The Phoenix Suns suffered a shock loss to the Adelaide 36ers in their preseason opener, largely thanks to a disappointing performance from their bench unit.
That may not be giving Adelaide their due praise, with their scorching hot three-point shooting proving the major difference in the historic result. But from a Phoenix perspective, the bench struggles could prove a sign of things to come given the roster concerns.
The Phoenix Suns bench was embarrassingly outplayed in a concerning start to their preseason against the Adelaide 36ers on Sunday.
Head coach Monty Williams produced an interesting rotation in the opening game, playing his starting unit exclusively together across their near 23 minutes of action. This was always going to put the bench unit at a disadvantage, with no Chris Paul or Devin Booker to propel the often uninspiring offense.
The starters lacked defensive intensity but were at least efficient offensively, owing to the talent disparity. There were +11 in plus-minus, shooting a combined 28-for-48 from the floor for over 58%. Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton, in particular, made light work of the 36ers defense in the pick-and-roll.
However, the bench unit surrendered an early lead and were unable to regain it once the starters had pulled close in the third. The bench was a combined -21 in plus-minus and put simply, there wasn’t the overwhelming talent differential to make up for Adelaide’s greater intensity, chemistry and overall will to win.
The Payne-Shamet-Lee-Craig-Landale unit is a -15 in just under 10 minutes.
— Valley of the Suns (@ValleyoftheSuns) October 3, 2022
With Johnson in the starting lineup, feels like bench minutes could be seriously up in the air going into this season.
Serious question marks have to be asked of general manager James Jones; the bench looked devoid of genuine NBA talent and failed to identify any major strengths. I noted during the broadcast that this was a five-out offense where each player can theoretically shoot from the perimeter. The issue with that is only of them, Landry Shamet, is really considered an above average shooter. That five man unit combined to shoot 4-for-19 (21%) from three-point range, only exacerbating the shooting differentials of both sides.
It’s true, Adelaide shot the ball at a level they might only produce once every 100 games. That doesn’t excuse the Suns defense because when you look at that five-man lineup, it doesn’t scream out defensive juggernaut. Josh Okogie may help with that, although that’s placing pressure on an offensive game that’s been sub-NBA standard across his four-year career.
Clearly Phoenix will be better once they begin executing their proper lineups where Paul and Booker split minutes, so to will Bridges and Johnson. Williams wanted to see what each unit had on their own accord and with Johnson no longer there as a spark, the bench failed miserably.
The major issue is the pressure this places on the starters; given their flameout last postseason, managing the likes of Paul and Booker through the regular season should be a priority. That’s going to be hard to do without the bench being semi-competitive.
Perhaps it’s all overreaction to one fairly meaningless game, but this does appear an obvious misstep in roster construction. Obviously the loss of Crowder hurts, with the desperation for a replacement likely to swell by the game.