Inside the Suns – Topics: Isaiah Thomas, Dan Majerle Hustle award, how this season ends

Welcome to “Inside the Suns,” your weekly in-depth analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.

Every week, the Fantable – a roundtable of Bright Siders – gives their take on the latest Suns numbers and news.

Fancy questions of the week

Author’s Note: All questions were sent to panel members prior to the Philadelphia game on Wednesday night.

Q1 – At best, what do you think Isaiah Thomas could bring to the team?

GuarGuar: I don’t think computing will provide anything other than entertainment during the minutes of trash time. It’s almost impossible for me to see how he gets consistent minutes in the playoffs. We have enough points. I understand he’s a PG and we barely have any, but his defense is so bad. I’m rooting for the guy I really am, but I just don’t see how he consistently contributes meaningful minutes for this team.

Elder Az: Reasonably, I think the best outcome is that he gets a few minutes next week to see what he has and then never has to play in the playoffs. I believe they saw the need for emergency protection for another ball handler and it’s that “break the glass in case of emergency” option.

Brrrberry: We needed a PG to stabilize the 2nd unit all season. In theory, the roster didn’t necessarily need it, but that’s when our top 3 players are healthy at the same time, and that’s not often enough. I think IT potentially had the same type of ability as Bol, where he could make up for his limitations by scoring, but I just can’t imagine a scenario where Vogel would give him enough consistent minutes to make an impact. I’m still frustrated that Bol doesn’t play 20+ every night. HE can definitely handle the ball and hit an open 3, so I’m glad we got him back. Maybe a great story is about to start being written??

Stem: This has always been a top notch PG type and I don’t expect that to have changed. It’s not a great dispenser, but it’s not a bad dispenser either and is probably still better than almost every other dispenser available. He showed in the G League that he could still shoot threes (44.6% on 14 attempts per game), was a pretty good distributor (5.3 assists per game) and obviously still had quick hands with 1.3 steals per game.

Sure, it was in the G League, but the shooting should translate to the NBA and his assists might actually improve with higher quality NBA level shooters receiving his passes instead of G Leaguers. A lot of it depends on his ability to play at the NBA level in terms of speed and whether his quickness hasn’t declined significantly with the hip problem that derailed his NBA career.

This has always been a liability for the defense and I don’t expect that to have changed for the better, but if he can come in and be an offensive spark off the bench for even just 8-10 minutes per game, then the bet is to sign him. a 10 day contract will be at least a minor success. And if it doesn’t pay off, the Suns will still have a spot available after his 10-day contract expires.

Q2 – With only 14 games left in the regular season, only 3 of them are against teams below .500. Under these circumstances, how do you hope the Suns finish this season?

GuarGuar: I’m still optimistic that we’ll have a good run to close out the season and stay out of the game. I’m projecting a record around 48-34 to finish. I think we showed up against some really good teams to close out the season. And then hopefully that will give us the confidence to make a special run in the playoffs. I still believe in this team. I receive everyone’s criticisms and doubts. They are more than justified. I just believe in this group still at the end of the day. I know how much Book and KD want to win and I think they will figure things out sooner rather than later.

Elder Az: Let’s just say I’m a little pessimistic right now after Milwaukee’s embarrassment and the teams’ lack of energy and effort while other teams are stepping up. This doesn’t make me optimistic. I expect them to be around .500 over these last 7 games and will probably finish in 8th place.

I think they will still hold the Lakers and the Warriors, so they need to win 1 of 2 to get in, but unless they really turn things around, it’s hard to expect more than that. Plus, getting to 7 wins in these last 14 games really depends on winning at least 3 of the next 4 (including Philly) before the opponents get tough again. If they don’t make it, we’re probably looking at finishing behind at least one of the Lakers or Warriors who have been playing better recently.

Brrrberry: I’m going with 48-34 because that’s the minimum they’ll need to avoid the game and I have no reason to believe they’ll exceed my expectations at this point. At least the roster is healthy. If they end up in the game, I have to think they have the juice to come out on top, but they’ll be facing seasoned champions it seems, and that’s a terrible place to be. Assuming they actually make the playoffs, I’d rather they tie Denver in the first round than OKC. I think we get along a little better with the Nugs than we do with OKC. I actually feel bad for Ishbia, which I find a little weird.

Stem: Honestly, I don’t expect the Suns to win more than 8 or 9 more games and finish 47-35 or 48-34 at best…and it’s very possible they won’t even do that well. While I still hope they can rally together and secure at least the 6th seed to avoid the play-in stage, that doesn’t seem likely at this point. As tough as the remaining schedule is, I wouldn’t be too surprised if they even fell out of the top 10 at the end of the season, missed the play-in stage, and found themselves in the lottery again.

At this point, I’m already hoping that some of the teams they face at the very end of the season are locked into their playoff run and decide to rest their best players against Phoenix before the playoffs begin.

Q3 – In a year in which “hustle” hasn’t often seemed to be a priority for the Suns, who do you consider to be the favorites for this year’s Dan Majerle Hustle Award?

GuarGuar: It’s kind of funny because I feel like every year there’s a guy chosen for this award every time I get asked this question. This year’s team was the opposite of hustle and bustle, so it’s hard to choose! This should go to Okogie I guess, but he really hasn’t played enough to deserve this award in my opinion. But he’s really the only real guy we have on this list. Nurkic could be a candidate given his insane twists and turns over the past few months. Grayson could also be a sleeper candidate.

Elder Az: Okogie is usually my first thought, but his recent injuries probably have me looking elsewhere. Grayson Allen and Nurkic would be good candidates as they have both provided more than we expected early in the season and have been reliably available. Of these 2, I think Grayson is more worthy of the “hustle” nickname and certainly fits the Dan Majerle mold.

Brrrberry: That has to go to Grayson Allen. He’s been available all year and has consistently busted his ass guarding 1-3. Okogie is a perfect guy, but he didn’t play enough in my opinion and Eubanks should have been the next guy that came to mind, but I got Allen on him pretty easily.

Stem: Josh Okogie’s name comes to mind first, but he has lost minutes due to a combination of injuries and a lack of offensive impact. Royce O’Neale kind of took his place and played hard, but he also hasn’t been with the team very long, so he’s not my favorite for the award. An argument can also be made in favor of Nurk. He doesn’t shine all over the court like many past winners have done, but he works hard in the paint and has gobbled up a lot of rebounds this season. All pretty good choices, but I’m picking Grayson Allen.

GA is not only having a career year with new highs in many statistical categories, but he is working hard on the field every night. He’s not a great defender but not bad either and the effort on D still seems to be there. He hasn’t seemed to back down from any challenge so far and if I had a vote he would get mine.

As always, a big thank you to our Fantable members for all their extra efforts this week!

Last week’s poll results

Last week’s question was: “Among the top 4 teams in the West, which would you prefer as the Suns’ opponent in the first round of the playoffs?»

09% – OKC

05% – Denver

66% – Minnesota

04% – Los Angeles Clippers

16% – This doesn’t matter to me.

A total of 195 votes were cast.

Trivia about the Suns

On March 24, 2017, Devin Booker scored a career-high 70 points in a 130–120 loss to the Boston Celtics. Who was the Celtics’ top scorer in this game? None other than Book’s new teammate, Isaiah Thomas, who scored 34 points that night.

This week’s poll is…