3 areas where the Phoenix Suns should be drastically improved in 2023-24

The Phoenix Suns are going to enter the 2023-24 season as one of the favorites to win what would be their first ever NBA championship. Despite what former franchise great Charles Barkley thinks, they do have the tools to be that good.

But in order to reach the lofty goals that the organization have set themselves, they are going to need to be elite in several key areas. Owner Mat Ishbia knows this, and so he went out this offseason and hired Frank Vogel to coach this group.

A defensive-minded individual, he will help to ensure that the Suns remain a top 10 outfit on that end of the court.

Last season they ranked seventh (112.3) defensively, but that was with over half a season of Mikal Bridges on the roster, as well as Chris Paul for a whole campaign. The addition of Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal shifts the focus of this team, but coach Vogel will try and keep things balanced.

He will be looking to get the best out of center Deandre Ayton, while newcomers such as Keita Bates-Diop and Eric Gordon will also be tasked with showing up defensively each night. Being as good as they can defensively is not the only area where the Suns will be looking to be competitive, with plenty of room for real improvement elsewhere.

3. Player Impact Estimate

You might think that Player Impact Estimate (PIE) is a statistic that isn’t worth considering, when in reality the opposite is true. Last season, the Suns ranked seventh in PIE (51.4), despite only having Durant for eight regular season games.

Unsurprisingly, the best teams in the NBA placed above the Suns here, such as the Boston Celtics (first, 53.4) and eventual champion, Denver Nuggets (third, 52.5). With the Suns employing three superstars in Durant, Beal and Devin Booker, as well as Ayton, they will need to have one of the best PIE ratings in the league if they’re serious about winning.

This isn’t so much about chasing that goal as it is that number becoming a by-product of some high level play from this group. With so much emphasis on the stars here, they simply have to be better than most other players in the league if the Suns are serious about winning it all.

Luckily for them, Booker went up another level in the postseason last year, and that seems primed to continue. Durant is still a supernova talent in the tail end of his prime, and Beal is the biggest wildcard of all. There is no telling how good he can be in this system. If the Suns are as good as they think they are, then this number is going to rise, it is as simple as that.

2. 3-point percentage & attempts

The Suns weren’t a bad 3-point shooting team last season, finishing seventh at 37.4 percent per game. A perfectly fine number, especially given they ranked below league average (17th) at 32.6 attempts a night.

Put simply, both of those numbers are going to go up, because they have to. The Suns went out this offseason and got Yuta Watanabe, a player who shot a sizzling 44.4 percent from deep with the Brooklyn Nets last season. He did this while playing alongside Durant for much of the campaign as well.

Similarly, Gordon has in the past hit a ton of important 3-pointers for the Houston Rockets, and he is going to be even more open in 2023-24 than he was at any point playing alongside James Harden. A player who remains with the Philadelphia 76ers, and who the Suns should be avoiding at all costs.

Even the enigmatic Bol Bol has shown he is capable of hitting over 40 percent of his 3-pointers in a given month (December 2022), giving the Suns firepower from deep in places many didn’t even expect them to this summer. All of this has been designed because the role players here are going to get all of the space in the world next to Booker, Durant and Beal.

It would not be a surprise to see Ayton, who has taken 0.3 attempts from long-range over the course of his five year career, also get in on the act. The Suns are betting that their ability to overwhelm opponents offensively, while doing what they can on the defensive end, is what is going to take them over the top. Shooting the lights out from beyond the arc is a big part of that.

1. Offensive rating

The most obvious answer here, as a result of the insane talent at the disposal of the Suns. Last season, the team ranked 14th in offensive rating (114.5). In the eight games after the front office traded for Durant, that number inched upwards to 114.8.

There is little doubt that the trio of Booker, Durant and Beal (who are already putting in work together) can push the franchise closer to the league-leading Sacramento Kings of 2022-23, who came in at 118.6. Not only is that number the Kings put up last season mightily impressive, it is the highest offensive rating in league history. Not a bad target to aim for then.

It seems obvious that the Suns will easily surpass what they managed last season, but their player personnel once again require that it happens too. The Suns could yet surprise us defensively, but the game plan remains outscoring opponents, at least during the regular season.

Booker put up a playoff leading 33.7 points per contest last year. Durant has averaged 27.5 points across his time with both the Suns and Nets. In other words, he’s been a near 30 point a night scorer even after suffering serious injuries in the past. We all know you’re getting at least 20 points a night from Beal. At least.

The Kings might have a deadly duo in Domantas Sabonis and De’Aaron Fox, two players the Suns could have had themselves, but the talent of the Suns surpasses that easily. It is about now putting it all together on the court, but no matter what the organization are going to be better than last season offensively. They’ll be able to do this without even really trying.