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 - Devin Booker’s FG percentage and eFG% are his lowest since the 2017-18 season and his 3-pt percentage for this season is his 2nd lowest ever. What do you think is going on with Book?
GuarGuar: I’m probably the biggest Booker stan on Brightside and have been defending him for his whole career here so I’ll give my genuine thoughts about how I feel about Book right now. I am concerned but not close to panicking about Booker just yet. I choose to believe in his long term sample vs this 15-20 game stretch to start the season. That being said, I think he’s hurt in some way. He does not have the same burst or elevation since when he got “sick” during around that Kings game a few weeks ago.
He looks bothered that he’s gonna get his shot blocked and chooses very carefully when he’s gonna shoot. He is not the same athlete right now that we’ve seen the past 7 years. Now he just turned 28 so he should be entering his athletic prime so I’m just thinking something’s nagging him.
He’s faced a lot of attention with Durant out but it’s nothing he hasn’t seen his whole career. He has changed his shot selection significantly this year and I also think that’s been a part of the problem.
He’s significantly increased his 3pt attempts and reduced his midranges. It has not gone well for him to start the year. He’s trying to adapt Bud ball but Book is a rhythm player and he gets in rhythm by snaking pick and rolls and finding his midrange spots. He’s a great catch and shoot 3 pt shooter but historically is very mediocre at any other type of 3 point shot.
I believe in Book. I think he’ll get right soon and this will be something of the past.
OldAz: I think this is a combination of the new offensive scheme under Bud and the lack of consistent minutes among the big 3. In past years the offense was designed around getting Book open and there were lots of options to make that happen. In this offense, there seems to be an emphasis on ball movement so even with a good PG now available there are no sets and plays designed specifically to free up Book. This is fine when the stars are all healthy and available, and Books struggles in the early season were more about fitting into that new system and deferring when there was a better shot to be had. However, with KD and other bigs out this allows the other team to focus in on stopping him when the other players on the court are not as big of threats. In this recent stretch it has been easy to send a double with a bigger player because basically every big for the Suns is sitting in street clothes. The good news, however, is that when everyone is healthy the system appears to work pretty darn good and Book was starting to cook before KD went down.
Rod: I wish I knew. I have noticed that he seems less aggressive offensively than before and maybe a bit less explosive than before but perhaps that’s just me. I also don’t feel like I see the fire in him on the court like I used to see. I believe having him start at small forward just isn’t working out and may have something to do with it all. Bud should strongly consider moving Beal to the bench and giving Book back his SG spot.
Book’s shooting percentages are all down but he’s only averaged fewer FG attempts per game during his rookie season while his 3-pt attempt average is the highest it’s ever been. Taking fewer shots overall while shooting a higher percentage of threes just isn’t his game and I think it’s hurting more than helping the team.
Book needs to get back to doing what he does best, playing the way he plays best and Bud needs to give him the freedom to do it.
Q2 - Do you think that Budenholzer needs to make adjustments to the Suns offense?
GuarGuar: The offense overall hasn’t been much of a problem. We’re playing like a modern NBA offense most nights and that’s a step up from previous years. I wouldn’t change much about our offense except giving Booker the green light to shoot more midrange shots.
OldAz: Perfect question to pick up from where Question #1 left off. So if the system works just fine with a full squad, do you keep running it shorthanded or can you easily adjust that offense based on who is healthy? In the past, the Suns continued to run the same basic offense, but that offense was centered around the 2 man game so those changes were pretty straight forward. In this case it would take a completely different scheme and I am not sure what offense you run when your team lacks any real size along the front line and has absolutely no depth in the front court. I just don’t see what value there is to practicing and rolling out a different offense when KD, Nurk, and Dunn are all 3 on the shelf. They aren’t going anywhere in the short or long term with that much size unavailable to an already undersized team. On the other hand, if and when they get healthy this offense has looked very potent.
Rod: Yes, I think some adjustments are needed but nothing approaching a complete overhaul. As I stated above, Bud needs to adjust to Book rather than trying to adjust Book to his wants/needs. Book needs to be moved back to SG and Beal needs to come off the bench. When the two of them are on the court together, Book either has to play SF or PG because Beal can’t play as well as him at either of those positions... or at SG either for that matter.
When the 3-pointers aren’t falling, the Suns also need more structured plays aimed at getting the ball into the paint more often. Both Oso and Plum are pretty good lob targets (Nurk... not so much) and there should be more plays designed for cutters. Two points are always better than no points. Also, unless it’s a fast break opportunity, Tyus or Monte should always be bringing the ball downcourt and initiating the offense, not anyone else.
