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 – Can the Suns afford to wait until the trade deadline (Feb. 6) before making any roster changes?
GuarGuar: I think given our soft schedule the next couple weeks we could possibly hang on and wait and be okay. But this team is anything but stable at the moment and it’s very possible they dig themselves too big of a hole before a deal is made. The sooner the better!
OldAz: This will not be a popular answer, but of course they can wait as getting the right deal is more important than moving quickly. Their chances are really driven by the big 3 staying healthy either way and the 3-11 seeds are all so close that it is unlikely a couple weeks makes all the difference. On the other hand, the quicker they make the deal (assuming it has a positive impact on results) the more time they will have to integrate the new pieces.
Brrrberry: They couldn’t and luckily they didn’t have to. Without Nurk’s rebounding ability we’ve been getting crushed and really lucked out we’ve been in an easy part of our schedule. Getting trades done few weeks in advance of the deadline isn’t easy because the selling teams have more of an incentive to wait. There’s more to come but they made great use of that inflated Okogie deal. Rough math is Ishbia saves about 5-6 mil paying lower salary for final half of the season + lesser tax implications on that new salary.
Rod: Yes. At the moment, the Suns are almost half way through the season and I don’t believe that any mid-season trades are going to significantly improve the team between now and the end of the season, no matter how quickly they are made. If you’re thinking that a trade that brings Jimmy Butler could do that, well, I agree but I also won’t believe that is going to happen.
And if you want the Suns to blow it up, teams are usually willing to offer more in the offseason than at midseason, plus there will likely be more teams willing to make significant roster changes through trades than at the deadline which could start a fairly profitable bidding war for the better players being shopped. Whichever path the Suns decide to take, I don’t think jumping right into anything now will make much of a difference.
Q2 – As bad as the team has been so far, what would you consider it’s good points?
GuarGuar: The good points have really only been our rookies. Dunn and Oso breathe life into this no energy team constantly. I can’t imagine where we’d be without them which is crazy to say for two non lottery rookies. Dunn looks like one of the biggest draft steals in this franchise’s history and Oso looks capable of being a quality backup big for years to come.
Outside of those two it’s been really hard to see anything positive outside of that 9-2 start to begin the season.
OldAz: The time being given to and the development of the rookies. It has been a joy to watch Dunn and Oso get minutes and be given room to succeed and fail without fear of going to the doghouse for extended time. I would also say Okogie’s improvements have been nice to see, but that comes with the caveat that he is not getting enough minutes. It’s hard to think of much beyond that because the style of basketball really has devolved into slow boring uninspired play until this most recent stretch.
Brrrberry: Overall team good points there isn’t much. Individually it’s been Dunn and Oso along with James Jones smattering of draft picks around the league having success beyond their draft slot. I said prior to the season that Dunn was a better prospect than Mikal and that’s materializing. He’s going to be an elite role player, borderline all star in a few years just like Mikal.
Defensively the guys a menace and going to make a few all defense teams before it’s said and done. Offensively is where it’s getting interesting, namely the Mikal comparison. Dunn is playing 10mpg (33%) less than Bridges did as a rook and averaging less than 1 point (8.2 to 7.3), both 3.2rpg basically all counting stats Dunn is rating higher. Bridges also came in older with an extra season of college ball under his belt. Oso is going to be a glue guy we’ll use for years to come.
Great picks by JJ, idk where we’d be without these two rooks. Then you got Cam J putting up 20ppg on 50/40/90, Ty Jerome is the best backup PG in the league, Camara is starting for Portland and getting more minutes than Ayton. All guys this current roster could put to good use.
Rod: The two most obvious ones are Dunn and Ighodaro and I doubt I need to explain why. I also count Royce O’Neale as one of the bright spots on the roster as someone who can be effective both on offense and defense either as a starter or coming off the bench. He’s also leading the Suns in 3-pt percentage (42.8% on 5.7 attempt per game), the team’s 4th best rebounder (5.5 per game) and is 5th in assists (2.3 per game).
Even though the Suns still commit way to many turnovers at times, so far they’re 10th best overall in the league in TOs this year as opposed to 25th last season. I’d count this as a bigger plus if they were more consistant with their low TO games but at least they’ve made progress this year.
As EJ said last night, if the turnovers don’t torpedo the Suns, it’s poor rebounding. And I’d add that on really bad nights, it’s both.
Q3 – Do you think a trade swapping Nurk for Nick Richards will have a significant/large impact on the court?
GuarGuar: From an energy and IQ standpoint I think it would have a decent difference. But overall I don’t think it would move the needle that much. I get the Richards hype but Charlotte fans aren’t that high on him for a reason. He’s good in spurts but can also look bad in others…sound familiar?
