The Suns fell from the final play-in tournament berth behind the once-forgotten Oklahoma City Thunder on another weekend when All-Star guards Devin Booker and Chris Paul were shelved. Last season's starting stretch forward, Jae Crowder, has not played since requesting a trade in September. This season's starting stretch forward, Cameron Johnson, required knee surgery eight games into this campaign.
Then what? It is a fool's errand to cling to small sample sizes as a predictor of playoff success, especially when the writing on the wall is unraveling on the court. For as good as their best five-man lineup has been in 67 minutes, the Suns have done nothing to quell concerns about the way they unraveled in a blowout loss at home to Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Worse, the Suns are losing by 3.6 points per 100 possessions whenever Paul is on the court, the first negative net rating of his 18-year career. The slippage is real. A sore right heel cost him 14 games earlier this season, and a sore hip has been keeping him out of the lineup for five more games and counting.
Not enough has been made of the Crowder saga, either. Aging role players under contract do not demand out from a positive atmosphere. He made vague references to being under-appreciated and"blindsided" by the coaching staff, and his teammates wentSuns executive James Jones has further hindered the depth beyond the Crowder fiasco. He drafted Jalen Smith with a top-10 pick in 2020 and traded him with a second-rounder 15 months later for Torrey Craig.
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