To help get ready for the 2014-2015 NBA season Pelican Debrief is going through each of the 30 NBA team’s with help from other Fansided NBA writers. Today we are joined by Kevin Zimmerman of Valley of the Suns, Fansided’s Phoenix Suns blog to talk backcourts, the Morris brothers and more.
1. Do the Suns have the best backcourt in the league?
Kevin: I think it’s hard to say “best” when it depends what you’re looking for. If we’re talking about flat basketball skill sets, I think they’re certainly up there with the Splash Bros and the Wall-Beal duo in Washington. With more certainty, I think it’s fair to say they have the deepest group of backcourt players in the league. Goran Dragic was an All-NBA Third Team performer last year and Eric Bledsoe, with a little health and some improvements (he’s in better shape this year) could be sniffing that territory. Throw in Isaiah Thomas, who put up similar straight stats as Kyrie Irving (he was more efficient) and a scorer like Gerald Green, and the Suns can run out four quality guys. They might not even get a chance to see if Archie Goodwin is close to contributing because of that depth.
2. Will we see any Isaiah Thomas/Eric Bledsoe/Goran Dragic lineups this year since Dragic and Bledsoe are so good and long defensively?
Kevin: That’d be something, wouldn’t it? I think it’s hard to throw three point guards into the lineup unless it’s against a team that just doesn’t have any talent on the perimeter. Bledsoe has the strength to defend some team that throws a shooting guard sized player at small forward, perhaps, so it’d have to depend on whether another team leaves itself vulnerable to that lineup. And if an opponent did, I would expect they wouldn’t sit in a lineup allowing that for very long.
3. How do the Suns replace Channing Frye?
Kevin: I just wrote something else about this here, but in short, they aren’t going to, even with the addition of stretch 4 Anthony Tolliver. We expect Markieff Morris to win the power forward spot, and he’ll probably do like Frye by acting as the backup center at times. I think the second unit is going to play super small with the Morris twins and Tollver playing with two point guards and perhaps Gerald Green or T.J. Warren at small forward. I don’t think Phoenix will crank up as many threes from their big men this year (maybe Tolliver and Marcus Morris prove me wrong), but I think the upgrades elsewhere will help the threes come from the guards more.
4. Can Gerald Green and the Morris brothers repeat their breakout seasons from last year?
Kevin: Losing Frye will definitely help the Morris twins get more playing time, and I think their consistency will take another jump. Marcus will especially have an opportunity as the backup power forward, and in playing small I think he may play less at small forward than last year — it could give him a boost as a Green-like scorer playing against slower, bigger guys.
Green’s role is a little more tough to see, because I think he slides up a position with the addition of Isaiah Thomas (Green hardly played anything but the 2 last season). Phoenix wants to play with two point guards on the court as much as possible, and that’ll eat into Green’s minutes a bit. I feel like he’ll be fighting for minutes at a busy small forward spot occupied by P.J. Tucker, rookie T.J. Warren and maybe Marcus Morris.
5. What is the best case scenario for the Suns? The worst case? What do you expect them to do this year?
Kevin: Let’s start with the worst case, which is somewhere around where the Vegas odds put Phoenix: an over/under of 42.5 wins. The Western Conference teams that made the playoffs mostly remained idle or improved, and teams like New Orleans, the Lakers and (maybe?) the Kings could reasonably win more games than last year. There are less wins to go around, but I think Phoenix didn’t take too many steps backward (losing Frye obviously hurts), if any. I think a record that is six or seven wins worse than last season’s, in general, would be worst case.
As for the best case, I think Phoenix could reasonably take a first-round playoff series if it has a strong season and gets a solid seed. But once it comes to facing an opponent that is either a contender or plays a style that will slow this team — one that really, really struggled against slower-paced squads — I think Phoenix would have trouble. It’s all about matchups, and I can’t see the Suns getting two favorable ones in the Western Conference playoff picture.