Don’t look now, but the Phoenix Suns are on the rise

Dante Boffa
Nov 6 · 5 min read

This decade’s Western Conference doormat won 19 games last season, but through 7 games, sit third in the West. What’s changed?

It’s a small sample size, but the Phoenix Suns are playing like a Western Conference challenger. The team sits at 5–2, good for third in the West, and has notched wins over the 76ers, Warriors, Clippers, Kings and Grizzlies while losing by a combined two points to the Jazz and the Nuggets.

The Suns boast the second-best point differential in the league, per Cleaning The Glass and boast an exciting mix of promising young talent and steady veteran playmaking.

With a revamped roster and a new coaching staff, the Suns sit eleventh in points per 100 possessions offensively and sixth defensively, according to Cleaning The Glass. That type of elite play on both ends has the team sitting with a win expectancy of 63.9.

As always, the Suns rise as Devin Booker rises. Through seven games, he has been stellar, posting a line of 26.1 points per game and five assists on 47.1 percent shooting from deep. His offensive game is as diverse as ever, and the early season return on his playmaking ability proves his uptick in that area last season was no fluke. Booker is thriving working around screens as a spot-up shooter but is also characteristically dangerous with the ball in his hands.

In particular, Booker and fifth year wing Kelly Oubre have been making money when working around a dribble handoff from Aron Baynes. Booker or Oubre will start in the corner, and after Baynes has received the ball from the point guard, he will pivot into a handoff and set a meaty screen as either wing curls up around the 45 and grabs the ball with a head full of steam moving towards the rim.

Oubre has consolidated the improvements he made after joining Phoenix midseason in 2018–19, putting up 18 points per game and six rebounds while maintaining his elite defensive numbers and matching up on the opponent’s best wing. His shooting stroke, while still inconsistent, has seen a slight uptick, and his aggression when driving opens up space for his teammates.

With shooting at every position and the ability to play five-out offence, there has been more space on the offensive end of the floor this year, but shockingly, the team has posted elite defensive numbers through the early going.

Dario Saric and fellow offseason acquisition Frank Kaminsky are nobody’s idea of elite defensive bigs, but Aron Baynes’ imposing inside presence has helped hide the loss of Deandre Ayton for 25 games. On the perimeter, Ricky Rubio, Jevon Carter, Oubre and second-year wing Mikal Bridges are locking up, and the team is thriving because of it.

By adding solid veterans, the team has ensured that its young pieces aren’t relied on for everything, and players like Bridges, Carter and Cameron Johnson have benefited as a result. They are allowed to play their games, stay in their lanes and contribute as role players, rather than being cast as franchise saviours. Booker, too, has enjoyed the luxury of playing within himself and not having to do it all on the offensive end.

Now, obviously, this team isn’t going to win the 64 games their metrics suggest, but considering the team was predicted to be Western Conference cellar dweller, it’s worth looking into how they got here.

Over the offseason, the Suns fired one-and-done coach Igor Kokoskov, hiring former New Orleans coach Monty Williams to fill the position. With a well-respected head coach installed, GM James Jones was able to begin installing a plan that would see the team improve on last season’s dismal 19–63 season. The moves Jones made were widely panned at the time, and although it’s still early going, several of them now look to be successes.

Leading up to the NBA Draft, Jones dealt TJ Warren and the 32nd overall pick to the Pacers in a salary dump, and on draft night dealt the sixth overall pick to the Timberwolves for Saric and the 11th overall pick, which was used to select wing Cameron Johnson.

Later that night, Jones acquired the 24th pick (Ty Jerome) and Aron Baynes in exchange for Milwaukee’s 2020 first-round pick. The Warren move was clearly intended to create cap space, but by taking Baynes back into the space cleared by the previous trade, the Suns had lost some of the crucial cap space they sought to clear.

Jones was rightly lambasted for this, and days later he sent lottery bust Josh Jackson, De’Anthony Melton and two second-round picks to the Grizzlies for Jevon Carter and Kyle Korver, who was subsequently waived.

The Suns used free agency to take a run at D’Angelo Russell, but struck out and instead signed point guard Rubio to a three year, $51 million deal, hoping that he might provide the type of stable lead guard play the team hasn’t seen since Eric Bledsoe was shipped to the Bucks over two years ago.

None of these moves seemed positive in the moment, but a few months and six games removed, most of them have panned out in a big way.

Rubio and Carter, the team’s steady point guards, have played solid and largely mistake-free basketball, allowing some of the team’s offensive weapons to shine. Saric has unlocked a new dimension of the Suns’ offense with his playmaking and dynamism with the ball in his hands, while Baynes has contributed stout interior defence, offensive execution and a surprising stint moonlighting as a spot-up shooter.

Meanwhile, Warren has struggled in Indiana and Jackson has shown the same maddening inconsistency with the Grizzlies he did as a Sun. With a revamped roster, Jones’ vision has come together nicely on the court.

For years, the Suns have been a model of on-court ineptitude and organisational incompetence. From the goat incident (read: not GOAT) to the perennially overmatched on-court product, it’s been a hard time for Suns fans. This year, though, with Monty Williams at the controls and a promising mix of veteran savvy and young talent, the Phoenix might be ready to rise again.

The Deep Two

If an efficient 3-and-D player could somehow embody a blog, that’d be us.

Dante Boffa

Written by

Co-host of The Deep Two NBA Podcast and editor of The Deep Two NBA Blog.

The Deep Two

If an efficient 3-and-D player could somehow embody a blog, that’d be us.

Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade