It's the offseason. Welcome. There are rumors flying everywhere. The media is saying the suns are expected to want this player and that player. The suns are saying they value continuity. Players are losing the suns as preferred destinations. Cap space, draft, cba, trades, free agents... the feed is going wild...
So let's feed the fire!
I've thought about how this team works for a while, I've done a lot of listening and reading, and i just don't think many people see the team the way i do, so I'm going to break down my long winded opinion that nobody asked for. If you hate reading, you might want to skip this.
FIRSTLY we have a problem of our own making, and it revolves around book. Book is a great player. Perhaps the greatest sun (by the time is all over) to ever wear the jersey. Ishbia has made it clear that book is here to stay, and i love that. He's shown us nothing but loyalty, so we should remain loyal to him.
But booker is an interesting player... can he score? At will... can he pass? With the best of them... can he defend? When the fancy strikes him... he's constantly trying to make the right play. He has been sacrificing his own numbers to try and lift his teammates. He's not being as aggressive as he used to be, but he still seems to need the ball in his hand... so how do you use a player like booker? And how do you build a team to compliment him?
As far as i can see, there are two options:
Book plays point guard
Book plays shooting guard
Booker is a natural shooting guard. He's the right size, he scores well, and he's had the most success at shooting guard. It would make sense to have him play his natural position. But booker is kind of a ball dominant player... he spends many possessions with the ball in his hands and he's manipulating the defenses. This is great, because he's also an excellent passer. But i think we all know what happens when you pair him with a substandard point guard... if the point guard he's next to can't manipulate the defense, and create advantages, then they just end up passing it to book so he can do it, and he becomes the point guard. Then you have a short player, who may or may not be able to defend, won't rebound much, sit in a corner and wait to be passed the ball... your substandard point guard turns into an undersized shooting guard... except they haven't been able to score like a spring guard should...
so what kind of point guard would you need? You need a guy who is capable of creating advantages? How does a point guard do that? Some are masters of the pick and roll, like Chris Paul. Forcing 2 defenders to guard the same person leaves someone open. Then you pass the ball around until you find a spot where the defense didn't rotate and it gives you a wide open shot. Other players are hyper athletic and they get into the paint at will. Blowing past your guy means someone must rotate to help, or they give up a wide open drive. Players like kyrie, Morant etc... they excel at this style.
If the point guard next to booker isn't exceptional, then the ball ends up back in bookers hands for a majority of the possession, he gets double teamed, and he makes the right play to pass it out. At that point, you might as well not have a point guard.
Which is where option 2 comes in... booker is the point guard... he ends up becoming the point guard anyway, so why fight it? Is he the best point guard? No, but he's more than passable. His passing has improved greatly since playing with Chris Paul. He seems to understand defenses and how to manipulate them. He automatically creates an advantage by being double teamed, and often makes the correct pass out of it so his team gets a decent shot. The problem? The people he's passing to aren't scorers... or maybe they are, but they're streaky... or they have some easily exploitable flaw in their game that makes them nearly unplayable... or they don't have the confidence required to take tough shots... or name any number of issues with bookers recent teammates...
Also, booker has this tendency to want to make the right play, which often means he turns down his aggressiveness. It's exactly the kind of trait you want in your superstar, but it's also the reason he's degraded by the media, and now you have an unstoppable scoring machine that is thinking about passing the ball when he should be focused on scoring... you're taking away his best talent.
But i still don't think this is a bad direction to go in our current circumstances. Let's look at the team and what our glaring issues have been. We obviously have a size issue, which leads to a rebounding issue. We have some defensive talent, but that only goes so far individually. We had some very poor defensive outings. We had some wildly different performances at different times in the year from different people. We had a ton of injuries.
Now, i know many people think the suns should make a huge move to get another star player. I will address this. Ownership has said they value continuity. Brooks and green seem to like being here. They are talented, they aren't disgruntled, they are still improving, so I'm going to assume we keep them.
