The Phoenix Suns are just a month away from embarking on the first training camp under newly hired head coach Mike Budenholzer.
While many things are ironed out, there still is work to be done in ironing out lineups – perhaps even in the starting lineup.
Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report believes that moving Bradley Beal to the bench might be a prudent decision for the Suns.
“Bradley Beal’s $50.2 million contract for next season ranks only behind those of Stephen Curry, Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokić, three players who have combined to win six total MVPs.
“Still, moving the veteran shooting guard to the bench would be the best thing for the Phoenix Suns, especially with the signing of a true point guard in Tyus Jones.”
– Swartz on Beal’s rotation status
Swartz attempted to justify the position, lending much of the reasoning behind two factors – defensive assignments and depth.
“A starting five of Jones, Beal, Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Jusuf Nurkić certainly won’t have any issues scoring, yet forces Booker or Beal to defend small forwards and leaves the bench a little weak.
“Beal would get far more offensive opportunities in the second unit, staggering minutes between him, Booker and Durant. The Suns weren’t greatly impacted by his presence with their two stars last season, with Phoenix registering a net rating of plus-7.5 (86th percentile) when Beal, Booker and Durant all shared the floor vs. when Beal was out of the game (plus-5.4, 79th percentile).
“The Suns need Jones in the starting lineup to help fix their ball-handling woes (24th in assist-to-turnover ratio last season) and could use an elite floor-spacer like Grayson Allen (46.1 percent from three, No. 1 overall in the NBA) or a three-and-D, low-usage wing like Royce O’Neale between Booker and Durant.”
– Swartz on why Beal should come off bench
Jones appears to be a virtual shoe-in to be in the starting five on opening night, and while the aforementioned starting unit looks great on paper, particularly offensively, there would be many questions surrounding how that group could hold up on a possession-by-possession basis on defense.
Pushing Beal to the bench would also likely lead to a bigger role – and it wouldn’t disqualify him from spending the most crucial moments of games on the floor.
Allen or even O’Neale could very well fit more symmetrically into the starting lineup compared to Beal – it would make defensive assignments more straightforward and would also give Beal a more linear passage to getting reasonable usage and shot volume.
The ultimate likelihood is that Beal will start. It just doesn’t feel like a situation that would be tenable, even if it were for the good of the team. Beal sacrificed more than possibly anyone else last season – and should be rewarded for that, not demoted (if only by title).
The Suns are set to open preseason play on October 6 against the Los Angeles Lakers with the regular season opener is set for the 23rd against the Los Angeles Clippers.
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