What Could Stop Suns From Winning Western Conference
The Phoenix Suns have all the pieces to compete for an NBA title, it's just a matter of making good on their potential.
Locked into the fourth seed of the Western Conference playoffs, the Suns will undoubtedly have to slay a giant or two in order to reach their second NBA Finals in three years.
Phoenix finds themselves as one of the top favorites to emerge from the West, but what could potentially stop them?
Revered basketball analyst JJ Redick discussed this very issue on a recent episode of his podcast The Old Man and the Three after one of his co-hosts brought up Chris Paul.
"We saw that last year in the playoffs, especially in that Dallas series where they targeted him almost the whole game, especially in Game 6," Redick said.
"The thing about Phoenix - and I pointed this out in one of the games I had recently - Kevin was out ... Torrey Craig caught a swing pass at the top of the key, and he was wide open and he hesitated. I think he swung the ball and next time he shot it or Josh Okogie shot it. But to me that fifth guy, you talk about reliability and stability at that position - the fifth guy can't be what Josh Hart was towards the end of his Portland Trail Blazers tenure.
"There can't be hesitation when you're the fifth guy. You either have to cut out of the corner, cut out of the slot when there's two on the ball. You've gotta either catch and drive, shoot it right away - to me, the concern is does the fifth guy f--- up the flow?
"Remember the OKC-Houston series where Lu Dort shot 2-15 one game and the next game they just left him open? He kept shooting. To me, the hesitation + flow of the offense gets f---- up if you do what Torrey Craig did on that one possession. So I don't know who it is, I think it probably ends up being Okogie.
"That's the concern, and then the other concern with me is the shot profile in general. You guys brought up the rim pressure - I think Devin Booker in particular over the last few weeks has been more aggressive in attacking the basket trying to get downhill, trying to put pressure on the rim, especially in pick-and-rolls where he's not settling as much - at least that's the eye test. I don't know what the advanced numbers say.
"When you talk about this team, you're talking about guys [such as] Ayton, Paul, Booker, KD that live in the mid-range. You're not shooting a ton of free throws and you're not necessarily night-to-night gonna take and make a ton of threes. Do you run into a math problem against certain teams? That's a concern, legitimate concern for me."
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