PHOENIX — Life moves quickly in the NBA – the Phoenix Suns have learned that the hard way after dropping three consecutive contests in blowout fashion following a four-game win streak that had previously re-invigorated hope within the fanbase.
The effort from the team over the last week has drawn ire from many – but Stephen A. Smith is likely the most influential voice to call out Phoenix, as he took to “First Take” on Monday morning to voice his immense displeasure with how the roster has responded to adversity all season.
From the segment on the Suns:
“The Phoenix Suns are an atrocity. They are bad for basketball. Kevin Durant has been ballin’. He’s been an individual stud. The problem is they do not have a leader… they clearly don’t vibe with coach Budenholzer. I thought it was subpar with Frank Vogel. It was much better with him than it has been this year with Mike Budenholzer.”
These developments have been unfortunate for the Suns, as the hiring of Budenholzer was met with the premise that the 2021 championship-winning head coach could re-shape the offense into a unit that would be more functional with the personnel in place.
While some of the principles and schemes that Budenholzer has instilled have translated – such as an increased emphasis on three-point volume, others have fallen flat. The Phoenix offensive output is eerily similar to last season’s squad – and the dramatic dip in nearly every defensive metric has sunk the franchise into potential draft lottery territory.
Smith continued to lambast the lack of fight from the Suns.
“I have never seen a Mike Budenholzer team look this bad, and here’s why. They don’t look like they want to play… bad basketball happens… I’m talking about a team that show up on a basketball court and 18, 19,000 people in attendance can see they aren’t interested in being there.”
A common criticism of the 2023-24 squad under Vogel was that the roster seemed fairly disconnected and many players on the team opted to play a more individualized brand of basketball compared to collective, team-based effort.
Somehow, the 2024-25 rendition of the Suns is somehow even less connected – at least in the months following the blazing 9-2 start to the new year.
The four-game win streak previously mentioned did inject life into the roster for a short time, but it ultimately feels like a futile run at this point. That the players in place just caught lightning in a bottle for a short time – after the rush came some of the most humbling losses of the season.
Smith finished by stating that the experiment should be over with certainty.
“The ownership has to change everything… you gotta purge that squad… it is bad in Phoenix.”
Could this mean trading both Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant? Could the Suns be welcoming an entirely new squad around Devin Booker come October – including a new head coach for the third consecutive season?
Time will tell what changes are made – the task at hand currently is to prove the doubters wrong and make a playoff run, although time is currently running short.
