Analyst Explains Suns Struggles This Season

The Phoenix Suns have turned into a lottery team, but why is that the case?

Phoenix Suns guard Tyus Jones rebounds during the second half against the New York Knicks, | Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

The Phoenix Suns are facing elimination from the Play-In Tournament this week as they continue to slide in the standings.

The Suns came into the season with the expectation of being a playoff team, but with a stacked Western Conference that saw other squads improve, Phoenix fell by the wayside.

NBA.com writer John Schuhmann believes that the team's defense is a big reason why the Suns haven't been successful this season.

"It seems the Suns could never be bothered to defend at a decent level this season, and the defense has only gotten worse," Schuhmann writes.

"They’ve allowed more than 130 points per 100 possessions in five of the six games during this losing streak, giving them 13 such games for the season, with only the Pelicans (14) having more. Phoenix ranked 25th defensively at the All-Star break and has seen the league’s second-biggest jump in points allowed per 100 possessions since the break. They had a better-than-average defense last season but seemingly never bought into whatever coach Mike Budenholzer has been selling on that end of the floor."

Frank Vogel is a more defensive-minded coach than Budenholzer, so that could explain the reasons behind the Suns' flailing defense this season. Their defensive rating of 119.2 is easily the worst in franchise history, four points higher than when the team won just 19 games in the 2018-19 campaign.

Defense is key in the NBA, and teams that aren't good on that end of the floor usually don't go very far, and that's been the case with the Suns this season.

Phoenix hoped that college prospect Ryan Dunn would help the team's defense, but as a rookie, he is still adjusting to the NBA. Perhaps the Suns will get better on defense over time, but this particular group just cannot figure it out.