It only took the Phoenix Suns the first-quarter of the 2023-24 NBA season, but they finally have their three star players healthy at the same time. Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal taking to the court together for the first time on Wednesday, in a matchup featuring former Suns Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson.
The Suns would lose this one, dropping to 13-11 in the process and showing their fans that – just because they have their top three guys available together – does not mean that picking up wins and going on a run is going to be easy.
But now that head coach Frank Vogel has a much stronger deck to work with, the short-term goals for the franchise have got to change.
Although it is by no means time to panic, sitting at 10th in the Western Conference halfway through December does not make for great viewing. The Suns might still fancy themselves against the unproven Minnesota Timberwolves in a seven game series, but they are going to need homecourt advantage for as long as possible once the postseason begins.
Getting left behind at this early stage – they’re 5.5 games back on the leading Timberwolves, and 2.5 behind the second placed Denver Nuggets – only adds to the pressure of trying to bring The Valley the first win in the organization’s history. Watching Bridges and Johnson not only come back, but get received better than some current Suns players while winning, stings a little too.
3. Win four games in a row
The Suns won seven games in a row earlier this season, but that seems like a long time ago now. They did this without Beal – but players like Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen outplayed their roles during this period – although when on the court both Durant and Booker played at an MVP level.
Since that run the Suns have gone 2-5, failing to win more than one game in a row during that time. So it would be great if a fully healthy version of this group could string together a couple of wins to boost the vibes around this team. Luckily for the Suns, they have a chance to do just this in the run up to a Christmas Day tilt against the Dallas Mavericks.
Their next three games are against the New York Knicks and Washington Wizards – both at home – before travelling to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers. The Suns have beaten the Knicks in Madison Square Garden already this season, the final game of that seven game winning streak, and should have no fears in the rematch back in The Valley.
The Wizards are one of the worst teams in the league, while they have already beaten the Trail Blazers as well. The fourth game in this hypothetical run is away to the Sacramento Kings – by far the toughest fixture here – but by that point in theory that will be Beal’s sixth game back, and the trio will need a notable win against a good team to really begin to kick on.
2. Have the best offense in the league for 10 games
If there was one area the Suns were supposed to excel this season, it was on the offensive end. Even with Beal missing most of the campaign to this point, the talents of Booker and Durant alone were meant to ensure the Suns blew some opponents away.
Even more so when you consider players like Allen, Eric Gordon, Nassir Little and more recently Chimezie Metu have been able to knock down a lot of their efforts from beyond the 3-point arc. Yet despite all of this, the Suns have ranked a still disappointing 10th in offensive rating (116.2) so far.
It gets worse though, because in the last 10 games, the Suns have been an awful 19th (115.2) offensively. This has to change, and a good start would be having the best rating in the entire league for the next 10 games. With the next four contests clearly mapped out, there is an opportunity to build on this quickly.
If this goal seems too lofty, we have to consider that the Suns have all of the pieces to be incredible on that end. Both Beal and Durant have all averaged over 30 points in a season at least once, while Booker led the postseason in scoring at 33.1 points per game last season. Factor in the long-range bombers they have, and catching the league-leading Indiana Pacers (123.0) is a must.
1. Climb to fourth in the West
If the Suns can win some games and improve their offensive output dramatically in the process, then there is no doubt their record is going to improve. Which is why aiming for at least the fourth spot over the next 10 or so games should be the goal for any team featuring Durant, Booker and Beal.
Right now the Mavericks (15-9) occupy that spot, but they’re without Kyrie Irving at the moment and will play the Suns on Christmas Day. Below them in fifth are the Kings at 14-9, another opponent the Suns will see this month. By the end of January, the Suns will have played both of these teams again, as well as the Los Angeles Lakers, who sit in sixth (15-10).
So it will be about coming out on the right side of some of these matchups and in doing so try and get home court advantage for at least the first round of the playoffs. Beal is coming along slowly, but you can bet he’ll end up with much more than the 16.4 points per game he is currently averaging in his five games played.
Ending on a high, and the Suns do rank an impressive fourth in 3-pointers made, at 38.2 percent per game. If this keeps up – and both Allen and Gordon will be back from injury soon – then that number can help both the offensive rating, as well as the wins the team can begin to pile up. What will help massively, is having at least two All-Stars on the court to stretch opponents at all time.
