Inside the Suns – Topics: Missing the Play-In, Bradley Beal, the NBA Draft

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 – In your opinion, is it better or worse for the team not to make it to the Play-In games this season?

GuarGuar: It’s definitely worse because it’s not like we have our own draft pick. This team had no incentive to tank or lose this year so missing the play-in is even more embarrassing. Just a disaster from beginning to end this year.

OldAz: Probably better. This was a miserable season, and while I think they could conceivably have beat either Dallas or Sacramento in the first game, they would be just waiting for an embarrassing exit. Might as well put everyone out of their misery and get started on the off-season.

Rod: After the season we went through, I think it’s best that they missed the play-in tournament. Even that tiny amount of ‘success’ might have taken some of the edge off of the overall failure and convinced the powers that be to under estimate how bad the team really was. Lots of changes need to be made during the offseason and we don’t need anyone second guessing that even in a small way.

Voita: I had no problem with Phoenix missing the Play-In. This season felt like a nonstop beatdown. A relentless kick to the gut. I don’t want to live in a world where I had to experience any more of it.

In a way, it might be for the best. It puts a spotlight on the systemic issues within the organization. When you’re the only team not in the playoffs, Play-In, or even the draft lottery, it should send a loud and clear message about how bad things have gotten.

Q2 – Gambo recently said, “There’s a zero percent chance that Bradley Beal is back on this Suns team next year.” What are your thoughts on his statement?

GuarGuar: I’m very happy to hear that news from Gambo. Beal is a fine player (sometimes) but the main thing is he just doesn’t fit and he can’t play more than 2 weeks at a time it seems. He’s a negative defensively and his skillset is redundant with KD and Booker.

OldAz: Gambo is extremely well connected, but I can’t tell if he is sharing inside information or simply making a common sense observation like any other educated fan. Either way, this is a pretty safe bet. The only way he comes back is as a $50M backup for 15-20 minutes a game in a limited role. That’s a lot of money for a Cam Payne or Monte Morris type role.

I don’t blame Beal at all in this. He is what he is and seems to be a good dude who prioritizes his family and used his success to negotiate a contract he wanted. I blame the Suns brass 100% for making that deal. I won’t say they should have kept CP3 because no one was calling for this at the time, but in retrospect this would have been the right move. Beal needs to move on and whatever avenue the Suns pursue to make that happen is OK by me.

Rod: I recently wrote a lot on the Beal situation so I won’t go into detail on the options again here. While I’m not 100% sure that it will happen or how it might happen, I am 100% sure that the Suns will do everything they can to make it happen.

Voita: Praise be to God. While I’ve never faulted Beal the person, Beal the player is someone who will never be fondly remembered in the city of Phoenix. His availability. His inability. His duplicative presence. His acquisition was the worst thing that has happened to this franchise transactionally since not resigning Joe Johnson.

I spoke with Gambo about this an he assured me that both sides ore done with the relationship. Music to my ears!

Q3 – The Suns have a late 1st and a late 2nd round pick in this year’s NBA Draft. What type(s) of players should they be looking for with those picks?

GuarGuar: We should be looking for ATHLETES like Dunn and Oso. This team lacks athleticism and defense in the worst way. We need more quality defenders and guys who can switch 1-4 defensively. 3rd worst defensive team in Suns history. We need an influx of young defensive energy to begin to fix this mess.

OldAz: Easy, keep doing what they have done the last couple drafts but make sure you hold onto the players. Long, athletic defensive players who have some aptitude to contribute on offense with time and development. This is true regardless of what stars are left on the team, because this team has a severe lack of defensive intensity and talent.

Rod: First and foremost, they need height and athleticism. On top of that, they need to be high BBIQ defenders. They don’t need to be high-scoring players, but they do need to have some kind of offensive game to rely on. If KD is gone, the #1 priority should be getting the best power forward available when they draft as I doubt they will be able to get one in free agency and I’m not at all sure if they can get one back through a trade. I’m still hoping that they will bring Collin Gillespie back which would lessen the need of finding another point guard.

It’s a lot to ask for but I believe that to even put together a reasonably competitive team they will need to focus on getting bigger/longer, putting a better defensive team on the floor and filling the huge hole at power forward that they have next season.

I’m also hoping that they put a lot of effort into finding some solid undrafted prospects to sign and/or bring to Summer League.

Voita: Like most, I’m in the camp of targeting athletic players with a defensive mindset, guys like Ryan Dunn or Toumani Camara. A high basketball IQ is just as important, too, like what Oso Ighodaro brings to the table.

Odds are you’re not landing an All-NBA talent with the 29th or 53rd pick, but the goal should be to find prospects who can eventually grow into reliable rotational pieces that align with your vision. James Jones showed us what that vision looked like. Well, before a new owner came in and flexed his wallet instead of his cerebellum. Now it’s time for Jones to show us again.

As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!

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Rookie Report

Ryan Dunn – 19.1 mpg, 6.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.6 spg, 0.5 bpg, 0.5 TO, 2.2 PF, 43.0% FG%, 31.1% 3P%, 48.7% FT%

• Last Week – 28.9 mpg, 15.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg, 1.0 apg, 2.0 spg, 0.3 bpg, 1.0 TO, 2.0 PF, 45.3% FG%, 34.4% 3P%, 100.0% FT%

Oso Ighodaro – 17.1 mpg, 4.2 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 1.2 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 0.6 TO, 1.7 PF, 60.4% FG%, 0.0 3P%, 58.0% FT%

• Last Week – 26.1 mpg, 5.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.8 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.3 bpg, 1.5 TO, 1.0 PF, 47.8% FG%, 0.0 3P%, 50.0% FT%

Statistics courtesy of NBA.com.

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Last Week’s Poll Results

Last week’s question was “How many years do you think it would likely take for the Suns to get back into the WC playoffs if they start a complete rebuild this summer?”

32% – 5 years or less.

54% – 6 to 10 years.

14% – Over 10 years.

A total of 219 votes were cast.

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Suns Trivia/History

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Quotes of the Week

“It’s easy to look at that and say that trying a bunch of different lineups didn’t work, but if Coach didn’t try a bunch of different lineups, and keeping with the same lineups didn’t work, probably look back and say, why didn’t we try a bunch of different stuff.” – Grayson Allen

“I think that (making a culture within the team) is one of the steps that we skipped.” – Devin Booker

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Important Future Dates

April 19 – NBA Playoffs begin

May 9-11 – NBA G League Combine

May 11-18 – NBA Draft Combine

May 12 – NBA Lottery

June 25-26 – NBA Draft

July 1 – Free Agency begins

July 6 – Teams may begin signing free agents to contracts (12:01 p.m. ET)

July 10-20 – Las Vegas Summer League

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This week’s poll is…

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