This season has been one for Suns fans to question so far. Currently standing with a record of 15-16, this team is sitting in familiar territory to last year. It wasn’t enjoyable for fans entering the new year of 2024, and here we are in the same spot. Unfortunately, some issues from last year have lingered over to this season. Even with a new coach and roster, we are seeing some problems come back to life, added with some new ones. This has left the fans confused about watching the team. This leads them to wonder what version of the Suns they are getting in that particular night. Let’s explore the Phoenix Suns issues this year.
3 Issues That Have Plagued the Suns Season
Frontcourt Dilemma
For the Suns, this has been their most significant issue. The team has four players who could play in their rotation in Jusuf Nurkic, Oso Ighodaro, Mason Plumlee, and Bol Bol.
Jusuf Nurkic is the starting center and has often been the most productive for this team. He has also missed eight games this season due to a multitude of injuries. The Suns also play better without him on the court which tells how bad of a fit he can be. In recent contests, he has passed up layups, fumbled easy passes for layups, and even got ejected and suspended for three games. This, added to his subpar play, has left the Suns with a hole in a pivotal position of need.
The Suns also have Plumlee, a veteran center who has been taking over for Nurkic when out of action. Plumlee provides some solid work as a backup, but at this time in his career, a starting job is too much of an ask.
Ighodaro is the Suns rookie who has shown promise on both sides and looks to be a bright spot here in Phoenix. The one thing he does lack is experience, and he will get that, but asking him to start is probably too much at this point. That leaves Bol, who has been injured and barely played at all. This has fans once again wondering why he was re-signed if the team never plays him.
Turnover Problems Still Linger
The Suns last year ranked as a bottom five team in assist/turnover ratio. Fans said this was the team’s biggest issue, and that it must be addressed. Tyus Jones and Monte Morris are two of the league’s best at controlling the offense and are on great deals. Like that, fans, including myself, thought the turnover issues would disappear. It would be better if Tyus and Monte ran this offense instead of Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. Well, that did not work out as well as we thought. They rank 12th in assist/turnover ratio which is better but still not great. These games with double-digit turnovers specifically have cost the Suns key games.
Inconsistency on Both Ends
The Suns lack of defensive effort has been apparent this season. The team doesn’t seem to have any interior presence in the frontcourt like we previously addressed. They lack perimeter defense as well. They have a solid wing defender in rookie Ryan Dunn, but when he was hurt, the Suns were not engaged on that side of the ball. This would be the cause of allowing so many third quarter blowouts and giving the Pelicans their only win in the last 44 days. This has been an evident evaluation of the season as they would rather outscore opponents and win that way.
Unfortunately, even on nights when they play good defense, the ball cannot find the basket. Could you look at their game against the Mavericks on December 27? The Suns scored 14 points in the second quarter. How does that happen when you have Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal alongside bench scorers? These types of inconsistencies lead the fans to question the product. Can this team win? What is needed to fix this? Is it even fixable? These questions linger within the fanbase due to the staggering play from the Suns.
The Final Scoop
The Phoenix Suns’ issues have led the fans to ask many questions. The team’s response in the new year will hopefully be the answer they all want—one that can solve these issues and show us a better product than what we see now.
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