Welcome to Inside the Suns, your weekly deep-down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team. Each week the Fantable — a round table of Bright Siders — give their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.
Fantable Questions of the Week
Q1: Throughout the season, fans have voiced many doubts as to whether Devin Booker and Jalen Green could successfully play together. What are your thoughts on this pairing now?
Diamondhacks: While acknowledging Booker as the more accomplished player, both careers have been characterized by questionable shot selection. Curtailing their threes off the dribble is one identifiable change that could make them a very formidable offensive pair. They’re both too talented with the ball,
even more so in concert, to settle for that relatively low % shot as often as they do. Catch and shoot 3s, yes. Off the dribble, not so much.
Ashton: Not much.
Yes, Green showed his potential in March, but I am still just not seeing the play-making and assists that should come from good to elite guards. Even if one just looks at offense and who has the ability to take a game over. I remain unconvinced in that area with both players.
So, put me in the doubter club? But I really wonder if this is so much of a pairing as it is to both players’ limitations.
OldAZ: It depends on how long we as fans are willing to wait and on our ability to remember that Jalen Greene is still a young player at only 23 years old. It is fair to recognize that by 23 Devin Booker was an All-Star and had leveled up his assist numbers and shooting percentage. However, now that Green and Booker are on the same team, we can hope that Green emulates some of his game around what Booker does, although with an additional dose of athleticism. We have seen some incredible passes from Green at times and we have seen effort given on the defensive end. Neither of these are consistent at this point, but this was also true of Book in his younger career.
Suns fans been skeptical of playing “point Book” and recall all those times when the Suns played without a true point Guard, but if Green can develop into something close to the same level of facilitator while still being an offensive threat like Booker, then there is a chance this backcourt pairing can be very effective. We have seen it in flashes, but are we willing to wait for consistency?
Rod: While I don’t think it’s perfect, I do like the way their strengths don’t overlap. Green’s speed and quickness getting to the rim are a welcome addition that complements Book’s mid-range game. I wish both of them were better distributors, but neither is shabby in that respect. The real question that has yet to be answered is if they can function together as the only guards on the court. I’d love to see a lineup of those two plus Brooks at SF, Fleming at PF, and Williams at C, a lineup with some size to it, just to actually see how well it works. No matter how well Book and Green can play together in small-ball lineups, that’s not going to be a good enough excuse to keep the two of them together in the long run.
Q2: Rookies Rasheer Fleming and Khaman Maluach are finally playing meaningful and productive rotation minutes. Do you believe this is because Jordan Ott brought them along slowly or in spite of it?
Diamondhacks: People sometimes confuse playing time with development. Any lottery coach can pencil in a high draft pick for 20 minutes a night and call it ‘development’. But that’s playing time, and I’m not sure any two draftee teammates have tangibly improved more from their respective draft day projections than Maluach and Fleming have.
If development is defined as learning and getting better, then Rasheer and Khaman are developing fast, not slow. Both played a lot in the G-League, and Rasheer has played more NBA minutes than about 2/3 of second rounders. I suspect they’ve been ‘brought along’ methodically and effectively, assimilating valuable standards and skills as they go, on a non-lottery team.
Ashton: I do not think Ott had a choice with the injuries that occurred. I believe the plan was to bring the rookies slowly along, and that seemed to be working, but with Mark Williams and Brooks sidelined with injuries, they were both pressed into play.
This question was asked before the Orlando game, and KM really did not get meaningful minutes in that game. Sheer did fine. This is one of those running questions where we see if the equation changes against the Hornets (before my submission), but in no way do I put this on the coach.
Would Izzo do it differently with the MSU Suns? I think he would have played the player minutes the same way.
OldAZ: I have said many times this season that the rookies should be made to earn their minutes, which justified the lack of playing time early this season. I could also be generous and say that Ott had a master plan to avoid the rookie “wall” by limiting their early minutes. Their recent play and contributions would justify all these efforts if that was really what was going on. Unfortunately, the last few weeks I am not inclined to be this generous in my interpretation of Ott’s motivations.
