One thing every NBA team has to be thankful for on Thanksgiving: Phoenix Suns – Continuity
The Suns are the best team in the league that nobody is talking about. You’d think a 13-game win streak would get a little more notice, but maybe it’s better this way.
The Suns brought back their top eight players by minutes played from last season, and the continuity has had clear advantages. Remember last year, when Chris Paul and Devin Booker took months to figure out how to co-exist happily? Yeah, this year it took about four games.
Boasting a top-5 defense and a top-10 offense is a recipe for success, and the Suns’ lack of appreciable weaknesses means they have the flexibility to beat you in any sort of way.
I guess they could, like, hit the offensive glass harder? Get to the rim a little more? It’s tough to argue with the results of their approach so far.
The most amazing part about it is that they’ve done this through lots of off-court drama. The Deandre Ayton extension (or lack thereof) could have cast a pall on this team. The Robert Sarver report and ongoing investigation might’ve sunk lesser squads.
But the comfort they have with each other, the confidence that they can overcome all obstacles, has rendered those concerns meritless. This team was two games away from a championship last season and seems to have improved internally since then.
The best part is that nothing seems unsustainable, and if anything, the offense especially might improve once Chris Paul, Jae Crowder, and Cameron Payne remember how to shoot three-pointers.