Your weekly Inside the Suns analysis straight from the BSotS community who live and breathe the team.
Welcome to Inside the Suns, your weekly deep down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.
Each week the Fantable – a round table of Bright Siders – give their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.
Fantable Questions of the Week
Q1 – For the season, the Suns are 21st in defensive rating. Last season they finished at 13th. What’s your take on why their defense so far is worse than last season?
GuarGuar: The biggest reason is the use of more small guard lineups this season. We are playing 3 guards basically at all times and sometimes even 4 in extreme circumstances. Booker has played small forward instead of shooting guard more this year than ever in his career. The lack of rim protection from Nurkic is still a problem too. Multiple factors but we just aren’t built to be a top 5 defense. I do expect us to be top half of the league come the end of the season though.
OldAz: My actual, reasoned, take on this is that they have not had enough time with all the main parts healthy to develop good defensive chemistry. They have looked really good at times but atrocious at others, especially when they don’t have enough size on the floor. I believe this will get a lot better as the season moves on.
My hot take during this terrible showing against the Pacers: There is something in the air in the Suns office space that causes smart basketball people to all have the same blind spot. It started with James Jones who thinks every roster hole can be filled by a shooting guard and evidently now has Bud benching his young, long athletic players for a backup PG when playing on of the longest teams in the league. (As I write this, he finally put Dunn in down 15 and having given up 90 late in the 3rd quarter.) It is not a hot take to suggest that size and length are still important in a basketball game.
Rod: Well, so far I have to say at least some of the problem is due to injuries. Even at his age, KD is one of our best defenders and having him out hurts. Some complain about Nurk not being a great rim defender but he does play very good positional D and he’s been out for 7 games as well as Dunn missing 4. With them out, the defense had to suffer some.
Then there’s also the issue of the Suns playing undersized too often. It’s harder to challenge shooters when they have a height advantage.
The third thing that I think plays a part is that the Suns often seem to be out-hustled on the court. I’ve seen them really hustle and play hard for spurts but it hasn’t been consistent and it’s seemed to especially drop off after they’ve gotten a lead. If you need a rest, signal Bud and rest on the bench, not on defense.
Q2 – Trade season is upon us. Which Suns player(s) do you think is most likely to be traded before the deadline and why?
GuarGuar: It’s extremely difficult to trade while we are above the 2nd apron. I think there is some smoke to the trade Beal rumors so I’ll go with him. I don’t know if the Jimmy Butler stuff is true but I’d make that swap in a heartbeat. It’s becoming kind of clear the team may function best with KD and Book surrounded by role players. Jimmy isn’t a role player but he has a way more natural fit than Beal does on this roster. At the end of the day though I don’t expect us to make any major moves.
OldAz: I really don’t think anyone gets moved unless it is the big deal involving a Butler and Beal. I know that’s not going to be a popular take, but the available players have a bad mix of their contract compared to their value to another franchise who has to also have a player that fits the Suns needs.
Nurk makes too much for his league wide value, and he would HAVE to be replaced with another center. That doesn’t work. JO can be moved, but his contract is worth more than he is in the trade and they don’t have trade assets to include except for that 1st which is too valuable for anything $8 brings you back. Allen is the closest, but you have to find a trade partner that needs Allen’s shooting at the guard spot, but has a surplus of big forwards that they can afford to send one back to the Suns in the deal. None of those make sense to me, unless Beal agrees to waive his NTC and Miami values that FRP in 2031 enough.
Rod: I’d say that it’s probably Grayson Allen. He’s not a player that I’d really like the Suns to trade but he’s a proven three point shooter that can start or come off the bench. With the emphasis on three’s these days, I believe that he could be one of the players that other teams might call about the most. His contract is just going to become even more reasonable in the future as the cap increases which is also a plus. I doubt the Suns will be shopping him but I think other teams will come asking about his availability and be willing to offer something of significant value in return.
Q3 – In just about 2 weeks, teams will be able to sign players to 10-day contracts. If the Suns still have an open roster spot at that time, do you think they should sign anyone to a 10-day and who or what type of play should it be?