Q3 - If this team can’t stay healthy and/or make at least a fairly strong run in the playoffs (if they make them), what do you expect to happen when the offseason finally rolls around?
GuarGuar: If we don’t make a run this season I do expect us to blow it up and/or make massive changes. I think anyone would be on the table including Booker…who might want out as sad as that is for me to think about. He’d have the all time suns scoring record and if we send out Durant I think there’s a chance Book will want to leave. I can’t see us running back this same group for a 3rd year in a row if we don’t go farther this season.
OldAz: This is a tough question, is way too early to think about, and is just plain depressing to consider. Realistically, there simply won’t be many (any?) good options available if this comes to pass. The only saving grace here is how well KD has been playing because if the assumptions in this question happen and it is time to move on, the Suns only options will come from someone willing to trade for KD and pay the premium that typically comes from acquiring a player with of his stature and ability (even if he does have only 1 year left on his contract). Anything else will simply just be rearranging deck chairs so let’s hope they get healthy, stay healthy, and show how good they can be once the playoffs roll around.
Rod: If this team falls flat this season - for whatever reasons - I can’t imagine a valid argument for anything approaching ‘running it back’ in 2025-26. Last season, they started off with a long list of sub-par bench/rotation players, no point guard and an oft injured Bradley Beal. They vastly improved the bench, added two very good PGs this year and Brad’s at least stayed more healthy than last season for the first 23 games (15 of 23 this year vs just 4 of 23 last season) yet they have won 1 game less this year.
And KD missed 4 of the 1st 23 last season but the Suns still won 3 of those 4 but this season the Suns are 1-9 in games he’s missed.
There’s still plenty of time to right this ship this year but if they can’t get it done then they need to do something significant in the offseason to attempt to get back on the right track. If they don’t get their stuff together, they should be very active exploring every trade possibility during the offseason. I wouldn’t want to see them blow it up and start a complete rebuild but maybe taking a bit of an overall step back talent-wise might not be a bad thing if they could also get younger and add some more durable players to the roster. And the way to do that is by moving some of the top-end talent, not by just re-shuffling the bench, which might come down to taking the best bad trade option and attempt to make the best of it. We already know that it’s 99% probable that Tyus won’t be back next year and the Suns won’t be able to find (afford) a really good free agent replacement which is going to hurt even if they do bring everyone else back.
Getting under the 2nd tax apron also wouldn’t be a bad thing if possible.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Rookie & Two-way Players Report
Ryan Dunn - 17.8 mpg, 6.0 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 0.5 TO, 2.5 PF, 40.9% FG%, 31.0% 3P%, 25.0% FT%
Oso Ighodaro - 17.7 mpg, 4.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.1 apg, 0.4 spg, 0.3 bpg, 0.7 TO, 1.9 PF, 61.4% 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 “Which shot is your favorite?”
The shots.
92% - Vs Clippers.
08% - Vs Knicks
A total of 52 votes were cast.
Suns Trivia/History
On December 16, 2017, with Devin Booker sidelined with an injury, the 10-20 Suns defeated the 17-12 Minnesota Timberwolves in Minnesota 108-106. In this game the Suns’ bench outscored their starters 69-39. Dragan Bender and Troy Daniels led the Suns in scoring with 17 points each. Isaiah Canaan added 15 points and his 7 assists equaled the total number of assists by the starting 5. Alex Len added a double-double with 12 points and 19 rebounds. T.J. Warren led the starters with 15 points on a 4 of 14 (28.6%) shooting night while making 7 of 8 from the FT line.
The starting unit went 0-7 from three while the bench was 11-17 (64.7%). Every single bench player’s FG% was .600 or above while only Josh Jackson (4 of 9, 44.4%) shot above 30% for the starters. On this night the Suns bench led the starters in every single statistical category except offensive rebounds (7-6 in favor of the starters).
Karl-Anthony Towns led all scorers with 28 points (plus 11 rebounds) for the Timberwolves. Taj Gibson also had a double-double for Minnesota with 18 pts and 10 rebs.
Quote of the Week
“We’re not playing a complete 48 minutes. I think we’re playing good enough to win, but we’re not playing a full 48.” - Tyus Jones
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...
Poll
Is the Suns’ Big 3 a failed experiment?
0%
Yes.
(0 votes)
0%
No.
(0 votes)
0%
It’s still too early to pass judgement.
(0 votes)
0 votes total Vote Now