It is clear that he trusts veterans far more than younger players, and only the very high IQ Oso has worked himself into continuous meaningful minutes. Even after Fleming has shown to have the potential to be a major contributor, and KM has proven to be competent when they were down to only 2 centers Ott continues to only play veterans down the stretches of games, despite mounting evidence that having only one or no bigs on the floor in the 4th quarter also correlates to anemic offensive output and a massive disadvantage on the boards. I do still think that their success has been in large part to being brought along slowly, but Ott loses a little more credit for this every game as he fails to utilize them in a bigger way.
Rod: I really think Ott made the right decision in sending them to the Valley Suns early on and not throwing them directly into the fire of the NBA early on. Maluach still looks as though he needs more seasoning, but he started out so raw that it’s understandable. Fleming looks NBA-ready, something I didn’t see in him even during early-season garbage minutes. Maluach’s offense still needs some polish but his defense seems to have come along nicely.
Would it have worked as well (or better) if they were gifted more meaningful NBA minutes early in the season? Perhaps but it also could have backfired and hurt their confidence. And one thing that’s for certain is that they haven’t been pushed hard enough to slam into that “rookie wall” that comes from the extended NBA season. For Fleming especially, I’m glad that he’s relatively fresh at this point of the year instead of running on fumes.
Q3: What would you say are the keys to the Suns having any chance of getting past the 1st round of the playoffs?
Diamondhacks: First round? You mean the Clippers or OKC/SAS?
Neutralizing Darius Garland is a key to beating the New Improved Clippers, and a “healthy Jordan Goodwin” might be the best man for that job. If that’s even a thing at this point. Poor guy.
Outside of major injuries, I can’t offer a key or ‘secret’ to beating OKC/SAS in a meaningful series. The Suns don’t match those rosters’ top-end talent, depth, or experience.
Ashton: Go for the jugular here, Rod. Let’s just get it all on record. I can’t wait to read your response.
I have spent the month of March looking for Cinderella (I am married btw) and have not found it yet. The projected playoff brackets look as chalky as the NCAA, but in the month of April.
I doubt the Suns get out of the play-ins, much less the playoffs. Just so many inconsistencies on defense and offense on a season that was unreasonably full of hope and well done on a 40-plus win season. But they are fading in the stretch, and that is where it matters.
OldAZ: This is a continuation of the last question for me. They simply have to get away from playing only one player with size at a time. Even before Williams got hurt, they would often leave him on an island with 4 smaller players and when Brooks was out this led to some brutal results as average power forwards would feast on the Suns diminutive front line. I think Ott has got to recognize that as of late, the younger players are bringing more energy and effort that is lacking from his all veteran, small ball units.
Earlier in the season, the Suns won many games because they out hustled the other team. Now, as teams ramp up their intensity for the playoffs the Suns have not been able to match that when an older and undersized lineup is on the floor. It is an interesting mix, because most of the Suns youth consists of taller, longer players while the vets are mostly guards and smaller wings. This should work to their advantage “IF” Ott would put at least 2 of the bigger bodies on the floor for most of the minutes. Brooks and Goodwin would be far more effective if the other “forward” on the floor was not really an out of position guard.
For example, Brooks as the PF with Dunn at SF and either center, or Fleming and Goody with the other center make for a nice balanced front line that would compliment ANY combination of the Suns talented guards. I realize this limits O’Neale’s minutes, but in reality he should only play longer minutes if he is on fire shooting during the few minutes he would be left with. This would put at least 2 bigger players on the floor at all times and significantly increase the Suns athleticism on the defensive end.
We have all seen that when the Suns play better defense this season, their offense magically clicks as the ball moves faster and they get more early buckets. Unless this change is made, I see a quick and early exit for the Suns, which has the double downer of not giving those young players any significant playoff experience for the future. However, if he does mix them in more the value of this experience will be worth it AND I believe they would probably win an extra game or two in the process.
Rod: The way they’ve been playing lately, IF they actually get past the play-in games, I don’t see them having much of a chance of even winning a single game against either OKC or the Spurs in a 7-game series. Maybe they might win one game at most if they have one of those nights where everyone’s shots are falling, but that would be more luck than anything else to win that way.
