I’ve written in many places that the Phoenix Suns front office doesn’t understand how to properly build a contender. I said that they must be confused. What are they doing?
I’ve since watched the season opener vs the Golden State Warriors and here’s what I’m seeing (i’m breaking down the game currently). I’m watching it right now.
Bradley Beal has absolutely nothing to do with this teams weaknesses. Instead of acquiring Beal, this team should’ve targeted top notch role players to add much needed depth. Role players like the ones they gave up to acquire Kevin Durant (Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges).
At least when they traded Deondre Ayton, they got Jurkic back, otherwise, they might not have finished high enough to qualify for the playoffs. BTW…Ayton, for any faults, he’s still a legit center that’s about 3 years from the start of his prime & still averaging almost 20-10 last season (18.0 ppg – 10.0 reb).
What I see
This is even going to be worse than I first thought, what I had originally imagined based on my extensive basketball expertise. The Warriors had 18 offensive rebounds.
18 offensive boards.
The Warriors aren’t a big team at all. They didn’t have Draymond Green playing and really they don’t have any true centers. Golden State’s tallest player was 6’9 (Kevan Looney).
Some Golden State Warriors with offensive rebounds this game:
- Chris Paul
- Steph Curry
- Klay Thompson
Mind you, these weren’t the ball bounces out to the three point line à la Robert Horry – 2002, these were all legit offensive boards. If Kevan Looney (5) & Dario Saric (4) played the Phoenix Suns every game, in a few years they would be compared to Moses Malone.
Jonathan Kuminga had 3 offensive boards too.
What’s shocking is how miniature the Warriors are…wow.
No Point Guard will be an issue too
I love Devin Booker, the shooting guard. If the Suns plan to use him as the lead guard, that’s no good.
Top 2 Aspects to Winning Rings are Defense & Ball Protection…
Without Them…
How Many Points You Score is Irrelevant.
Booker isn’t a point guard and against the Warriors had 6 turnovers to go with his 8 assists. You want your point guard to have around a 3:1 assists to turnover ratio.
Chris Paul has one of the best ratio’s of anyone to ever play the game. This is extremely important come playoff time against a legitimate contender.
The Golden State Warriors are likely a first round out moving forward. I say likely because they could luck out and face a team with no experience like they did last season, facing the Sacramento Kings.
The depth issue
Overall team depth will be another major factor against the Suns and having any postseason success, except maybe in the first-round. Incomplete teams with major weaknesses and liabilities, they don’t win championships.
They don’t even get that close to the NBA Finals usually. This always ends the same way. There’s only one ball, when this Suns team meets a team with size and talent in the NBA playoffs, it’s over.
Bet the farm, the house, the children, and wifey on that.
