It is time to publish the NBA 2023-24 Phoenix Suns preview. Data, results from the previous season, a look at their squad and their future free agents, the objectives of the course, the player to follow and a prediction about the franchise.
Phoenix Suns
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Market movements: Transfer of Bradley Beal, additions of Drew Eubanks, Keita Bates-Diop, Chimeze Metu, Yuta Watanabe, Eric Gordon, transfer of Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little and Grayson Allen (here all the movements)Backcourt: Devin Booker, Jordan Goodwin (no garantizado), Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen, Eric Gordon, Josh Okogie, Keon Johnson, Damion Lee, Saben Lee (two-way).Frontcourt: Kevin Durant, Nassir Little, Keita Bates-Diop, Yuta Watanabe, Ishmail Wainright (not guaranteed), Bol Bol, Jusuf Nurkic, Drew Eubanks, Chimeze Metu, Udoka Azubuike (Not guaranteed)two-way).
This is how they face the season
It is usually said that, after a big trade like the one the Suns made for Durant in February, the decisive season is not so much the first as the second. With a movement like this in the middle of the year, it is easy for the squad to become somewhat unbalanced, so it is in the second year that the situation must be evaluated, since that is when the management has had time to restructure things in the free agency and to get pieces that complement the star that has been brought in. And that’s what Phoenix has done… in some parallel universe.
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Because in ours they have doubled the bet, they have incorporated Bradley Beal and have given rise to a project of extremes. One with a heavy artillery without comparison but built at the cost of sacrificing several positions, which makes it inevitable to ask what will weigh more when push comes to shove.
First of all, it is important to avoid being cynical when analyzing this project, because in the face of this type of somewhat unbalanced bets it is very easy to act clever, focusing much more on the negative than the positive. There is always someone who says it’s great that the 73-9 Warriors signed Durant but be careful with the second unit because it’s a little lame, but let’s avoid denying that the pros are far superior to the cons on paper. With this Big 3 the Suns, barring disaster, will fight for the ring. But, let’s be fair, with this Big 3 it is no longer enough to just fight.
Durant, Booker and Beal are three of the best scorers in the league, and while there may be questions about how much they will overlap, the truth is that they are far from one-dimensional players. All of them have been in different squads in which they have had to share the ball more or less, and all of them have also shown to have ability as passers that allows them to generate for their teammates if the rival defense focuses too much on them. Offensively, it’s hard to have any qualms with this squad. In other respects, it is not so much.
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The base is…
…whoever has the ball at that moment. Because what is called a pure base, the closest thing there is on the roster is Jordan Goodwin, who does not have a guaranteed contract and may not even continue when the season ends. training camp. So one of newcomer Frank Vogel’s first jobs is to see how he adjusts his rotation to fill this hole.
On the face of it, Beal and Booker sound like good patches but it remains to be seen if they are good definitive solutions. Both have had to act as such at some point, but it is neither their usual position nor the one that a priori most allows them to enhance their virtues. Rumors suggest Bradley will start in this role, but hopefully we’ll see testing and adjustments as the team greases the wheels. And if these don’t work, you still have to look at the market in February.
inner fragility
The center position is not so empty, but it is certainly not much busier. After the departure of Deandre Ayton, Jusuf Nurkic and Drew Eubanks will be responsible for the interior work of those from Arizona, who have overcome a problem but it is not clear that they have done it in the best possible way.
On the one hand, at this point releasing Ayton was necessary even if it is considered a lesser evil. The center seemed out of the team dynamic and the feelings around him had been anything but positive since the 2022 playoffs, which made it inevitable to find a replacement for him before generating a crisis in the locker room. The problem is that this replacement makes the squad worse. And if not the squad, because the arrivals of Grayson Allen and Nassir Little provide necessary depth, they certainly weaken the inside game.
Because Ayton, with his shortcomings, was still a player with a great ability to make room under the rim and finish, with a good shooting range, and who guaranteed a significant number of rebounds per game. Nurkic, for his part, has not been the same since his injury in 2019 and is a man prone to physical problems, while Eubanks has had interesting performances as a base player but it seems difficult to demand more from him.
This is especially relevant in a conference in which Nikola Jokic plays, who five months ago averaged 34.5 points, 13.2 rebounds and 10.3 assists against the Suns and was responsible for being eliminated in a very painful way for the second year consecutive. And if they want to exact their revenge this time, they will surely need more than offensive artillery.
The defense
And, even with all these doubts, Phoenix is going to work well in attack. It is impossible not to be like that. How will it work at the back? Surely there lies the key between being a great team or being a champion team.
Frank Vogel has always been a coach who has shined in this matter, and in fact led the 2020 Lakers to the ring with the third best defense of the season as a pillar. This time, however, he does not have any Anthony Davis on which to base his system, and in fact the men who could serve as specialists may not even be part of the starting quintet, which will force him to invent a way to be solid back so that the brilliance in front prevails.
The player to watch
Durant arrived in February to make this team a contender for the ring. But the reality is that when push came to shove, not only were they far from standing up to the Nuggets, but they were painfully beaten. And Kevin was precisely one of the men who was missed when everything was at stake.
Although the numbers hide it a bit, the forward was not the differential player that he could and should be during the fifth and sixth games of that series, and although it is difficult to blame him alone, it does seem clear that he will start the year with a thorn that take off. After not being able to lead the Nets loaded with talent to the ring, he once again finds himself as the most prominent head of a Big 3 also considered for the greatest of successes or the most painful of failures, and it is difficult not to consider him the man to follow even if Booker has been the face of the franchise the longest or if Beal is the most recent addition.
We already know that the points will fall out of his hands in the regular season, so it will be in the playoffs when we have to look at him with a magnifying glass. Because if he is left in Devin’s shadow again, these Suns might not be as dangerous a team as we assume.
NBA Preview 2023-24 Phoenix Suns, prediction
Elio Martínez, director of nbamaniacs, leaves a personal and subjective forecast about what he thinks each franchise will do during the season in the previous NBA 2023-24.
The projections with this team must be very high. It is such a radical project that it can almost be guaranteed that every year of the next two or three that they do not win the championship will be a failure unless they come one step away from doing so. Beal, Durant, Booker and company. Vogel’s arrival is supposed to be accompanied by an improvement in defense, but it remains to be seen if all this will allow them to overcome a team led by Jokic. Prediction: 54 wins.
Next team: New York Knicks.
(Cover photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
2023-10-12 13:00:00
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