What is krak Lack and Bellow thermonuclear a efforts. I am Dan fa Valley
coming at you with a snippet of a podcast that will go live on Monday.
But I had such a good conversation with Brian to Porik of Bleacher Report.
We went through our biggest questions we have for the rest of the season
post trade deadline, basically just focusing on teams that we find the most fascinating
or some bigger picture stuff. One of the questions is who's the second best
team in the East. That's not what you're about to hear. We're going
to talk about some Phoenix Suns. That was one of his questions. I
just wanted to give you a little preview of it. The full thing will
be going live on Monday, YouTube across all podcast platforms. Appreciate all the
support as always, but enjoy this discussion between Brian and myself about the Phoenix
Suns. Are we overlooking the Phoenix Suns? I mean, first of all,
and they might dovetail just because of the move they made with the one
of the other teams that had my list. I kind of feel like,
yes, it just like you look at the issues they've had and they're real
issues. But like the turnover stuff, when you have your big three,
it's not as prevalent through most of the game. Fourth quarters have been in
issues. We've seen defenses blit them, blitz them, but you know,
it's been a bigger issue for them in fourth quarters. Nobody hits a wide
open jumper. They still generate them, but they shoot. And I've mentioned
this now, I think like three times they have an effective field goal percentage
of above sixty three on wide open jump shots outside ten feet through the first
three quarters. That number drops to dead last in the NBA at about forty
six in the fourth quarter. That's like Grayson Allen turns into a pumpkin,
like Bradley Beal has struggled at points. But I look at this team,
everyone not everyone. A lot of people thought they needed a point guard.
I think they picked Royce O'Neil's not super athletic. I think they picked the
right need, which was let's get another someone who like, look, let's
be honest, use off nerd Kic has been good, Grayson Allen has been
good. Eric Gordon has had his moments. But there's a chance that we
look back at the trade deadline and say, did the Sun just acquire their
fourth most important player? Like, that's how good of a fit Royce O'Neil
is, And so I think they just checked that the right box, and
so like, are we overlooking them in the sense of could they win it
all? I think we are because if the caveats just well, are their
three stars need to be available? Well, no shit, And so it's
just like we can't write them off because of that Caveat other rise, we'll
be writing off the Clippers right now, right right. I mean, Beal
has missed so much time this year, and even Booker and Durant missed a
couple of games here or there, so we haven't seen them at full strength
all that much this year. It's gotten much better as of late, but
no, I'd say really for the first couple months of the season, it
was like, Okay, Beal's back, but Kg's out, Kg's back,
Booker's out, Booker's back, Beals out. So it just felt very inconsistent.
But I mean, they're only five games back of the one seed right
now. Over the last month, I think there are twelve and three ye
and they you know, they're playing like they played the Blazers, the Bulls,
the Nets, the Wizards, So woohoo, I'm not gonna go celebrate
that. But they've also beaten in that stretch the Sacramento Kings, the New
Orleans Pelicans, the Indiana Pacers, the Dallas Mavericks, the Miami Heat,
the Milwaukee Bucks. So no, yes, I'd like to see them prove
it against the top tier contenders they've got. Okay, see in Denver in
a three and four nights stretched Houston and then okay, see the back to
back and then then at Denver two nights later at the beginning of March.
So that'll be fun. But like that might be a good litmus test for
them. But I mean yeah, I mean, like, if you have
Kevin Durant and Devin Booker alone, we saw how potent those two guys could
be in that series against Denver last year. Now you add Bradley build of
the equation, you add these other guys, Like, yeah, they they
lost some of their depth that they acquired this offseason in the trade to get
Royce O'Neil. That's okay. I mean we knew from the moment they went
with this Big three cGy they were going to be very very top heavy,
and they were gonna have to lean on you know, they're probably gonna cut
to like a seven or eight man rotation in the playoffs, and that's they
just got someone who's definitely going to be a part of it too, which
you could not say about any of them, like you don't want to be
already wasn't really playing, so like you couldn't say that about anyone that they
sent out. Yeah, like caindidates job is probably the best one of the
four, And I mean I think they got Josh at home. They have
the offensive liability wing defender there, you go right exactly, and now,
yeah, you have a rights O'Neil who should be a plug and play fit
there. So you know, I think they it's similar to Okay see,
like their move is gonna fly under the deadline because everyone's so busy falling over
themselves trying to praise what the Knicks did and trying to make fun of the
Chicago Bulls and the Lakers and the Warriors. But I think the Sun's got
notably better yesterday. And you know there's this focus on Minnesota, Denver,
Okay See Clippers, because the standings are all still bunched at the very top
of the conference, but Phoenix is just lurking there, like, hey,
guys, you do remember that we have Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and
Bradley Beal right, like we are still a championship kid Dender as well.
