3 most disappointing players for the Suns this season (outside of their "Big 3")

There is no doubt that this has been one of the most disappointing seasons in Phoenix Suns’ history. Worse even than all of those years of mediocrity, and that’s because this group had expectations to succeed. That’s the deal when you’ve got both Kevin Durant and Devin Booker on your roster.

Although neither of them have had brilliant campaigns to this point - which is part of the problem - they have still largely done their jobs on a nightly basis. Durant in particular offensively in a lot of ways is as good as he ever was, while on the defensive end there continues to be too much expected of him.

Several role players have failed to step up and be counted this season.

We’re not even talking about Bradley Beal either - as even though the Suns would surely love to move on from him - that decision is more financially driven than anything else. He now comes off the bench, and although the money he makes is ridiculous for a player in that spot, his play is generally fine.

The Suns continue to plunge deeper into their below .500 hole - and with the hardest remaining schedule in the league - it is unlikely that is going to change anytime soon. The play of these three individuals going some way to explaining just how badly off the rails this season has ultimately gone.

3. Mason Plumlee

Having backup center Mason Plumlee kick us off here is both harsh and unfortunate, as he has given the franchise exactly what they thought he would this season. He is also clearly an upgrade over last year’s iteration of the reserve big in Drew Eubanks, although that wouldn’t be hard.

Plumlee though is unfortunately graded differently because of the eventual breakup with Jusuf Nurkic. Before he was sent packing to the Charlotte Hornets he was receiving DNPs, with Plumlee having to pick up a lot of the slack. In his own position the 34-year-old gives the group what you’d expect, only the expectations for Plumlee were moved without him getting a say.

Nick Richards might have joined prior to the deadline - he too has had some pedestrian performances but he hasn’t played enough games to qualify - but the damage had been done for Plumlee. If he’s playing a big role on your team, how good can you really expect to be? Bol Bol knows all about this.

It’s not that Plumlee’s stats haven’t been acceptable - 4.2 points and especially six boards is about what you'd expect next to a pair of stars - while his ball-handling has always been excellent for a big man. The Suns just suddenly need more from him - but rather than prove that he could do that - Phoenix slipped further away from the playoff conversation.

2. Tyus Jones

How did we end up here? Point guard Tyus Jones was rightly lauded as one of the saving graces for the organization earlier in the campaign. We even named him MVP of the second quarter of the season. The Suns desperately needed a floor general, and getting Jones on a minimum deal represented one of the steals of the offseason.

Yet for all his ability to reduce turnovers and willingly set up his teammates, the negative parts of having Jones out there with the starting group grew louder as the season progressed. Having Beal finally come off the bench was a move fans were happy with - it ensured Jones stayed with the starters - but defensively it has been a disaster.

The Suns currently sit a horrible 27th in defensive rating, and recently gave up 151 points in an overtime loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. A defeat to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans followed - and although that is not on Jones alone - this group isn’t set up to cover his deficiencies when they don’t have the ball. That was the case when Nurkic was out there, and has continued with the likes of Bol getting more run.

Perhaps there’s a reason why Jones has been a backup for much of his career. One of the best in the league at it, and adding him was the right move. But as this campaign has gone sideways badly and now even the play-in tournament looks out of reach, it is fair to say that Jones wasn’t able to save this roster from some of the same pitfalls of last season. Maybe it was naive to ever believe that he could.

1. Grayson Allen

The obvious answer to this question, Grayson Allen’s story is one we’ve seen in the league plenty of times before. Role player has career year and signs new contract, before regressing back to what we’ve seen out of him before once the ink has dried is not a surprising development. What did raise some eyebrows was just how average Allen’s 3-point shooting would become.

It speaks volumes that - rather than be upset by his lack of impact for much of this season - fans have just largely forgotten about Allen altogether. Royce O’Neale does a lot of what Allen can - and is probably a better defender - although that is also part of the problem here. Allen had a clear role last season and was a starter, that hasn’t been the case this time out.

In his defense he willingly gave up that position so that Jones could slot in with the starting five, and he also seemed to revel in picking up the pieces when Beal was injured last season, which was frequently. It makes sense then that a player who fell behind three players in the depth chart in Jones, Beal and O’Neale would be a disappointment.

But going x from deep when that is his most reliable skill just wasn’t enough for the Suns, not with so many other fires to put out seemingly every night. The good news is that Allen’s contract means he is still somebody they can trade - perhaps as soon as this summer - but his failure to kick on from being the team’s third best player a year ago hurt them a lot more than they thought it would.