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The Phoenix Suns had a relatively busy offseason as the biggest piece they added was former Washington Wizards cornerstone Bradley Beal. Furthermore, Phoenix added a plethora of other role players who will play a sufficient number of minutes, such as Eric Gordon, Jusuf Nurkic, and Grayson Allen. The new changes have not only been with the players as they also hired former champion coach Frank Vogel to replace Monty Williams.
The Denver Nuggets are still the favorites to win it all, but the Suns are not far to behind to compete for an NBA Finals spot in the Western Conference. If Beal and Kevin Durant can remain healthy for at least 65-70 games, it is plausible for the Suns to win at least 55 contests. Devin Booker is primed to take another leap, possibly into first-team All-NBA consideration, while Beal and Durant will compete for a spot in the All-Star Game.
There seems to be a done of positives heading into opening night for the Phoenix fanbase, but there is one fatal flaw that could hinder their success.
Lack of a floor general
By trading Chris Paul away to bolster their scoring prowess, they sacrificed their playmaking as Cameron Payne was moved as well for salary cap purposes. It is expected that Devin Booker will start at point guard for Vogel, but there has been no track record that Booker will thrive at that role for an 82-game season, Booker's tremendous success in the association has occurred with him as the 2 guard of the Suns with Chris Paul or Ricky Rubio by his side.
Booker has been slotted as the orchestrator in some instances, but it will be a massive challenge for him to do it with the lack of backups. His scoring will need to be close to 30 PPG, but hopefully he will not lose steam toward the playoffs because he will need to exert more energy in setting up his teammates as well.
Some of Booker's other teammates like Durant, Beal, and Gordon have been known as knockdown shooters and pure scorers throughout their careers, so it will be difficult to expect them to play the 1 this year. It will be more advisable for Phoenix to pursue a cheap but reliable point guard like T.J. McConnell or Delon Wright to lighten the load on Booker.
In any iteration of champions in the NBA, they have had a couple of dependable primary and secondary playmakers, respectively that catapult them to the mountaintop. One can argue that the teams of LeBron James did not have a pass-first guard, but it was James and Kyrie Irving or James and Rajon Rondo that were vital in the fantastic runs of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, respectively.
Since the top three players of the Suns are superb scorers who can score 40 or 50 every night, their fanbase might be wondering why the ultra focus is their glaring hole at point guard. Yes, it will unlikely pose insurmountable challenges in the regular season, but in the postseason, the games slow down, and their opponents have a higher likelihood of scouting their plays without an excellent floor general.
As they are in the process of mitigating their weaknesses, Phoenix can focus more on the other individuals on their roster and experiment if they can flourish as the main ball handler of their offense. Moreover, the perimeter defense will also be an immense challenge because of their point guard deficiencies, so Vogel must focus on these two areas first as they pursue someone like McConnell or Wright in the trade market.