And there's there's two variables that I think once in favor of the Suns,
and one isn't like the one that's in favor of them is like Bradley Beal
has and this because he missed some time and I think he was always going
to be the player that needed to adjust more. He's had to make more
adjustments and he struggled at points, but to his credit, he hasn't really
tried to like deviate from the script. And there are just moments when you
can see it work and see it clicking and how this is all supposed to
colaise together. So they're gonna get better some They might get better on offense,
is my point. A team that over their last thirty games I think
has is like fifth in offense or their their fourth in offense over their last
thirty games, and I don't remember what they were overall on the season,
sixth for the season now the one that I have questions about, and you
watch them and you don't understand it. You dig into the data and you
start to understand it, and then you wonder if it holds up in the
playoffs. They're just hovering around league average on defense despite not necessarily having the
personnel to do so. And then you start to look at it, it's
like they haven't really gotten too lucky on opponent three point shooting. They haven't
gotten like teams aren't hitting mid range jumpers against them. But that's like not
the hugest deal. And then you look, you look, it's like they're
not a good defensive rebounding team overall. Some of their lineups can be,
but just overall, they're not their backup big situation is traditionally a mess like
Drew Eubanks might decide to play well for two or three games at a time,
but that's about it. And yet they're a team. And I think
we people started to come onto this with the Denver Nuggets last year. If
your league average defensively put your super ultra elite on offense, you can win
the title. My issue with the Suns and they address is a little bit
with Royce O'Neil just a little bit. Is Dever always had like some of
the individual defenders, Aaron Gordon specifically, they had Bruce Brown last year,
and now they have you know, Peyton Watson in sort of a stay.
You look at them and said, like they could you could see the theory
of what they were going to do on defense at the highest level. And
then you also got you know, Jamal Murray turns it up a notch.
And the Sons have that with Devin Booker, like they're kind of like Jamal
Murray, He'll kick into the next year, especially in one on one situations.
The Sons don't have their Aaron Gordon. They don't even have their Michael
Porter Junior, who during the playoffs last year, like and you don't need
to listen to his opinions on the WNBA. I'm talking strictly about it.
Like he comes in and crashing the glass, he's defending his ass off,
he's like making good health rotations. I don't see that on this team necessarily.
And so I sort of questioned whether when they're going up against teams that
are and I'm not smart enough to know the answer to this. I'm honest,
I'm genuinely just asking this question. When teams are gonna be able to
game plan for them in a best of seven series, do we see some
pullback from a defense that I would say, overall and especially relative to the
personnel that they have, has overachieved and is in a spot where you're like,
like, if you just take the defensive returns at face value, which
again, there's nothing that stands out that said you can even One of the
things I thought about watching them is their offense is so good. They get
set like that helps, but like they get back after committing a turnover or
missing a shot, like, so they have that in them. And so
you look at these results and if you told me they're just the fourteenth or
fifteenth or sixteenth the best defensive team in the league and that that'll hold up
in the playoffs, we are absolutely sleeping on the Phoenix Suns. I'm just
wondering, and I think we overall are sleeping on them. I'm just very
curious to see whether that type of league average play can hold up in the
playoff crucible. Yeah. Absolutely, And I think even if it can't,
there is low hanging fruit for them to address on offense. But it's fair
to wonder if they're ever going to do it. That they are twenty sixth
and three pointers attempted per game, they are twenty fourth and three point rate.
I mean, four of their five best shooters are shooting thirty eight percent
or higher from three point range through one exception being Bradley Beal, who's at
thirty six point two percent. So they have five very good three point shooters
on the team and yet they are taking the fifth fewest three point attempts per
game. So even if the defense does backslide, I'm not saying they need
to be the Boston Celtics and fire up almost fifty three is a night that's
like, But I think there is a better balance that they can find between
you know, the mid range shots that especially Kadi and Bookers a lethal line
and can we stretch the floor a little bit more? And I think Royce
O'Neil might help in that regard as well. Yeah, he definitely will,
because right now they only have one player attempting more than six three pointers per
thirty six minutes, and that's just like even Grayson Allen's under six attempts per
thirty six minutes, and that's like Grayson Allen buddy like that should probably be
on a permanent basis, that should be up near ten. I feel like
like you're shooting almost fifty percent from guy like this is your only role on
offense, and I will say, there's room, and we've seen it.
I think for Devin Booker's volume to climb there because I think, I mean,
he's when you look at it, just like three points splits for his
career. He's definitely like first team. All his shooting form makes you think
he's had a forty five percent from three season when he really hasn't. But
like I do think the extra volume is probably gonna need to come from a
bal or a KD just because like they're so low, they're barely a Katie's
not even at five attempts per thirty six minutes. And look it's an oversimplification,
but we just went in detail and all this other stuff. The math.
Sometimes the math is gonna matter. Yeah, And so when you're you're
a team what I think is good about them, We'll see if it holds
in the playoffs. Okay, you're a team that despite not putting a ton
of pressure on the basket, like you're going to get to the foul line.
They're actually second in free throw attempt rate on the season, which is,
you know, when you consider where they rank as a team when it
comes to the share of their shots that just come at the rim. Uh,
they're actually seventh. I didn't realize they were that high up my reading
that role. Oh that's curious. I knew. I was. I was
like, uh, maybe you don't watch anything. They're twenty five. Okay,
yeah, they're twenty fifth, and the share of their shots that come
at the rim. And so if that holds into the playoffs, is it
harder to draw the shooting files when it's coming from the perimeter. The guys
are talented enough that maybe it doesn't matter. But that's also a fair question
as well. But you're right, roysn't Neilli at least help with the three
point volume for sure? Yeah. I mean, like, I'm not saying
I'm picking the Suns to win the West by any means, but I don't
heard aggregators. There you go, there you go. But I mean it
like if you held a gun to my head and said it's Minnesota versus Phoenix
in the second round of the playoffs. I don't know your face just said
it all. Yeah, it's tough for me to pick against the team with
Kevin Durant, Devin Booker. Maybe it's too sip like, maybe I'm just
lizard braining this, but and they would definitely, I think they would try
to like style the shit of the series and just say, you know what,
Kevin Durant's gonna play more five and we're gonna see what that does to
their dou A big setup. And yeah, they goes back to my concern
by Minnesota, and like all of these other teams, I think are gonna
have a little bit more ability to change their identity.