Point God of The Valley
After having a stellar season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, CP3 now finds himself in Phoenix with Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. Here’s why it’ll be beneficial for both Paul those young guys.
When Chris Paul was traded from the Rockets to the Thunder for Russell Westbrook. Most people decided to write him off, they wrote off the entire team. The media gave the Chris Paul led Thunder only a 0.2% chance of making the playoffs.
Bad move.
Not only did the Thunder make the playoffs, but they finished with a record of 44-28. Good enough for the 6th seed, and to make things more awkward, they would go up against the Rockets in the first round who had the same exact record with James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
Chris Paul being the “Point God” that he is averaged (17.6 PPG, 6.7 APG & 5.0 RPG) in his 15th season, but not only did he do that, he managed to once again make those around him better. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (19.0 PPG, 3.3 APG & 5.9 RPG) and Dennis Schröder (18.9 PPG, 4.0 APG & 3.6 RPG) helped Chris Paul form a three headed monster of “do it all” guards. Under his tutelage, Dennis would finish second in 6th Man of the Year voting and SGA would up his scoring output by almost 10 points and become more and more confident throughout the season and in the bubble as the Thunder took the Rockets to seven games, but ultimately losing in the first round.
Chris Paul’s success with the Thunder is EXACTLY what you will see in Phoenix.
Devin Booker who as a first time All-Star this past season averaged an astounding (26.6 PPG on 48/35/91) shooting splits, and the first pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, Deandre Ayton who is often overlooked because of the play of Trae Young and Luka Doncic averaged (18.2 PPG, 11.5 RPG & 1.5 BPG on 54% shooting from the field.
The “Bubble Suns” went 8-0 in scrimmage games, but could not grab the 8th seed in the playoffs, regardless, this young team showed lots and lots of potential and have finally seemed to have found the right Head Coach for these guys in Monty Williams. Monty who coached Chris Paul in New Orleans knows Paul’s game like the back of his hand and when you add that knowledge to what Paul, Booker, and Ayton already know and what they can learn from one another just makes for great basketball.
Now we all know that this team isn’t a finals team, but they WILL be in the playoffs next season and they WILL be a tough out. Chris Paul and Devin Booker already make up one of the more dangerous backcourts in the NBA and when you add in a young, athletic big like Ayton you can pretty much guarantee that Chris Paul’s 16th season will be even better than his last.
Devin Booker will be an even deadlier version of himself because he won’t have to work so hard on creating his own shot when Paul can create opportunities for him. Ayton will be almost spoonfed with lobs and easy down-low passes from one of the greatest PGs of all time.
All in all the Suns will definitely be one of the teams many NBA fans will enjoy watching, and in my opinion I think it is a must that we all as fans of the game regardless of who our favorite teams are, buy a Suns city jersey because they have to be one of the best jerseys ever made.
