona days. As the center, Ayton rarely got to display his outside shooting strengths, something Suns GM James Jones urges the second-year big to do next year.
It is a topic of relevance to continue to develop Ayton’s inside game, but taking the training wheels is a must if they want their prized possession of a big man to grow into an eventual superstar to take some attention off of Booker.
Speaking of the Suns’ big man depth, the team made some impressive strides to acquire rim protection and pick n’ rollers who can create some mismatches down low. Some key additions: Center Aron Baynes (trade with Boston), Power Forwards Dario Saric (trade with Minnesota), Frank Kaminsky (free agent, was with Charlotte), and Cheick Diallo (free agent, was with New Orleans).
But at the cost of picking up these pieces, the Suns had to shed a couple of projects in former 3rd overall pick Josh Jackson (trade to Memphis) and Dragan Bender (signed with Milwaukee). What’s worse, was that they traded developing two-way forward T.J. Warren and the 32nd pick to the Pacers just to clear cap space. Hopefully, the third-year Villanova man Mikal Bridges will fill in for the first-rounder and match, or exceed his production as a former two-time national champion with the Wildcats.
There is a new identity for the Suns, and possibly brighter days ahead in a couple of years. But for the 2019 season, expect the same old hoopla of a rebuilding organization. It is not like the Suns have a bad team. They are reconstructing in the correct, healthy way while placing enough pieces on the floor to show some fight.
It’s just that, the entire NBA, and more specifically the Western Conference, now packed with even more competition than ever before, has gotten that good.
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