Season Review
After acquiring Kevin Durant the previous deadline and Bradley Beal this past off season, the Suns entered this NBA season with championship expectations as the most all in team in the league. However, the Suns started this season off slowly winning only 14 of their first 29 games with Bradley Beal only healthy enough to suit up for 6 games.
Dealing with various ailments throughout the year, Bradley Beal only played 53 games this past season. Consequently, the trio of Booker, Durant, and Beal could only play 862 minutes together before heading to the playoffs. The trio together had a 120.5 offensive rating and a 6.6 Net Rating, a good but far from elite mark.
After finishing the regular season strong to avoid the play-in and ending with a 49--33 record, Suns faced a first round matchup with the Timberwolves. After being thoroughly outplayed on both ends, this series can be summarized by a simple gif.
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Cap Situation
Active Roster Salary: $205,893,182
2nd Apron Space: -$17,567,726
MLE/Room: N/A (Over the 2nd apron)
The Suns will almost surely be above the 2nd apron this season which creates many restrictions. They will have access to no TPMLE, meaning their only free agent tool is re-signing key free agents like Royce O’Neale and minimums. Additionally, they wiil be unable to aggregate salaries in trades to acquire players having larger salaries. Meaning they can only trade for players that make less money than a single one they send out.
Little and Nurkic would be the main salaries they can send out. Grayson Allen is currently ineligible to be traded until October because of his extension.
These restrictions make retaining Royce O’Neale a top priority for the Suns as they would have no means of replacing him easily.
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Team Needs
Backup PG/Facilitator, Forward depth, Backup 5/Floor spacing 4
The Suns clearly need a high level backup point guard or facilitator that can help generate easier looks for the team and truly take advantage of the star talent on the roster. Without a facilitator, the offense has periods of disconnect with turnovers and inefficient shots. Ideally, they could find a big play making guard that could play in some lineups with Booker and Beal.
Additionally, the Suns roster needs more bigger wings or forwards Royce O’Neale and Grayson Allen are the Suns only two non-star wings that are playoff caliber. Nassir Little could have served this role but he was disappointing in his debut Suns season.
Lastly, Suns need a backup 5 or bigger floor spacing 4. Drew Eubanks was unplayable in the playoffs and the only other option on the roster was using KD as a 5. A more playable 5 would let KD be fresh and reduce potential foul trouble.
Free Agent Targets (WIP)
Kyle Lowry (Minimum): If Kyle Lowry is open to leaving the Sixers, he could serve as a backup PG for the Suns that can play make for the stars and hit open shots.
Reggie Bullock (Minimum): Reggie Bullock is a cheap, serviceable wing that can bolster some depth for the Suns.
Patrick Beverly (Minimum): Beverly is a backup PG that can add some additional POA defense on the roster.
Kris Dunn (Minumum): Similar to Beverly, Dunn can provide cheap backup PG minutes while defending opposing guards at a high level.
Draft Targets
The Suns currently have the 22nd pick in the 2024 NBA drafts. If Suns keep this selection, they will likely need to target players ready to be rotation level players.
Devin Carter: Carter is a solid PG that can provide some defense and shooting.
Kyle Filipowski: Its unlikely Filipowski falls to this selection, but some mocks have him this low. He can provide minutes as a stretch 4 and 5.
Daron Holmes: Holmes is a versatile big with some shooting upside. He can provide some switching versatility to the 5 position for the Suns.
Tyler Kolek: Kolek is another potentially NBA ready PG who provides shooting and game management.
Ryan Dunn: Dunn is a super versatile forward defender who could provide immediate game changing impact on that end.
Tristan Da Silva: Da Silva is a versatile forward that can serve as a connective piece amongst the Suns stars with his shooting, playmaking, and size.
Kevin McCullar and Jaylon Tyson: upperclassmen wings that have a decently all-around game with an emphasis on defense that if they hit, can function as defensive specialist on the starting lineup.
Trade Ideas (WIP)
Suns are very limited in trades because of the second apron and having only two tradeable FRPs. But some trades are also included if Suns decide to end this disappointing era.
The most likely way for the Suns to retool their roster is using either Nurkic or Allen with the addition of their 22nd pick to bring in new borderline starter talent. If they were to use Grayson, the target could be frontcourt defense with the goal to improve their defense in expense of a repetitive guard rotation. If they choose to move Nurkic, they can try to grab a lesser center but in exchange get 1 or 2 more rotation players; this scenario is a little bit harder however, because you'd need a trade partner with 2 or 3 small contracts that can help the Suns while also finding Nurkic an attractive target.
Summary
It'll be a tough task for the Suns to fix all their problems in a clean sweep. They'll have to work with minimum salaries, a late first rounder and unimpressive trade fillers. However, with the sheer amount of talent in their big 3, 1 player that can be the perfect starters and 1 or 2 energy guys off the bench added into Bud's new coaching system, can potentially make them a top 4 seed in the West and try to find an easier path for next playoffs.
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