Phoenix Suns: 2 Duds and 1 Stud From First Two Weeks of the Season

Mentioning the Phoenix Suns and their surprisingly slow start to the 2021-22 season feels like beating a dead horse at this point, even with the team just two weeks into the new campaign.

The antagonistic crowd which called Phoenix’s run to the NBA Finals “lucky” keeps feasting on their current 2-3 record. Like pretentious food critics, they closely examine every game played by the Suns like an entrée, dissecting them with glee and only jotting down the flaws present within.

Regardless, the Suns still find themselves well positioned to defend their Western Conference throne. They own 77 more games to play with—more than enough opportunities to turn things around.

But naturally due to their losing record, Phoenix has gotten more “bad” than “good” from their players thus far.  A collective effort always leads to a win or loss, but once putting that “win as a team, lose as a team” cliche aside, the Suns simply need stronger contributions from their players to flip the switch.

At the same time though, you never want to fall too far into the negative. A few individuals actually look solid right now, warranting at least some praise for the team on their behalf. The Suns took down the Western Conference favorited Los Angeles Lakers last week, and recently beat the Cleveland Cavaliers largely thanks to those efforts.

This group strikes as a “mixed bag” amidst their early trials and tribulations. Some bright spots remain visible to the eye, but poor play still surrounds them. Coming at this phenomenon from both sides, these two players need to kick things up a notch, while a third one only needs to maintain his stellar play.