The Phoenix Suns have a simple problem, and it starts with too many mouths to feed.
This roster is built around players who are used to having the ball in their hands and the offense flowing through them. That works fine in theory. In practice, it means somebody is going to have to give up touches, shots, and a little bit of ego for the whole thing to function.
Jalen Green, Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, and Miles Bridges all arrive with histories of wanting real offensive volume. Last season, Green was in the 99th percentile in usage per Cleaning the Glass, Brooks checked in at the 97th percentile, and Booker was right there too at the 97th percentile, with all three landing in the top 20 in the league in that category.
Yes, the Suns already won 45 games with Green and Brooks in the mix last time around. But that came with a big asterisk: Green played only 32 games because of injury, and Brooks occasionally pushed too hard trying to take over, sometimes to Booker’s detriment.
Now add Bridges to the picture, and the traffic only gets worse. He was in the 75th percentile last season because so much of Charlotte’s offense ran through LaMelo Ball, but the year before that he was in the 93rd percentile.
He has shown plenty of willingness to carry a scoring load, too. Bridges averaged over 20 points in three of the last four campaigns, Brooks set a career high with 20.2 points last season, and Booker and Green are both capable of getting there on any given night.
That’s the issue: there just isn’t enough basketball to go around.
Bridges is also playing for an extension, while Green is fighting for his career and for his starting job in Phoenix. Moving Green to the bench would help settle the shot distribution, but he is expected to push hard to keep that from happening.
The cleaner answer may be to put a true point guard in the starting group, and Collin Gillespie looks like the obvious candidate. He was in the 41st percentile last season and can also give the Suns a serviceable Grayson Allen-type presence off the ball when needed.
Jordan Goodwin, Jamaree Bouyea, and even Pat Spencer - “he's going to surprise you” - could also help by doing the one thing this group needs most: setting up the scorers who are expecting 15-plus shots a night.
That still leaves center Mark Williams in a tough spot offensively. Fresh off his own extension, he figures to do the dirty work: screen, roll, rebound, defend, and go long stretches without getting many looks.
Unless the league suddenly allows multiple balls on the floor at once, the Suns are going to need at least two of their key players to change their expectations if this starting five is going to work.
In Other News...
Suns Just Raised The Stakes On Miles Bridges Fast
The Suns missed out on Jonathan Kuminga, but they still came away with a swing for the present in Miles Bridges, a player who arrives with both upside and a ticking clock attached. Phoenix is clearly trying to sharpen the roster around Dillon Brooks and add more scoring punch, and Bridges gives the front office another chance to see whether a bigger role can turn into something more lasting.
The catch is that this kind of move usually comes with a second decision not far behind the first. The Suns already showed with Mark Williams that they are willing to extend a player after trading for him, and Bridges could push them into a similar conversation if he settles in as one of the teams core pieces. The question now is whether Phoenix sees him as a short-term fit or as someone worth paying to keep around if his impact grows quickly. [Read more 🡒]
Ryan Dunn Is Running Out Of Chances With The Suns
Ryan Dunn is heading into his third season in Phoenix with his place on the roster looking less secure than it once did. The Suns have several other young players and established veterans in the mix, and that has left Dunn fighting for a consistent role rather than stepping into one cleanly.
The longer that logjam lasts, the more his situation starts to look like a make-or-break stretch with the team. If Phoenix decides to move in another direction, Dunn would still have avenues to keep his career moving, whether that means finding work overseas or trying to reopen an NBA door later on. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Durant Just Reopened A Brutal Debate About His Suns Run
Kevin Durants time in Phoenix is still being measured against the promise that came with it, and his latest reflections only sharpen that conversation. He said the Suns had the pieces to be successful and entered with championship expectations, but the results never matched the vision, and his exit to the Houston Rockets last summer marked the end of a short, high-profile run that never quite found its footing.
The most difficult part for Suns fans is how quickly the window closed on the Durant-Booker-Beal era, with the partnership never delivering the breakthrough the franchise was chasing. Phoenix did at least recoup real value in the deal, landing a top ten draft pick along with Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, but the lingering question around Durants Suns tenure remains the same one that followed him out the door. [Read more 🡒]