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 – Complete this sentence. With KD and Beal sidelined, this Suns team is…
Brrrberry: With Beal and KD sideline it’s pretty apparent that we’re not a playoff team in the West. I said that was the case prior to the season so it’s not surprising whatsoever that we’ve struggled though I have been a little miffed at Booker’s solo performance. It’s almost as if he forget what it was like to do IMMENSE amount(s) of carrying like he did his first 6 full seasons. I’m sitting 10th row behind the Suns bench tonight against the Nets so I’m sure as shit happy that I get to see the contender version and not what’s transpired the last 6 games.
Rod: A borderline play in team… at best. Even with a large supply of really good role players, one star teams aren’t going to really compete in the NBA anymore. Without Beal and KD I put this team on pretty much the same level as the 2019-20 Suns (minus the Bubble run). While it was differently constructed, it was basically Book and a better collection of role players than the Suns teams had in the 3-4 years before it. While that team gave us hope for the future, this team – minus KD and Beal – is just a disappointment.
Q2 – Do you believe any of the past 5 losses (Sac, OKC, Minn, Orlando, NY) could have been wins if one of KD or Beal had been healthy and available to play?
Brrrberry: We’d have won them all. This roster, when fully healthy, is one of the best teams in the league.
Rod: I definitely believe we would have won the Minnesota game with either one of them back on the court and maybe the Sacramento game since the Suns played them pretty close through the first half before letting the game get away from them. Also the Orlando game might have been winnable as the Suns were only badly outplayed during the 2nd quarter of that one and never could manage to make up the difference afterward. The other two, I doubt having just one of them back would have accomplished more than decrease the other team’s margin of victory on the scoreboard.
With both of them out, the Suns’ margin for error becomes extremely small. With one of them out, it obviously becomes better but is still not great unless one or more of the role players has an exceptional game. Even with everyone healthy – as we saw in the Brooklyn game – this team cannot afford to play sloppy and/or shoot itself in the foot with turnovers.
Q3 – Even in their wins, some fans have complained that they have yet to play a “complete game” (play hard/dominate through all four quarters). Do you consider this a legitimate concern?
Brrrberry: We’re 10-1 in games where at least 2/3 of our best players are healthy. Tuesday night’s Lakers game and one other game earlier where we won all 4 quarters were really our only complete performances thus far. It’s not a concern to me on any level because I expected 15-20 games of the full roster together and a new coaching staff/system for their to be some growing pains.
All that matters is stacking wins, especially in a loaded conference like the West. The playoff games are all going to be tight anyhow so being able to win close games is definitely a “skill” you want your team to have. The “complete game” performances will come more often as the season progresses.
The Lakers game was an example but some could argue we didn’t have a great 2nd quarter and therefore the performance wasn’t complete. When you can have a tie game and go on 24-6 runs against good teams like the Lakers with 2/3 guys coming off injury, the sky is the limit for this team if they can just stay relatively healthy.
Rod: It would be great to see it happen regularly but I just don’t see it as a really big reason for concern. It’s very hard for any team to win every single quarter of a game these days. What I’m more concerned about is the reason/reasons why this team seems to lack the killer instinct at certain times which leads them losing certain quarters… and games.
If they’re putting in the effort and the other team just gets super hot (especially from three) and they just get outplayed, well, that just happens sometime and there’s not much you can do about it. If it’s the result of sloppy play and/or a lack of effort, that bugs the hell out of me. I’ve seen both happen to the Suns so far this season and with the West as tough as it is they can’t afford to slack off at all.
If the effort is there, then the final score is all I care about.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Rookie & Two-way Players Report
Ryan Dunn – 18.0 mpg, 6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 0.5 TO, 2.5 PF, 41.0% FG%, 31.9% 3P%, 16.7% FT%
Oso Ighodaro – 15.2 mpg, 4.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.4 spg, 0.3 bpg, 0.6 TO, 1.8 PF, 61.5% FG%, 0.0 3P%, 81.8% 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 “What’s your opinion of the two potential NBA rules changes?”
12% – I like them both.
17% – I like the free throw rule change but not the OT change.
08% – I like the overtime rule change but not the FT change.
63% – I dislike them both.
A total of 156 votes were cast.
Suns Trivia/History
On November 28, 1975 Suns rookie Alvan Adams recorded his first career triple-double (17 pts, 10 rebs, 11 asts plus 4 steals) in a 110-101 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. Alvan would record four more triple-doubles during the 1975-76 season on his way to earning Rookie of the Year honors and a trip to the All-Star game.
Adams played his entire NBA 13 year career in the Valley. His 13 season and 988 regular season games are the most of any player in franchise history. His career total of 6,937 rebounds is still 1st while his 13,910 points and 4,012 assists are both 3rd all-time.
One record that Alvan has doesn’t show up in the record books though. He had a reputation for being the biggest eater on the team and seemingly had a bottomless pit for a stomach. The record? One night in Buffalo – just 24 hours before a game against the Braves – he ate 47 chicken wings. What happened the following evening during the game? He scored 47 points… and added 18 rebounds, 12 assists and five blocked shots, one shy of what would ultimately be the career highs in each category for his entire career.
Quote of the Week
“Everybody who steps on this court, puts a jersey on, we’ve gotta respect a little bit more.” – Kevin Durant on playing defense
Important Future Dates
Dec. 3 – Emirates NBA Cup Group Stage concludes
Dec. 10-11 – Emirates NBA Cup Quarterfinals
Dec. 14 – Emirates NBA Cup Semifinals (Las Vegas, NV)
Dec. 17 – Emirates NBA Cup Championship (Las Vegas, NV)
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
This week’s poll is…