Around the Suns - Weekly Roundup - Week 16

Join us as we review the highs and lows of the last week, as well as previewing the week ahead.

Week 16: 3-9 February

Week Record: 1-3

Overall Record: 26-26. 10th in the Western Conference.

Games Played and Results:

L - 119 - 121 Vs Portland Trail Blazers OT

L - 109 - 140 Vs OKC Thunder

W - 135 - 127 Vs Utah Jazz OT

L - 105 - 122 Vs Denver Nuggets

Centre of The Sun

Wow, what a week! It feels like a lifetime ago that much of the fanbase were hoping we'd be able to land Jimmy Butler.

Since I last sat down to write, we had only just started to hear rumblings of the Suns listening to Kevin Durant offers. This turned into reports that the Suns did indeed have a trade on the table which would have sent Durant to the Warriors, with the Suns landing Jimmy Butler. In the end the Suns honoured KD's wishes of not being traded. Jimmy is now in Golden State and we're ploughing ahead with our 'Big 3' in-tact.

I wonder if this ordeal will cause Durant to have a hard think about whether he wants to remain a Sun, especially as Mat Ishbia has gone on the record multiple times that he has no intention of moving KD, unless KD himself wanted it.

So, what did the Suns actually do at the trade deadline? Not a lot. They dumped Nurkic to the Charlotte Hornets and had to pay for the honour to do so, sending one of the 1st round picks we acquired last month. The Suns received Cody Martin (the worse of the twins) and Vasilije Micić. This was a salary dump move, as neither player's contracts are guaranteed next season, so the Suns can release them in the Summer to gain additional flexibility. It does also of course also remove the disgruntled Nurkic from the locker room.

Overall, it was a very disappointing trade deadline for us and sadly the team's results in games couldn't give us a reason to cheer either, losing 3 of our 4 games (to be fair, the 1 win was fun).

We started the week of games the same way we ended the previous week - an embarrassing loss to the Trail Blazers, this in overtime. It should have been a huge celebration for Suns fans, as Booker became the Suns' All-Time leading scorer, but the horrible overtime loss gave it a negative tinge. The overtime period also resulted in Durant turning his ankle, which would hold him out the rest of the week. This annoyingly fuelled the trade speculation.

Next up was the Thunder, which even at full strength would have most likely been a loss. Beal had a good game off the bench with 25, but we were completely blown out by 31, with Gilgeous-Alexander. We allowed them to grab 17 offensive boards, helping them generate 32 more shots than us. We're never going to win with maths like that. We also lost Beal to injury in this one.

The Jazz game was our only win and it came in very exciting fashion. As I'm sure you've seen on all the socials, Grayson Allen hit a buzzer beater 3 to force overtime, en route to 21 points. Book had his best game of the season with a season high 47 points, along with 11 assists and 6 rebounds. His play kept us in reach all game, allowing us to be in the position to force the overtime.

With all the injuries, we finally got Bol Bol minutes, something a lot of people want to see more of. Well, they got it in our match-up with Denver.

Bol played a season high 33 minutes, in fact it's the most minutes he's played as a Sun. He didn't disappoint in those minutes, notching season highs in all box score stats. Unfortunately his big game did not result in a Suns win. The team didn't play badly at all, they actually generated as season high 50 3-point attempts, most of them good attempts, but we just couldn't get enough of them to fall. If we can generate those attempts with KD, Beal and Grayson (he missed this one with a sore knee), we'd have looked great. Jokic and Murray had their way with us all game and that was that.

Other Suns Stuff

Book Takes the Top Spot

As I've covered, Book became the Suns' All-Time leading scorer, passing Walter Davis with a 3-pointer in the 3rd quarter against Portland.

Allen 3-Point Record

According to the Suns, Grayson has the most games of 7+ 3-pointers made in franchise history with 8 games.

Superstar Watch (Season stats):

Devin Booker - 26.4 Points, 4.1 Rebounds, 6.6 Assists, 1.1 Steals, 45.3 FG%, 34.2 3PT FG% & 2.7 Turnovers

Kevin Durant - 26.9 Points, 6.1 Rebounds, 4.2 Assists, 0.8 Steals, 1.3 Blocks, 52.4 FG%, 39.8 3PT FG% & 3.0 Turnovers

Bradley Beal - 17.4 Points, 3.4 Rebounds, 3.4 Assists, 1.1 Steals, 0.6 Blocks, 49.5 FG%, 40.1 3PT FG% & 2.0 Turnovers

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Scorching Suns:

No one shot the lights out this week, so I've gone with the most impactful scorer...

Devin Booker

With KD and Beal missing time this week, more pressure was on Book to deliver. He became our leading scorer and had his best game of the season vs Utah.

His stats for the week:

31.0 Points, 4.5 Rebounds, 5.3 Assists, 48.1 FG% & 31.0 3PT FG%

Struggling Suns:

Tyus Jones

It isn't all his fault, but playing off the ball, as the Suns have transitioned him to, just isn't working. He's essentially an undersized wing, but we have plenty of wings on the team.

Is it time to bring Brad back off the bench in place of Tyus and have Book be the lead guard? At this point, they should try anything.

His stats for the week:

10.3 Points, 2.3 Rebounds, 5.5 Assists, 33.3 FG% & 33.3 3PT FG%

Stat Line(s) of the Week:

Devin Booker vs Utah Jazz

Game stat line:

47 Points, 6 Rebounds, 11 Assists, 1 Steal, 18/33 FGs (54.5%) & 3/10 3PT FGs (30.0%).

Rookie Watch (Season stats):

Ryan Dunn - 47 games, 28 starts

6.8 Points, 3.4 Rebounds, 0.9 Assists, 0.4 Steals, 0.6 Blocks, 44.5 FG%, 31.4 3PT FG% & 0.4 Turnovers

Oso Igodharo - 41 games, 2 starts

3.5 Points, 3.2 Rebounds, 1.0 Assists, 0.4 Steals, 0.4 Blocks, 57.4 FG%, 0.0 3PT FG% (1 attempt) & 0.6 Turnovers

Jalen Bridges - 5 games

0.8 Points, 0.6 Rebounds, 0.0 Assists, 0.0 Steals, 0.0 Blocks, 25.0 FG%, 25.0 3PT FG% & 0.8 Turnovers

Upcoming Games:

Here are the UK tip-off times:

It's All-Star weekend this week, which means there are only 2 games for the Suns. All-Star weekend has lost a lot of it's lustre over the years, and this year's gimmick is a 4-team tournament, which many people are not looking forward to.

The Grizzlies come to town to start the week and they're currently 2nd in the West. They lead the league in points per game and I'm not expecting the Suns to change that. Ja Morant isn't dominating all the social clips like he was a couple of years ago, but Jaren Jackson Jr has emerged as a legitimate offensive force this year, to go along with his elite defence.

The Rockets are one of the biggest surprise of the season, with their young core beginning to make it click, following the OKC school of growth. They're currently 5th in the West. They excel on the boards, leading the league with 48 per game, an where the Suns really struggle. Sengun has just been named an All-Star, but he's nursing a sore back and only played for 3 minutes against Toronto before leaving the game. We don't know yet whether he will play against the Suns.

Prediction:

I think we'll lose to the Grizzlies, but I'm not sure about the Rockets. I'm going to hope Sengun rests with the All-Star game coming and say we win.

Predictions League:

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