Inside the Suns – Topics: Playing without Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, playing a “complete game.”

Welcome to Inside the Suns, your weekly in-depth analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.

Every week the Fantable – a round table of the Bright Siders – comments on the latest issues and news from the Suns.

Imaginative questions of the week

Q1 – Complete this sentence. With KD and Beal out, this Suns team…

Brrrberry: With Beal and KD’s sidelines, it’s pretty obvious that we’re not a playoff team in the West. I said before the season that this was the case, so it’s not at all surprising that we struggled, although I was a little upset with Booker’s solo performance. It’s almost as if he’s forgotten what it was like to carry as much as he did in his first six full seasons. I’m sitting in the 10th row behind the Suns bench against the Nets tonight, so I’m damn lucky I get to see the opponent’s version and not what’s happened the last six games.

Rod: A borderline team game… at best. Even with a deep supply of really good role players, one-star teams will no longer be able to truly compete in the NBA. Without Beal and KD, I put this team at about the same level as the 2019-20 Suns (minus the bubble run). Although structured differently, it was essentially a book and a better collection of role players than the Suns teams in the three to four years prior. While this team gave us hope for the future, this team – without KD and Beal – is simply a disappointment.

Q2 – Do you think any of the last five losses (Sac, OKC, Minn, Orlando, NY) would have been a win if either KD or Beal had been healthy and ready to play?

Brrrberry: We would have won them all. When fully healthy, this roster is one of the best teams in the league.

Rod: I truly believe that if either of them had been back on the court we would have won the Minnesota game and maybe the Sacramento game as well since the Suns played them pretty close in the first half before they let the game pass them by. The Orlando game might have been winnable, too, as the Suns were heavily outplayed in the second quarter and never managed to make up the difference after that. As for the other two, I doubt that returning just one of them would have done anything more than reduce the other team’s winning margin on the scoreboard.

If both are out, the Suns’ margin for error becomes extremely low. Of course, if one of them goes down, it gets better, but it’s still not great unless one or more of the role players have exceptional play. Even when everyone is healthy – as we saw in the game against Brooklyn – this team can’t afford to play sloppy and/or shoot themselves in the foot with turnovers.

Q3 – Despite their wins, some fans have complained that they haven’t played a “complete game” (play hard/dominate through all four quarters). Do you think this is a legitimate concern?

Brrrberry: We’re 10-1 in games where at least two-thirds of our best players are healthy. The Lakers game on Tuesday night and another game before that where we won all four quarters were really our only complete performances so far. It doesn’t worry me in any way as I was expecting 15-20 games of the entire squad together and a new coaching staff/system to cause some growing pains.

All that matters is wins, especially in a packed conference like the West’s. The playoff games are all going to be close anyway, so the ability to win close games is definitely a “skill” your team should have. The “full game” appearances will occur more frequently as the season progresses.

The Lakers game was an example, but some could argue that we didn’t have a great second quarter and therefore the performance wasn’t complete. When you draw against good teams like the Lakers and can go on 24-6 runs with 2/3 players injured, the sky is the limit for that team if they can just stay somewhat healthy.

Rod: It would be great if it happened regularly, but I don’t really see it as a big cause for concern. Nowadays it is very difficult for any team to win every single quarter of a game. What concerns me more is the reason(s) why this team seems to lack the killer instinct at certain times, causing them to lose certain quarters and games.

If they try hard and the other team just gets super hot (especially from three) and they just get outplayed, that’s just going to happen at some point and there’s not much you can do about it. If it’s the result of sloppy play and/or a lack of effort, it annoys the hell out of me. I’ve seen both with the Suns so far this season, and with the West being as tough as it is, they can’t afford to let up at all.

If the effort is there, then the only thing that matters to me is the end result.

As always, thank you to our Fantable members for your extra effort this week!

Report on rookie and two-way players

Ryan Dunn – 18.0 mpg, 6.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.5 spg, 0.5 bpg, 0.5 TO, 2.5 PF, 41.0% FG%, 31, 9% 3P%, 16.7% FT%

Oso Ighodaro – 15.2 mpg, 4.4 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 0.8 apg, 0.4 spg, 0.3 bpg, 0.6 TO, 1.8 PF, 61.5% FG%, 0, 0 3P%, 81.8% FT%

Collin Gillespie – 3.4 mpg, 3.0 ppg, 0.0 rpg, 0.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 0.0 TO, 0.0 PF, 50.0% FG%, 100, 0 3P%, 0.0% FT%

Jalen Bridges – 5.5 mpg, 0.5 ppg, 0.5 rpg, 0.0 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.0 bpg, 1.0 TO, 0.0 PF, 00.0% FG%, 00, 0 3P%, 50.0% FT%

TyTy Washington Jr – 8.9 mpg, 2.7 ppg, 0.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 0.7 spg, 0.0 bpg, 0.3 TO, 0.0 PF, 50.0% FG%, 66, 7 3P%, 00.0% FT%

Statistics courtesy of NBA.com.

Last week’s poll results

Last week’s question was: “What do you think of the two possible NBA rule changes?”

12% – I like them both.

17% – I like the free throw rule change, but not the OT change.

08% – I like the overtime rules change, but not the FT change.

63% – I don’t like both.

A total of 156 votes were cast.

Sun’s trivia/history

On November 28, 1975, Suns rookie Alvan Adams recorded his first career triple-double (17 pts, 10 rebs, 11 asts plus 4 steals) in a 110–101 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. Alvan recorded four more triple-doubles during the 1975-76 season on his way to being named Rookie of the Year and making an appearance in the All-Star Game.

Adams played his entire 13-year NBA career in the Valley. His 13 regular season games and 988 regular season games are the most of any player in franchise history. His career total of 6,937 rebounds is still 1st, while his 13,910 points and 4,012 assists are each 3rd all-time.

However, a record that Alvan has does not appear in the record books. He had a reputation for being the biggest eater on the team and seemed to have a bottomless pit. The record? One night in Buffalo – just 24 hours before a game against the Braves – he ate 47 chicken wings. What happened during the game the following night? He scored 47 points…and added 18 rebounds, 12 assists and five blocked shots, one shy of what would ultimately be his career highs in each category for his entire career.

Quote of the week

“Everyone that steps on this court and puts on a jersey, we have to have a little more respect.” – Kevin Durant on defense

Important future dates

December 3 – The Emirates NBA Cup group stage ends

10-11 December – Quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup

December 14 – Emirates NBA Cup Semi-Finals (Las Vegas, NV)

December 17 – Emirates NBA Cup Championship (Las Vegas, NV)

January 5th – 10 day contracts are now available to sign

January 10 – All NBA contracts are guaranteed for the remainder of the season

February 6 – NBA Trade Deadline (3:00 p.m. ET)

14th–19th February – NBA All-Star break

This week’s poll is…