Sometimes the critics are right.
Recently, John Voita of Bright Side of the Sun wrote an article titled, “The Suns might lose more than we want, but they won’t bottom out”. He argues that this year’s iteration of the Suns won’t be as bad as the 2018-19 Suns, who went 19-63, because “being that bad takes work,” in the form of catastrophically bad players, drafting, and roster decisions.
However, the counter argument is that the current Suns roster construction is likely to be catastrophically bad in
ways that were entirely predictable. Without further ado, here are 7 reasons why the 2025-26 Suns are likely to be every bit as bad as the 2018-19 Suns due to atrocious roster building.
1. They’re spending most of their money on players at the same position
Between Booker, Green, Allen, and the departed Bradley Beal, the Suns are paying ~$135 million to guys who are shooting guards. This either forces people to play out of position (where they have limited value) or not play them at all (zero value, like Beal). The opportunity cost is that there’s no money left for players at other positions. Effectively, the Suns’ investments in shooting guards make the entire team much worse.
2. Their #2 guy (Green) is an inefficient, defenseless chucker
Jalen Green never met a shot he didn’t like. I dare you to find a highlight featuring him passing the ball. His defense is non-existent. If you look at the 2018-19 Suns, at least you could say that their #2 guy (TJ Warren) was both efficient and played a different position than their number one guy (Booker).
3. The 2018-19 talent pool was arguably better
The 2018-19 team featured a 22-year-old Booker, Kelly Oubre, DeAnthony Melton, TJ Warren (pre-injury), Deandre Ayton, and Mikal Bridges. This year’s team features players who are either rookies, deeply flawed (Green, Williams), or both (Maluach). The two decent veterans on the team (Allen, O’Neale) are afterthoughts who have no future with the club and are likely to sit on the bench to give the rookies a chance to figure it out. This adds up to a lot of losses.
4. They’re playing people out of position more
At least with the 2018-19 team, you could say that the team was generally playing people at the positions they were most comfortable, with perhaps the exception of T.J. Warren at power forward occasionally. The Suns actually had point guards playing point guard that year (even if they weren’t particularly good at it).
This year, the Suns are playing people out of position at point guard and power forward.
Much has been written about playing Booker at the point, but putting Ryan Dunn at the four has been lost in the discussion. The truth of the matter is that your frontcourt players have more impact on defense than the backcourt, and putting Dunn at power forward dramatically reduces his effectiveness at the one thing he is good at. Dunn isn’t a particularly good rebounder even as a small forward, and he’s going to get rag-dolled by bigger, taller, stronger players like Julius Randall.
5. The center situation
The Charlotte Hornets were generally regarded as having the worst center rotation in the Eastern Conference, until recently. Now, the Suns have acquired both Charlotte’s starting center (Williams), and backup center (Nick Richards).
Williams has an injury history and boasts being a 7th percentile defender per DEPM. (This is really hard to achieve as a center.) Khaman Maluach looked exceedingly raw this summer and did little to assuage my fears that he’s the next Hasheem Thabeet. Oso Ighodaro plays well…for a second-round pick. His frame is better suited to playing power forward, and he lacks the range to play alongside a center who doesn’t stretch the floor.
In short, the Suns’ best center is a terrible defender with inconsistent effort and a nasty history of injuries, and the rest are marginal NBA players, at best.
6. Devin Booker is possibly in a worse spot than 2018-19
The Suns have been a bad team when Booker doesn’t have a true point guard alongside him. The Suns’ greatest success has been when he’s played with defensive-minded point guards who can distribute, namely Ricky Rubio and Chris Paul.
Now, he’s back almost exactly where he was in 2018-19: the lone star on a team full of raw rookies and disinterested veterans with no future on the team. Except, in 2018-19 the Suns were at least trying to put a point guard next to him, and Booker has a lot more mileage on his body now. Again, the current situation is arguably worse.
7. Ryan Dunn is unlikely to develop the way Suns fans hope
When evaluating college players prospects for becoming better three-point shooters when they reach the NBA, the first thing I look at is their free throw percentage. If I see a guy who was a mediocre three-point shooter in college, but hits 85% at the line, I see potential to develop the consistent form and stroke necessary to become a solid spot-up three-point shooter at the NBA level.
Ryan Dunn shot 47% from the line last season.
His three-point stroke isn’t likely to get much better. I know a lot of fans are thinking that he’ll develop and make the team better this year, but he’s playing out of position on offense and defense, has so-so handles, and I’d bet one of my kids that his three-point shooting never improves much. This season is going to be rough for him, and as a 3-and-D guy who can’t 3, I’m not sure he has a future in the league outside of a marginal rotation player (think Josh Okogie).
When I look at the roster construction of the Suns, I see they have really put in the work at being awful.
No point guard. 70% of their payroll is going to shooting guards. Their #2 guy is a negative at both ends of the floor. Playing a marginal NBA small forward at starting power forward. Bored veterans with no future on the team cashing a check to ride the pine or play inconsistent minutes on a team with no hopes of the playoffs, and more interested in developing rookies, while waiting to be traded to a better team before the deadline (Trevor Ariza seems to have comps with Allen, Hunter, and O’Neale). Perhaps the worst center rotations in the league. Plus, there’s a strong chance Booker’s contract is going to look like an albatross as bad as Beal’s in a few years.
No hope, either, because the Suns don’t have their own first-round draft picks for the next half-decade. You cannot tell me that playing on a team where a veteran knows the situation won’t get better doesn’t drag them down, resulting in less on-court effort. It’s a rare player who can give 100% on a team that isn’t going to win this season, or any season for the rest of your career.
It would take a series of small miracles for most of this not to be true, and the Suns managing to emerge as even a 30-win team. The worst part: this was avoidable. The Suns set off a domino effect of badness by choosing to make Jalen Green the centerpiece of the Kevin Durant trade. Looking at the roster as it is, the only player I’m sure is in the right place is Dillon Brooks at small forward, where he is perfectly suited to being a junkyard dog 3-and-D wing.
Everything else is a completely predictable disaster waiting to happen. Congrats to Brian Gregory for putting in the work to create what may be the worst Suns team ever.