I don’t know what the answer is but I’m not so sure it’s that.
OldAz: Not really. In fact I doubt it will be Nurk moved for a new Center any, which creates a logjam at the Center position that will be hard for Bud to juggle. I believe teams will be more interested in trading the Suns a center for JO, Bol, or some other more inexpensive piece. However, if Nork could be flipped for a center (Richards or otherwise) it would be only a subtle change on the court because the new player will only be marginally different from Plumlee and OSO (who should still get his minutes). It will still be up to Bud to balance those minutes and keep 3 backup centers engaged and pick the right matchups to put them in the starting (and closing) lineup.
Brrrberry: Richards is going to make impact in the areas we are weakest. Bringing in a starter plus a pick in this upcoming draft which is shaping up to be next level for a guy who wasn’t in the rotation was exactly the reason why Ishbia paid Okogie 2-3x more than his market value. So I’ll give kudos where it’s due how they employed that asset for its intended purpose.
I’ve got a feeling there’s considerable shakeup coming, some “wow holy shit” moves. I think the only way this roster wins even one playoff series is with that type of shakeup OR if we stay completely healthy and Dunn, Allen, O’Neale AND Richards play out of their minds beyond what they’ve ever shown. Everyone other than Book is readily available and this front office is stubbornly turning over every stone. Couple that with an owner who’ll cut any checks the CBA allows for and it’s going to be interesting times ahead. Expected the unexpected!
Rod: Even though it was Okogie that actually got traded for Richards, Nick is still going to take Nurk’s starting spot so in that sense it’s still “swapping Nurk for Nick”. I doubt the change is going to make a big overall impact because in certain areas he will likely be better while in others he would likely be worse. Richards is more mobile and athletic but only a slightly better shot blocker and a worse rebounder (looking at career per 36 and career per 100 possessions data). He has a significantly better FG% (64.9% vs Nurk’s 50.2%) but doesn’t have much of an outside shot beyond 10 ft (only 5.2% of his career FGAs were attempted from beyond 10ft, with only 4 3-pt attempts).
I could go on but I basically believe that the pluses and minuses would pretty much equal out with the best part being that Nick could boost the Suns’ scoring in the paint. Nurk – 61.5% within 3 ft of the basket, Nick – 75.2% (both percentages are career averages).
With all that said, I actually believe that still having Nurk on the team could pay benefits as he could be a very good asset coming off the bench in certain situations which could help the team out more on the court than moving him in the trade.
I certainly hope so because finding another midseason trade partner willing to trade for him while actually sending back at least one useful player in return isn’t likely to happen.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Rookie Report
Ryan Dunn – 20.2 mpg, 7.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.9 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.7 bpg, 0.4 TO, 2.4 PF, 46.6% FG%, 32.3% 3P%, 47.4% FT%
Oso Ighodaro – 16.9 mpg, 4.1 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.4 bpg, 0.6 TO, 1.7 PF, 56.9% FG%, 0.0 3P%, 58.1% FT%
Statistics courtesy of NBA.com.
Injury Report
Bradley Beal (Ankle) – Game Time Decision
Jusuf Nurkic (Illness) – Expected to be out until at least Jan 18
Last Week’s poll results
Last week’s question was “Do you believe that Beal’s massive contract is untradeable even if he waives his NTC?”
54% – Yes.
46% – No.
A total of 200 votes were cast.
Suns Trivia/History
Devin Booker now has 219 career games (including playoffs) scoring 30+ points and has passed Bernard King for 38th on the list of most 30-point games. He also now needs only 245 points to surpass Walter Davis and become the Suns’ All-Time leading scorer.
Against Washington, Ryan Dunn got his first career double-double while also setting new career highs in both points (18) and rebounds (11). He’s also the 1st Suns rookie to have a 15+ point, 10+ rebound game since Cameron Johnson accomplished it against Dallas in the Orlando Bubble on August 2, 2020.
The newest Sun, Nick Richards, was once Mason Plumlee’s backup during his time with Charlotte.
Quote of the Week
“It’s a long year. There’s a lot of going on in each individual’s mind. You never know what’s going on in these guys’ minds throughout the season. So, but I think basketball is kind of like our solace, our happy place. So, we come in here regardless of wins and losses sometimes, it’s like therapy to us. So yes, but it’s going to be ups and downs throughout the season, and we lean on each other, and that’s the great part about basketball and team sports. You got a brotherhood that you created in the locker room regardless of how the games finished.” – Kevin Durant
Important Future Dates
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…