The Phoenix Suns have had one of the more interesting decades in the entire NBA. They went from a young team on the rise after making the finals in 2021 to going for it by trading for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal just a couple of seasons later.
That era was a complete disaster for Phoenix and they retooled last season with Devin Booker and a ton of defense around him. They were able to parlay that into a playoff appearance, which was not expected by many people.
The Suns did get promptly swept by the by the Thunder in the playoffs, but they seemed to be headed in the right direction. However, this season, they have not been able to build off it.
Phoenix has gotten off to a tough start, thanks to their defense
Defensively, this team has not been able to stop anyone. There is no resistance at the point of attack, the paint defense has been poor, and there are so many lapses off the ball. Devin Booker and Jalen Green are not the best defenders, which does lead to opposing backcourts having a field day against this team.
Offensively, this team has been better than expected, but there is a glaring lack of point guard. Booker is a natural two guard and he had some of the best seasons of his career when he had Chris Paul next to him. He has struggled the last couple seasons because he hasn’t had someone of that level to play off of. Booker is good as lead handler in stints, not for a whole game.
The Suns are also getting next to nothing from Miles Bridges in terms of spacing. There was no reason to trade for him, as he is shooting 22 percent from three and he and Dillon Brooks are very redundant offensively. They both thrive with the ball and love to slash and take fadeaways, but neither of them are volume three-point shooters, which is what they need.
Phoenix also sorely misses Mark Williams and Khaman Maluach has shown flashes, but is still very young, and did not play much at all last season. Maluach can be very good in his prime, but he is being asked to do a lot right now. It has led to the team having one of the worst defenses in the league.
The Suns have done all of this to themselves thanks to poor asset management and poor trades. They have time to right the ship, but it has not been an encouraging start to the year after all of the optimism they were able to build last season.
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