The Phoenix Suns came into this season with very high expectations. They have not lived up to those expectations so far. The Suns were expected to have one of the best offensives in the league. Phoenix is currently 16th in points per game, scoring 112.8 points per game.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Phoenix was expected to improve defensively under defensive minded head coach Frank Vogel. The Suns are currently 14th in points allowed, giving up 111 points per game. Outside of staying healthy, here is the real key to the Suns getting back on track.
Is it the Depth?
Are the Suns deep enough outside of the big three of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, and Bradley Beal? This has been tested early on as Booker has missed three games with an ankle sprain and Beal has missed all five games with back spasms. The Suns are currently 2-3 after back to back losses at home to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Suns did address the perceived issue with the lack of depth. When they were the third team involved in the Damian Lillard to Milwaukee Bucks trade. In that trade the Suns got back Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Nassir Little, and Keon Johnson. Johnson did not make the final roster. Nurkic, Allen, and Little have all been consistent rotation players so far.
Nurkic was set to be a starter as he was brought in to replace Deandre Ayton. Allen was in contention for the fifth starter spot, at least that’s what most of us thought, and was beat out by Josh Okogie. Even though Allen was not set to start he has started in all five games due to injuries to Beal and Booker.
Grayson Allen’s Inconsistency
Allen was not good in the first two games of the season. He scored 0 points against the Golden State Warriors and six against the Los Angeles Lakers. The production has improved over the last three games for Allen. He scored 17,19, and 16 respectively. Allen has scored more but his impact has not been the greatest. He has had only one game with a positive plus/minus. Allen was a +22 against the Utah Jazz. He was a -4, -2, -12, and -10 in the other games.
One way for Allen to improve his plus/minus is to be more involved in play-making for the team. He has had two separate games with four assists. The former Duke Blue Devil has the ability to initiate offense and should do it more. If he he has more of play-making role to take the load off of Booker and Durant, it can help him be impactful outside of shooting.
Hopefully the Suns get better scoring and all-around play from Grayson Allen on Saturday night against the Philadelphia 76ers.
