We are now on the other side of the trade deadline. Wow! Always a crazy day, especially when you join a bunch of teams and want to be a buyer. It’s time to take a deep breath and look at what happened and how it affects the Phoenix Suns moving forward.
Despite the limited number of available assets, Suns general manager James Jones was able to make some improvements and improve the roster. Yes, improve.
I know I know. Some of you have emotional connections with marginalized people. You put your line in the sand last summer and said, “Yuta Watanabe is my guy! He is the one who will take this team to the top!”. I understood. Let it go friend. He stayed here for six months and played 29 matches.
There was a lot of hype when free agency started last July. The Suns, who recently acquired Bradley Beal to pair with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, don’t have many goalies in the chamber. Most of the acquisitions he made were out of necessity. But the players they brought in were young, athletic, “proven” type players.
The problem is that he got his chance this season, but he didn’t prove it.
The Suns bench has been poor this season. There is no continuity in their second team unit, which puts more pressure on the superstars. Superstars get paid a lot of money to perform, but you need to give them rest. Or they will break. It would be best if your replacement patterns involved some organization and confidence.
Phoenix benched this season?
- 27.4 points (final)
- 46.2 FG% (15th)
- 29.7 3pt% (final)
- 15.1 rebounds (15th)
- 5.4 Help (final)
- -42 plus/minus (22nd)
That’s why, contrary to all our beliefs about Yuta Watanabe, Jordan Goodwin, Keita Bates-Diop and Chimezie Metu when they were acquired last off-season, the Suns traded them in a trade to acquire Royce O’Neal. Was used in. Brooklyn Nets and David Roddy from the Memphis Grizzlies.
Memphis is sending David Roddy to the Suns in a pick swap as part of a three-way with Phoenix and Brooklyn, sources said. @athletic @stadium, The Suns selected O’Neal and Roddy for the postseason rotation.
– Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) 8 February 2024
All this is not the work of those young players. It was a difficult situation.
Surrounded by greatness and future Hall of Famers, you may become tentative and inactive. When in the game, instead of playing to the best of their ability, it seemed like some of them were trying not to mess it up. Instead of making the right decision, their focus was on trying not to make the wrong decision. He was avoiding aggression, which is never a good mental state to be in as a player.
So the Suns shipped out guys who ran away from the moment and got Royce O’Neale (and David Roddy), who shouldn’t have had any of these issues. RO is like Eric Gordon. confident. Established. A track record of success. Well, relative success. When he’s in the game, he’ll run, take chances and shoot the ball. He won’t play with the uncertainty that the outgoing Suns did.
It was the right move to move on from the mistakes of the summer as the Suns have no time to sit back and wait for their confidence to develop. They are in a tough battle for a race in the Western Conference and you need well-established and confident players to fill the role effectively, fearlessly play with the stars and execute.
Royce O’Neal will allow the Suns to do this on both ends of the floor. David Roddy? We will see.
The Suns still have two open roster spots, which will make the buyout market an interesting conversation for the next few weeks. Players who join the team before March 1 can be added to the postseason roster, so as one deadline ends, another begins.
