The 14-23 Phoenix Suns are prime contenders for the Western Conference's coveted 8th seed
The Phoenix Suns are a 14-23 playoff team.
No team is as frustrating as the Phoenix Suns, and no player deserves to be frustrated more than Devin Booker. But if there’s any truth to the adages “numbers never lie” and “if it looks like a _____ and walks like a _____, it’s a _____,” the Suns will finish the season in playoff contention rather than preparing to make another questionable lottery pick.
First, the numbers:
9
At nine years, the Phoenix Suns have the second-longest playoff drought of any team in the NBA, trailing only the Sacramento Kings. The yearly routine of having the worst possible draft continued for Phoenix in 2019, dimming the future of the Suns even further than many thought possible after the darkness of selecting Dragan Bender, Marquise Chriss and skipping over what looks like will become one of the game's all-time greats.
However, even with all those failures, the Suns still have a shot at a bright future as long as their star shooting guard is on the roster.
7
Devin Booker has been playing like an MVP candidate over the last seven games, logging over 37 minutes a night and dropping at least 32 points.
However, the most impressive part of Booker’s seven-game stretch has been the part of his game that gets the least respect—his passing ability.
Despite his viral summer moment, Devin Booker‘s size, ability to shift gears and one of the best jump shots in the league, allow the fifth-year guard to buy time and operate through double teams better than most off guards in the NBA, resulting in a nightly 6.5 assists and a top-5 assist total among shooting guards.
Turnovers are still a large issue for Booker, as his 3.8 nightly turnovers is currently the fifth-worst in the NBA. In the past, Booker operating as the lone playmaking threat was a justifiable excuse for the turnovers, but this Suns team is different.
They can pass the ball.
1
In his first season as the Phoenix head coach, Monty Williams has instilled ball movement into a previously pickup basketball-esque offense. The Suns are currently the league leaders in every assist statistic.
Team assists per game, check. Potential assists per game, check. Assists to pass percentage, check. Assists points created, check. Percentage of team field goals made off of assists, check.
Williams has brought in a system of curls at the elbow, flex screens and pick-and-roll action that maximizes the strength of a diverse lineup. Big bodies like DeAndre Ayton and Aron Baynes naturally create space for the wing players to either come off their hip and pop out for the three or dive down for an easy opportunity at the rim.
Some credit should also go to the player racking up over a third of those assists—Ricky Rubio and his 9.3 nightly assists(2nd in the league).
Rubio sees every opening that Monty Williams' offense creates, and he sets his teammates up to do what they do best, whether it be a Kelly Oubre dunk or a three from Aron Baynes.
So why does this offensively gifted team with a top shooting guard, stellar coach, savvy point guard and skilled big men have a 14-23 record?
27
Statistically, the Phoenix Suns are the third easiest team to score against in the entire NBA, trailing only the tanking Washington Wizards, the thugs in Cleveland and the Charlotte Hornets.
A terrific on-ball defender, DeAndre Ayton has the highest defensive win share on the team, but he becomes either immobile or gets lost in pick-and-roll situations, when help defense is needed and when he has to hustle down the court.
24.49
The veteran Aron Baynes is the polar opposite of DeAndre Ayton on the defensive side of the ball; the 32-year-old big man's defensive win share totals are the lowest of any rotational player on the Suns, but a few seconds into any Suns game will tell a different story.
At an average age of 24.49, Phoenix has the youngest roster in the NBA, and it shows on defense. Baynes' time in the league has his defensive IQ miles ahead of his teammates, from the amount he communicates to the rotations that he does naturally and his teammates fail to pick up.
2.5
Any team can have the eighth seed in this year's Western Conference. The Warriors are the worst team in the NBA and are still at single-digits in the win column, yet they find themselves just nine games out of the playoffs.
The Phoenix Suns are currently 13th in the conference but are just 2.5 games away from breaking the nine-year playoff drought.
If the Suns can continue to maximize their offensive potential, follow the lead of their young star guard, and manage to shift from terrible to respectably below average on defense, it's hard not to imagine a really good, bad Suns team sneaking their way into playing come late April.
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