GuarGuar: I’d look at signing either a nice sized wing player who could slot into the 3/4 spot when requested. It’s probably our biggest hole on this roster. We lack athletic wings outside of KD and Dunn. And KD is in his late 30s.
OldAz: Not really. They already have a surplus of dudes that could use playing time. Unless seats start floating during the game I don’t see why they need to pay someone to hold those seats down.
Rod: I really don’t think that they will be in a hurry to sign anyone to a 10-day unless they’re still having issues with injuries… and it that’s the case, who they sign would depend on which position needs the emergency help the most.
If injuries aren’t a big concern at that time, then I’d consider who is available rather than a certain position and probably concentrate my efforts on finding the best possible defender to give a shot to. More defense and especially more length would be a welcome addition.
If they do give someone a 10-day that soon, my best guess is that it might be to some young guy presently playing in the G League who’s been performing exceptionally well there recently.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Rookie & Two-way Players Report
Ryan Dunn – 17.2 mpg, 6.2 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.7 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 0.5 TO, 2.3 PF, 41.8% FG%, 31.2% 3P%, 41.7% FT%
Oso Ighodaro – 16.0 mpg, 4.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.9 apg, 0.4 spg, 0.3 bpg, 0.6 TO, 1.8 PF, 61.7% FG%, 0.0 3P%, 76.9% FT%
Collin Gillespie – 3.4 mpg, 3.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg, 0.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 0.0 TO, 0.0 PF, 50.0% FG%, 100.0 3P%, 0.0% FT%
Jalen Bridges – 5.5 mpg, 0.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 0.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 1.0 TO, 0.0 PF, 00.0% FG%, 00.0 3P%, 50.0% FT%
TyTy Washington Jr – 8.9 mpg, 2.7 ppg, 0.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.0 bpg, 0.3 TO, 0.0 PF, 50.0% FG%, 66.7 3P%, 00.0% FT%
Statistics courtesy of NBA.com.
Last Week’s poll results
Last week’s question was “Is the Suns’ Big 3 a failed experiment?”
60.6% – Yes.
03.8% – No.
35.6% – It’s still too early to pass judgement.
A total of 104 votes were cast.
Suns Trivia/History
On December 25, 1968, the expansion Suns made their national television debut on Christmas day on ABC. A season-high Coliseum crowd of 10,355 were there to witness the Suns 119-99 loss to the Lakers.
This year’s Christmas Day game against the Denver Nuggets will be the Suns’ 21st Christmas game for the Suns who are 11-9 all-time in those games. Both their biggest Xmas Day win and their biggest Xmas day loss came against the LA Lakers. In 1973, the Suns trounced the Lakers 135-100 for their biggest win (35 points) and in 1996 the Lakers defeated the Suns 108-87 in their biggest holiday defeat (21 points).
Quotes of the Week
“You know, there’s a lot that goes on. There’s ups and downs, it’s a game of runs, but that’s the season as well, there’s highs and lows of the season. So, as a guy whose kind of out in front, the team kind of goes how you go. So, just want to kind of set the tone of, always be even keel and just never get rattled, trying to just stay steady, trying to show up and do my job each and every night. Hopefully that kind of rubs off on the rest of the guys.” – Tyus Jones
“Everything starts on the defensive end. If we can be on the screen and on that side of the ball, I think everything else will figure itself out.” – Devin Booker
Important Future Dates
Jan. 5 – 10-day contracts may now be signed
Jan. 10 – All NBA contracts are guaranteed for the remainder of the season
Feb. 6 – NBA Trade Deadline (3 p.m. ET)
Feb. 14-19 – NBA All-Star break
March 1 – Playoff Eligibility Waiver Deadline
April 13 – NBA Regular Season ends
April 14 – Rosters set for NBA Playoffs 2025 (3 p.m. ET)
April 15-18 – Play-In Tournament
April 19 – NBA Playoffs begin
This week’s poll is…