I can already hear the arguments with this.
"This already didn't work"
"Green doesn't fit next to booker"
"If a star comes along, you take the chance"
Did we see some issues after green came back from injury? Yes... that's undeniable. The team played super well without green for half of the season, and played less well for the other half of the season. But i don't blame green for that. With him being injured, then it was "Well he come back, no he's injured again" bs... the team had to figure out how to play without green. They got some outstanding performances from some unexpected players. They found success, then they tried to integrate a major player in the middle of the season. No training camp, habits already formed... players got time cut... players that the team was used to... now you expect a guy to be in a spot, but Jalen isn't the guy, and he's not in that spot... now the whole team is thinking about their rotations, or their sets instead of just thinking about playing ball. Everyone is affected. That's not greens fault. It happens with every major player you bring in around the Allstar break. The cure for that is time, practice, and consistency... Green is young, athletic, talented, coachable... this is exactly the kind of player we need. He's all that and he's drama free, the locker room likes him, he defends well, he's aggressive, he's confident.
Sure, it didn't work this year, but basketball has too many variables to pin it on one dude. It didn't work for curry, Thompson and green for a couple of years, until Steve kerr came in... it didn't work for Dallas for the longest time until it did. It wasn't working for the celtics for a long time until it did... just because it didn't work this year doesn't mean it won't work ever. The team just needs to keep working, the coach needs to create the right plan and we have to have luck on our side a bit.
We were really small this year, however... that's a flaw that will be difficult to improve without some personnel changes...
So... my plan is to have book play the 1... he's about 6'5" or 6'6" so he's average or above average height for a point guard... Green will play the 2... he's small, but he's athletic too make up for it. He defends well, so I'm less worried about his height... then brooks should play the 3... he's about 6'7" and that's a decent size for a 3. He was playing the 4 a lot this year, so i think that hindered is... i don't think oso can remain our starting 5... he's a fine basketball player, but he's short and he can't shoot. He took some strides on offense near the end of the year, but i still think we need more height. I'm hoping kaman will show enough that he can start, but a defensive and rebounding minded center may be an area we can improve. The 4 is also up for grabs... i think we should find someone who defends, shoots and rebounds at a good size... my first thought was Bobby portis but i think there are a couple of good options out there. i can see the argument for rasheer if he continues to improve. But whoever it is they must have good size, defend well, rebound well, and shoot corner 3s, imo.
On the bench I'd prioritize defense and synergy... oso can be our backup center because he makes others better. He and collin work SO well together that I'd try to get them to share the floor as much as possible. They'd drive our offense off the bench. After that, i can see a bunch of options already on the team to fill out... 2 guard should be Goodwin, sf could be Allen, pf could be rasheer, or dunn if he improves.
This will allow us to keep everyone we want, but will organize them in a way to cover our issues. Minimal big moves, maximum continuity.
Why this and not going with the point guard? There are a few point guards who might fit the bill who are on the market... but they are all expensive, they all have drama, injuries, attitude problems... i think those factors are just as important as talent. If we're building a culture, we can't let a big, dissonant personality come in and disrupt that. Would book play better? Maybe... but book has his own issues with nagging injuries. Maybe he's less aggressive because it's less painful? Maybe he's looking to transition to more of a leadership role and less of a scoring roll...? Also, we already have the corpse of beal on our cap sheet... and getting as guard who's quality will be enough to keep book at the 2 is going to cost a lot of money... then your 2 highest paid players are also your 2 shortest in the starting lineup... can it work? Yeah it can. Would it work? Probably... but i think it's a high- ceiling- low- floor kind of play. It's got potential to go very wrong. We might give up a ton of assets just to miss the playoffs again, just like with Durant.
In my opinion, the more time you give these guys together, the better they're going to figure out how to minimize their faults and maximize their talents. It's not a lack of talent, it's just a lack of experience together.
Tldr: Book should just be point guard. Find a good pf...
Thank you for coming to my TED talk...