They’ve just seemed so out of sync over the past few weeks that I have little hope/faith that they can somehow get their stuff together between now and the end of the regular season. If they can somehow do that, I could see them throwing a bit of a scare into a 1st round opponent by winning a game or two but that’s about it. I think they could do better than that if all the things that have gone wrong lately suddenly start to go right again, but I don’t think we can count on that happening.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Quotes of the Week
“Everything is on the table. We’re trying to figure this thing out on the fly and that’s what I just said. We’ve got to expedite it. There’s no excuse. We just have to figure it out.” – Jordan Ott
“Us being a first-year team, we just need some consistency. It hasn’t been that this year due to injuries and that’s just part of it.” – Devin Booker
“I think what the Suns take advantage of is just the energy that he (Jordan Goodwin) brings on and off the court. He’s a really good person and a good teammate. He really wants to see everybody do well.” – Ryan Dunn
“He (Collin Gillespie) is the definition of coming in here, getting your work in every day, sticking with it, and he’s definitely showing that it pays off.” – Devin Booker
“I’m extremely grateful to my teammates, coaching staff put me in great opportunities, but would’ve liked to get a win. That was the main thing.” – Collin Gillespie on beating the Suns’ single season 3-point record
Suns Trivia/History
Jordan Goodwin has 35 games this season with multiple steals, the fifth most in the NBA this year, behind only Kris Dunn, Ausar Thompson, Cason Wallace, and Dyson Daniels. The last time a Suns player had that many was in the 2018-19 season when Mikal Bridges had 40.
On April 6, 1993, the Suns entered the 4th quarter up 98-81 over the LA Lakers. They extended their lead to 20 points before going cold and allowing the Lakers to take a 2-point lead with just 1.6 seconds to go. The Suns had possession and inbounded the ball to Dan Majerle, who made a 33-foot three-point basket for a 115-114 win. Following the shot, Majerle jumped on the scorer’s table to celebrate as cheers from the home crowd lasted for several minutes. It was the Suns’ first-ever season sweep of LA.
On April 6, 1994, Suns point guard Kevin Johnson had a career high 25 assists in a 107-95 victory over the San Antonio Spurs. The entire Spurs team had just 1 assist more than KJ’s total for the game. KJ’s 25 assists in this one is also the Suns’ franchise record for most assists in a single game.
On April 7, 1969, as a new expansion franchise, the Suns took part in their first-ever NBA draft. The draft is mostly remembered because Phoenix lost the historic coin toss between them and Milwaukee, which gave the Bucks the right to draft Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul Jabbar) with the first pick. What is not widely known is that the Suns went on to draft a total of 22 players in that draft! The last player they selected was Jim Plump in the 20th round with the 216th pick of the draft.
On April 9, 1990, the Suns made an NBA record 61 free throws (out of 80 attempts) in beating the Utah Jazz 119-115 in overtime. A total of 121 free throws were attempted by both teams. Kevin Johnson was sent to the line 24 times and made 23 on his way to leading the Suns in scoring with a total of 37. Tom Chambers was just behind him with a total of 36 points and was 17 of 22 from the line. The Jazz were 29 of 41 at the FT line and had four players foul out of the game, two others finished with five fouls, and another four had four fouls each. Two players, Mark West and Dan Majerle, fouled out for the Suns. The Suns’ 61 made FTs is still the NBA record for the most FTs made in a single game. The 121 total FT attempts by both teams is not an NBA record, however. That record was established during the NBA’s first season on Nov. 24, 1949, when the Syracuse Nationals and the Anderson Packers combined to attempt a whopping 160 free throws in a 86-74 5-OT win for Syracuse.
This Week’s Game Schedule
Sunday, April 4 – Suns @ Chicago Bulls (12:30 pm)
Tuesday, April 7 – Suns vs Houston Rockets (8:00 pm) Peacock
Wednesday, April 8 – Suns vs Dallas Mavericks (7:00 pm)
Friday April 10 – Suns @ LA Lakers (7:30 pm)
Important Future Dates
April 12 – Regular season ends (All 30 teams play)
April 13 – Rosters set for NBA Playoffs 2026 (3 p.m. ET)
April 14-17 – SoFi NBA Play-In Tournament
April 18 – NBA Playoffs begin
