The Phoenix Suns start their season against the Golden State Warriors tonight. The Suns have a very talented and deep team with championship aspirations. What are the biggest questions going into the season for Phoenix?
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This is a legitimate concern to have for this team. Four of their five starters have had issues with injuries either last year or over the last few seasons. It has been reported that Bradley Beal will not be able to play tonight. Beal is dealing with a lower back issue. This would not be a major concern if it wasn’t for the fact that he has missed 96 games over the last three years. If Beal has another year where he misses 30 plus games, it could be a major reason why the Suns don’t have home court advantage in the playoffs.
Beal isn’t the only one with health concerns. Kevin Durant has also missed a lot of games over the last few seasons. Durant only played in 47 games last year. He has not played more than 55 games in a season since tearing his Achilles tendon in the 2019 NBA Finals.
Jusuf Nurkic broke his leg towards the end of the 2018-19 season and has not played more than 56 games in a season since.
Devin Booker has been a very durable player for most of his career. Last season he had nagging injuries that led to him missing 29 games. Hopefully this was a one time thing and not the start of a trend.
Will The Lack of a “True” Point Guard Hurt the Suns?
For the last three seasons the Suns had one of the greatest point guards of all-time Chris Paul leading the offense. Whenever the team may have been playing too fast or wasn’t getting good shots, Paul would take control and steer the team in the right direction. Who will do that this year for the team?
The team doesn’t have a “true” point guard but they do have a plethora of play-makers. Devin Booker is ready to take over that primary play-making role. He had two separate seasons where he averaged 6.5 assists or more. Don’t be shocked if Devin Booker averages seven or more assists per game this season.
Is This Team Deep Enough To Win A Championship?
One of the major concerns going into this year for the Suns was a perceived lack of depth on the roster. This team is very deep after the three team trade they landed them Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson. Johnson was a roster casualty as the team had to finalize the roster. The addition of Grayson Allen will pay great dividends for this team.
The Suns now have so many options on who can start and/or finish games for them. The starting four of Booker, Beal, Durant, and Nurkic is established but the fifth starter could be Josh Okogie, Grayson Allen, or Eric Gordon depending on the match-up or health status of the other players.
The Suns also have Drew Eubanks and Yuta Watanabe coming off of the bench as well. This team can go 11 or 12 players deep without the worry of playing anyone who is not ready.
There are always questions about every team going into the season but the Suns are under a spotlight and those questions will be amplified because of it. The Suns can answer all of the questions and shut up the noise by winning.
