If Frank Vogel did not survive elimination in the first round of the playoffs, the trio Devin Booker – Bradley Beal – Kevin Durant should stay in place. In any case, this is what James Jones, the GM of the Suns, assures.
“These guys won’t move” repeated the leaderguest on the radio show “Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo,” after Mike Budenholzer’s presentation. “These guys are part of the solution, they’re part of the answer. We got Kevin and Brad back to play with Devin for a reason. Knowing who they are, Olympic athletes, team players, and that if we put all three together, we could fight for the title. »
Except that bringing together three of the best scorers in the NBA is not enough to make a team capable of winning the title.
“But what can we do collectively with them and the rest of the team? That’s the question we’re looking to answer right now.”
“Like all teams, we cannot win with three players” agrees James Jones. “It’s done with the rest of the team, from 4th to 15th place. They're the ones who are going to make things happen for us, because we know what Devin, Kevin and Brad can do on their own. But what can we do collectively with them and the rest of the team? That’s the question we’re looking to answer right now.”
A question whose answers are not necessarily simple, with a “Big Three” which monopolizes more than 150 million dollars in salary per season. Around them, alone Grayson Allen, Jusuf Nurkic, Nassir Little And David Roddy are under contract for next season, with Eric Gordon, Josh Okogie, Damion Lee and Drew Eubanks all potentially deciding to test the market during the summer…
And as the club no longer has many “assets”, particularly Draft choices, to set up exchanges, while the new collective agreement also limits the club's recruitment options, it will have to be very inventive.
“We have to find a balance. But I'm ready to adapt.”concludes James Jones. “We have to be, because the NBA is constantly evolving. But I know having Devin, Kevin and Brad gives us a lot of flexibility to be patient with the guys behind in the team hierarchy. »
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Kevin Durant | 75 | 37.2 | 52.3 | 41.3 | 85.6 | 0.5 | 6.1 | 6.6 | 5.0 | 3.3 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 27.1 |
| Devin Booker | 68 | 36.0 | 49.2 | 36.4 | 88.6 | 0.8 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 6.9 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 27.1 |
| Bradley Beal | 53 | 33.3 | 51.3 | 43.0 | 81.3 | 1.0 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 5.0 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 2.4 | 18.2 |
| Grayson Allen | 75 | 33.5 | 49.9 | 46.1 | 87.8 | 0.6 | 3.3 | 3.9 | 3.0 | 1.3 | 0.9 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 13.5 |
| Eric Gordon | 68 | 27.8 | 44.3 | 37.8 | 79.7 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 11.0 |
| Jusuf Nurkic | 76 | 27.3 | 51.0 | 24.4 | 64.0 | 2.9 | 8.1 | 11.0 | 4.0 | 2.3 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 3.3 | 10.9 |
| Royce O'neale | 30 | 25.1 | 41.1 | 37.6 | 69.2 | 0.7 | 4.5 | 5.2 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 8.1 |
| Bowl Bowl | 43 | 10.9 | 61.6 | 42.3 | 78.9 | 0.7 | 2.4 | 3.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 5.2 |
| Drew Eubanks | 75 | 15.6 | 60.1 | 100.0 | 77.4 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 4.3 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 1.5 | 5.1 |
| Chimezie Metu | 37 | 12.1 | 50.8 | 29.4 | 88.4 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 3.0 | 0.5 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 5.0 |
| Jordan Goodwin | 40 | 14.0 | 38.9 | 28.8 | 86.2 | 1.0 | 1.9 | 2.9 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 5.0 |
| Josh Okogie | 60 | 16.0 | 41.7 | 30.9 | 74.5 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 4.6 |
| Keita Bates Diop | 39 | 15.3 | 42.7 | 31.3 | 72.2 | 0.8 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.8 | 4.5 |
| Yuta Watanabe | 29 | 13.2 | 36.1 | 32.0 | 66.7 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.3 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 3.6 |
| Nassir Little | 45 | 10.2 | 46.0 | 30.0 | 85.0 | 0.3 | 1.4 | 1.7 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.9 | 3.4 |
| Saben Lee | 24 | 7.7 | 36.4 | 12.5 | 74.4 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 3.0 |
| Thaddeus Young | 10 | 8.9 | 52.4 | 0.0 | 33.3 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 2.3 |
| Udoka Azubuike | 16 | 7.1 | 69.6 | 0.0 | 23.1 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 2.2 |
| Isaiah Thomas | 6 | 3.2 | 30.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.3 |
| David Roddy | 17 | 3.7 | 43.5 | 12.5 | 100.0 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 1.3 |
| Theo Maledon | 4 | 3.3 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 1.3 |
| Ish Wainright | 4 | 4.1 | 16.7 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.8 |
