Phoenix Suns: 5 midseason thoughts

The NBA season is at the halfway mark, which makes for a natural cutoff point to take stock of the Suns and their fit in the overall league landscape. Small sample size is becoming less and less of an excuse by the game. The abbreviated 72 game schedule has presented teams with a unique blend of complications. Some teams came into the season with an unexpectedly large break from competitive basketball, while others had historically short offseasons. Health and safety protocols have ravaged rosters at times and forced teams to go for periods without their most important players or to adjust around last minute game cancellations.

Despite the Suns’ infamous 8-0 run in the bubble to end the season, it was hard to predict what type of momentum the team would have to start this campaign. Bringing in Chris Paul, losing Kelly Oubre, adding some veteran toughness in Jae Crowder, and seeing the continued growth of the young core of Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Mikal Bridges always meant that this team would have a lot of work to get on the same page. Shortened offseason and training camps seemingly would put teams like Phoenix at a disadvantage, but the Suns started off on the right foot before having a small losing streak and righting the ship.

The Suns have since established themselves as one of the top teams in the tier just below the Jazz, Lakers, and Clippers in the Western Conference. Here are five thoughts from the first half of the 2020-2021 Suns campaign: