Last season, the Suns entered with high expectations, expectations to win the championship. They had added Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal to the team and looked like they were ready to go back to the NBA Finals. Then they had a disastrous season, finishing 6th in the Western Conference and getting swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves. So as we enter the 2024-25 season, how should we view the Phoenix Suns?
After a 49-33 season that ended at the hands of a sweep, the Phoenix Suns knew they had to get better, though they had very limited resources to do it. In the draft, they added Ryan Dunn from Virginia at the 28th pick, this was after a trade back with the Denver Nuggets, and with the 40th pick they selected Oso Ighodaro from Marquette. In free agency, they added some veteran depth pieces to bolster the roster. Mason Plumlee replaces Drew Eubanks as the backup center and while I am not the biggest Plumlee fan, his defense leaves a lot to be desired, he should be an upgrade to Eubanks. Monte Morris is going to be a really good backup point guard for the Suns as they try to improve their bench. However, the biggest move the Suns made this offseason was signing Tyus Jones. Last season one of the biggest problems they had was a lack of point guard on the roster, now they have added 2 elite playmakers in Morris and Jones. Jones should slide into the starting 5, along with Booker, Durant, Beal and Jusuf Nurkic. The Suns offense was stagnant for a lot of times last season and that was a problem. Too many times was Kevin Durant just standing in the corner while Beal or Booker just dribbled the air out of the ball. Jones will make the Suns offense much more organized, his assist to turnover ratio of 7.3 led the NBA last season so he should be able to put Phoenix’s best players in position to be successful. Having someone to initiate the offense will boost the Suns a lot next season.
While Jones will help the Suns a lot, the key to Phoenix’s season is their 3 star players. Devin Booker is the player I am least concerned about. While he has missed games in the past he is entering his age 28 season and after playing 68 games a season ago, I think he is most likely of the Suns stars to be healthy. His play was as exceptional last season as ever, averaging 27.1 points a game and a career high 6.9 assists per game. Booker's scoring never took a hit while his playmaking increased. While his assists will likely take a hit this season seeing he no longer needs to be the point guard, according to Cleaning the Glass 91% of his minutes last season came at the point guard position, his scoring should remain in that 27 to 28 points per game area and I think he has a good chance to average a career high in points per game this season.
While I have more faith in Booker due to age and health, the best player on the team is Kevin Durant. Durant is coming off his healthiest season since the 2018-19 campaign, his last with the Warriors and he had a monster season. Averaging 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game, Durant did everything for the Suns last season, including protecting the rim as he led the Suns in total blocked shots at 91 and shots blocked per game at 1.2. The only worry about Durant I have is his health. Last season looks like an outlier, not the norm as Durant is going to be 36 years old this season and in the previous seasons before last year he played in 47 games, 55 games and 32 games over the 3 seasons. Ever since he tore his achilles and missed the entire 2019-20 season, Durant has been injury prone and while he was healthy last year, I think that was more of an outlier than what we should expect.
If the Suns could take back the Bradley Beal trade, I bet they would. Yet, they can’t so Beal and the 3yrs/$161 million left on his contract remain. Beal’s per game numbers were down a season ago, averaging 18.1 points and 5.0 assists but that is to be expected playing with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker. Beal also has not played 61 games since the 2018-19 season, so health is a major issue for the 31-year-old guard. It is easy to say the Suns need Beal to be better but what is better? 18 and 5 on shooting splits of a .51/.43/.81 is a solid season for a third option and Beal had career highs in field goal percentage (51.3%), 3 point percentage (43%) and true shooting (60.7%). I think it is fair to say that the Suns need Beal to be healthier next season but better? At 31-years-old, I am unsure of how much better Beal can be than last season.
The rest of the roster is solid. We already talked about Tyus Jones at the point guard slot and if Jones does start, it pushes Grayson Allen to the bench. Last season was a career year for Grayson Allen, 13.5 points per game on 46% from 3 point land, Allen will look to build off of last season whether he is a starter or coming off of the bench. Royce O’Neale was acquired from the Brooklyn Nets at the trade deadline last season and became a key piece for the Suns, which led to a new 4yr/$44 million contract extension. O’Neale is a solid defensive player who shot 38% on 3’s last season in 30 regular season games last season after the trade. O’Neale is not going to make or break Phoenix’s season but he can help them in a bench role. I am not a Jusuf Nurkic fan. An elite rebounder, Nurkic is not what many consider a modern big. He is not a rim protector and while he is a solid pick and roll player, he does not play above the rim and he can’t stretch the floor. His defense leaves a lot to be desired and his offensive game is not one that is great for 2024. The rebounding is important but I am unsure how important it really is. The Suns have a good basketball team but the Western Conference is loaded.
There are 4 teams in the West that have separated themselves from the rest of the pack. The Dallas Mavericks, Minnesota Timberwolves, Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets, to me, are the best teams out West and then there is a drop off. The Suns are in that tier 2 with teams like the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors and others. I just don’t think the Suns can compete with the elites in the West, which means that I don’t think they can win a championship.
The Phoenix Suns are one of the most interesting teams in the NBA this upcoming season. After last season’s disaster can they bounce back and if they don’t what comes next? New coach Mike Budenholzer has a big task with this team and I am interested to see what happens in the valley this season.
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