Despite serious injury concerns, the Suns are attempting to establish productive lineups by mixing and matching.
In the next several days, the Phoenix Suns may potentially be eliminated from the postseason picture.
The Phoenix Suns are severely losing. They are a complete defensive vacuum and have lost 10 of their last 14 games.
Nor will it get any better just yet. They are only 5-12 on the road this season and will spend six of their next eight games away from Phoenix. Of these following eight opponents, all but one are.500 or higher. Five of their top eight rotation players are now injured or sidelined, and it is unclear when they will be back.
For the Suns, December was their poorest month since head coach Monty Williams took over. In the midst of a 19-63 season that resulted in significant roster changes during James Jones’ first summer as the new general manager, the Suns’ 5-11 December record represented their lowest winning % since January of 2019.
The fact that seven of the Suns’ top eight rotation players missed time in December and that the eighth, Mikal Bridges, played on a hyperextended knee helps explain a lot of their issues.
However, the bad times are still ahead of us. A lengthy road trip is still underway, and five of the top eight players are still out.
The Suns should be able to win with Chris Paul, Deandre Ayton, and Mikal Bridges regardless of the ailments the club is dealing with.
Paul has been an All-Star for twelve seasons, Ayton was once the first overall selection, and Bridges was a finalist for defensive player of the year the previous season. The Suns should be able to rely on all of them for performance because they each earn $20–30 million annually.
Their strong box score results, which have been consistent as always, have just not translated into success lately. They were the second most often utilized trio (236 minutes) in December, with a -22 per 100 possession rate.
As opposed to +7.8 per 100 possessions in 1,030 minutes combined the previous year and +7.2 in 1,460 minutes the year prior, that is.
Perhaps it’s their respective performances. Additionally, it can be the gamers nearby. Or perhaps a combination of the two.
For starters, current All-Stars Devin Booker and Chris Paul seldom played together in December, and when they did, the outcome was dreadful.
The quartet of Booker, Paul, Ayton, and Bridges had always been strong. They were a +3.1 per 100 possessions before Paul’s injury in early November. That amounted to just 8 games and 140 minutes overall. This is in line with the 2021–22 season (+8.5 in 813 minutes) and the 2020–21 season (+6.7 in 1,219 minutes) for the 4-man group. Whether it was Cameron Johnson, Frank Kaminsky, Torrey Craig, Dario Saric, or Jae Crowder, that fifth person was a plus.
However, when Paul recovered from his foot issues in December, the outcomes for that four-person group were shockingly poor.
