The Phoenix Suns struggled in a lot of areas last season, and not just because they built a top-heavy roster. While Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and even Grayson Allen did all that they could to keep the organization afloat, the grim reality was that the team had no bench.
This was made even worse by the fact Bradley Beal was limited to 53 regular season games through injury, meaning Allen had to start all bar one of the 75 games he suited up for. Again he surprised everybody with a career year - but with the starters needing his 3-point shooting and spacing - the bench unit took a sizeable hit.
The front office in Phoenix zoned in on this problem during the offseason, and have made the necessary changes to improve on one key stat.
It should come as no surprise to learn that the Suns ranked dead last in bench points last time out (26.6), a horrible stat that is perhaps made slightly better by the fact the Los Angeles Lakers and even eventual champion Boston Celtics also occupied bottom five spots here. In the playoffs that number shrunk to 21.1 a game, yet was still seventh out of the 16 teams that made the postseason.
Bench scoring isn't really a playoff issue to worry about anyway, as Booker, Durant and Beal will be tasked with putting up something close to 85 points a game between them. This needs to happen if the Suns want to have any realistic chance of winning a championship. Throw in 20 combined by Allen and O'Neale, and all of a sudden head coach Mike Budenholzer's offense is humming.
Returning to the regular season though, and this will be the period where the organization needs bench help to keep them ticking over while their starters rest and hold something back for the playoffs. Which is why going out and getting the trio of Mason Plumlee, Tyus Jones and Monte Morris is going to help in a massive way. It's a huge offseason win for their front office.
Beginning with Jones and the 12 points he managed for the Washington Wizards last season is nice, but the secret sauce is in the eight assists he managed to also dish out each game. His ability to both take care of the ball and tee his teammates up is sure to lead to upticks in scoring for the three stars, plus Allen and O'Neale.
11.26.23: Book silenced the Garden 🤫#BESTofNBA pic.twitter.com/s5SbPiyXQq
— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) September 9, 2024
The Suns didn't have a traditional floor general last season, and Jones is going to put the ball where others can take it and score easily. The same applys to Morris - albeit to a lesser extent - as he too has one of the best assist to turnover ratios in league history. He's averaged 10 points per game across his career to date, and even chipping in with six plus three dimes would be a boost.
Then there is Plumlee - so clearly an upgrade over Drew Eubanks - and who has a career average of 8.4 points each night. That number is not going to increase in The Valley, but the amount of space he is going to be afforded means easy layups are a given. He is familiar with Morris as well and will have nice two-man game moments with everybody from Jones to Durant.
If starting center Jusuf Nurkic can put up 10.9 a night in Phoenix, there's no reason Plumlee can't go a little bit above half that in about 18 minutes a night. The Suns finished 10th overall in points per game during the regular season (116.2), but the distribution of how their points are achieved is going to increase in 2024-25. Which means increased output from an obviously better bench.