So much for being excited for the return of Phoenix Suns basketball. One down, 81 to go, and they can't all be as bad as the 124-83 demolition job the Portland Trail Blazers inflicted on them, right? Right? No player covered themselves in glory in this one, but giving up an unprotected first-round pick for Miles Bridges already looks like a terrifying overpay.
Bridges not the needle-mover that giving up first deserved
Bridges tied Devin Booker for minutes played at 29, and his eight points on 3-of-11 shooting (0-of-5 from deep) were nowhere near the level required for a player who is capable of creating his own shot and has averaged 20 points across an entire season in the past. If that feels like an overreaction to one game, consider what we saw from Bridges and the opponent that the Suns were facing.
The Trail Blazers are no Western Conference monster and are likely to be battling the Suns for a low playoff/play-in spot. Their backcourt tandem of Ja Morant and Damian Lillard should, in theory, be even more leaky than the Booker/Jalen Green pairing, but they had no such problems keeping the Suns quiet while combining for 39 points.
How the Suns are supposed to beat the top teams across both conferences is unclear, all while their last remaining hope for the future in their 2033 unprotected first now sits in Charlotte. Bridges will play better than this, but alongside Dillon Brooks in the frontcourt he is going to have to bring the kind of defensive effort that he promised during training camp and has so far failed to deliver.
Making matters worse was former Suns draft pick Toumani Camara, who was the best defender on the court and finished with 18 points. The nature of the blowout loss skews the plus/minus numbers, but any time you finish a game with a +32, you know you have done something right. We said that Camara had the potential to derail the Suns' season from the jump, and he sadly proved us right.
Suns need to figure out way to get first round picks ASAP
No other franchise is going to be foolish enough to part with a first-rounder for Bridges, which proves the front office was wrong to do so themselves this summer. But they need more high picks to ensure the end of this decade does not finish with Booker playing with a terrible supporting cast and going nowhere.
The irony is that Booker himself is the only sure-fire way the organization can land more valuable draft picks, but owner Mat Ishbia has repeatedly said they will not be trading him. The last lottery pick the Suns landed was Khaman Maluach in the Kevin Durant trade, and despite a quiet opening night, plenty in the NBA media believe in his potential.
A bad night at the office, and one that surely won't happen again anytime soon. But this also laid bare the horrible truth that the Suns overpaid for Bridges; there will be nights when he contributes little on both ends of the court, and they are likely to extend him, or he will become a sunk cost. Yikes.
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