PHOENIX – In about nine weeks, the 2024-25 NBA regular season officially begins – and now is a good time to predict what the Phoenix Suns’ upcoming roster will look like.
Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz has been instrumental in assessing the power of the Suns offense and believes the Suns will be the fourth-best scoring team in the NBA this season.
Swartz cited three key reasons for the ranking after Phoenix’s disappointing 10th-place offensive rating last season: the new additions at point guard, the supporting shooters and the fresh voice in the locker room with head coach Mike Budenholzer.
For a team that has three of the best offensive players in the world in its ranks with Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradey Beal, these numbers should have been higher and will now be with the new additions of Jones and Monte Morris.
Jones had a historically successful season with the Washington Wizards last year, becoming the first player in the NBA to ever record an assist rate of over 34 percent and a turnover rate of under nine percent. Jones’ 7.3 assists per game ranked him 12th in the league, while his 1.0 turnovers per game ranked 203rd.
In 33 games between the Detroit Pistons and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Morris recorded just seven turnovers compared to 69 total assists.
– Swartz on PG acquisitions
The lack of a pure point guard was often seen as a fatal flaw in the roster last season, and there is hope that this has been remedied by the signing of two of the NBA’s most efficient playmakers – particularly Jones, who could be considered the most valuable addition of the offseason.
The new additions should lead to more consistent performances in the fourth quarter and a drastic improvement in the assist-to-turnover ratio.
As for Budenholzer, the two-time Coach of the Year should have a much more focused philosophy that leads to more success over the course of an entire season.
New head coach Mike Budenholzer consistently led some of the NBA’s best offenses in his five seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks, with his offenses finishing 4th, 8th, 6th, 7th and 12th overall.
– Swartz about Budenholzer
Read here for a more detailed look at Budenholzer’s accomplishments as head coach on the offensive side. In short, he encourages tempo, three-point volume and movement – those are three things this particular team can be exemplary at.
And finally, the supporting spacing and returning talent could fit the big three much better this time around:
Durant, Booker and Beal still form a three-headed offensive monster and supporting players like Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkić and Royce O’Neale can all shoot and/or pass at their position level.
Damion Lee is also back after a one-year injury layoff and has a three-point percentage of 44.5 percent for the Suns in the 2022-23 season.
– Swartz on the supporting cast
O’Neale, Allen and Lee are crucial as returning sharpshooters – as all three have shown brilliance as stationary three-point shooters at various points during their tenure with the Suns.
Nurkic may be the most important building block for the Suns’ offense to excel this season, as the big man could reinvent himself as a floor-spacer this season after struggling in that low-volume role last season.
If Nurkic can pose a threat on the high block and even at the three-point line, this is definitely one of the most versatile and even powerful offenses in the NBA.
