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Phoenix Suns: The strategy of the offseason
The “Big Three” of Durant, Booker and Beal could only hint at their potential and their championship aspirations last season, especially in the final quarters and in crunch time nothing came together for the Suns. With 49 wins they barely avoided the play-in tournament, but the Timberwolves suffered a 0-4 slide in the first round in the playoffs. Reason enough to break up the trio? No, because KD is the present, Booker is the future – and Beal is actually impossible to trade with his salary.
Instead, head coach Frank Vogel had to pack his bags and was replaced by Mike Budenholzer (previously Bucks). He showed with Giannis Antetokounmpo that he can win the title – okay, Vogel did that with the Lakers too – and should at least represent a significant upgrade offensively. If the stars accept his system, he can hope that last season has made them a little more humble. Prime directive: more threesomes! “If you look at the title teams, they’re top three in three-point attempts, goals and percentage,” Beal said. “To stay in the race, we just have to take more threes.”
Otherwise, due to the salary cap, only limited improvements could be made to the squad in the offseason – with one exception: in 23/24 the Suns were practically without a point guard, which took its revenge in crunch time. Now, in the offseason, a real development player, Tyus Jones, more or less fell into their lap. Jones excelled as a bench player in Memphis before averaging 12 points and over 7 assists in Washington last year. He could have gotten a lot more, but he wanted to play for a contender and went to the Arizona desert for the minimum. A real coup.
In addition, a few contracts were extended and the bank was upgraded. The team is becoming more and more expensive – there is currently a luxury tax of almost $190 million! – and is still not really deep, but should perform significantly better than last season. KD and Booker were able to show that they still have it at the Olympic Games, where they were among head coach Steve Kerr’s top six.
Phoenix Suns: The strengths and weaknesses
First and foremost, of course, are the stars. Kevin Durant shot lights out last year and, despite now being 36 years old, is still an All-NBA player. The same applies to Devin Booker – and Bradley Beal can of course also score against the third-best opposing defender. With Tyus Jones there is now a man who should provide organized offense, especially in the final minutes. And behind that, despite limited resources, they have built a squad that is eight to ten players deep and doesn’t fall apart immediately when a superstar has to take a break. Mike Budenholzer is also clearly a plus offensively, especially since on paper the team also has enough good three-point shooters to offer.
Defensively, you shouldn’t expect any miracles from the Suns. There is no lockdown defender at all in the front row, plus the stars have to want it too. And stay healthy: KD played 75 games last year and it is far from certain that he will stay as fit again at the same level. Beal, meanwhile, hasn’t played more than 60 games in a season in five years. The pressure on Budenholzer is enormous; he has to deliver immediately. And with Durant you don’t know when the next trade request will appear on your desk out of the blue…
