After a subpar pre-bubble regular season with a 26-39 record, the Suns broke free and swept the board in the bubble by winning all their 8 games but ultimately fell short of qualifying for the playoffs.
During this stretch, coach Monty Williams decided to start only one legit big man (Ayton), while surrounding him with two forwards who can play defense: Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson. The result was a Phoenix team that was flying on the court and finished #1 in fast break points scored per game.
Even though they failed to qualify for the playoffs, Phoenix came off the bubble feeling great about themselves and with a young roster, they felt pretty sure that they could carry this momentum to the upcoming season.
The front office thought the same and signed Chris Paul during the offseason. Ricky Rubio and Kelly Oubre left the team but Phoenix thinks that they are ready to compete for the playoffs.
Obviously Ricky Rubio isn’t as good as Chris Paul, but as it has been usual during his career, his teams are always better with him on the court. Actually, he was the #1 Suns player in net rating on court vs off the court last season with a +6.80 rating. If we take a look at the 2-man lineup formed by him and Booker, the results were also positive with a +7.30 rating (#2 best combo in the team). So, the Suns’ struggles last season weren’t due to Rubio but obviously the Suns took the chance when he had the opportunity of landing a better player than him in Paul.
Devin Booker had his most efficient season of his career and his fit with Chris Paul looks good on paper. However, what will decide Phoenix’s ceiling for this season is their frontcourt. Ayton, Bridges and Cam Johnson looked good in those eight games but we are dealing with three young players who are 24, 24 and 22 years old respectively, so some inconsistency is expected. In order to give the team some experience at the front, the Suns added Jae Crowder to their roster, a player that will fit very well in this new Suns system.
I feel that Phoenix’s second unit will lack the quality to prevent them from struggling offensively, so it’s likely Monty Williams will try to stagger all the possible minutes between CP3 and Booker.
The Suns will be a tough team to beat this season if Chris Paul can remain healthy like he did last season in Oklahoma City. In fact, they might become this season’s version of what Oklahoma City was last season: a surprisingly good team that becomes a more legit contender than previously expected.