3 Phoenix Suns who will let them down in the playoffs

We have almost reached the end of the regular season, and the Phoenix Suns have still not secured playoff basketball. An unthinkable scenario last summer when the organization went and added Bradley Beal to play with Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

They currently occupy the sixth seed, and have flirted with the play-in tournament enough so far this season that having to take the more dangerous route to the postseason is still a possibility. We now know exactly how head coach Frank Vogel is going to try and achieve this, as he recently showed us his playoff rotation in a loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Nice as it would be to think that every Suns player is going to up their game if they get to the postseason, that sadly will not be the case.

The Suns don't have to worry about Booker and Durant, because we all know they are going to show up to play. Booker led the playoffs in scoring last season at 33.7 points per game, and he helped his team take two games off the eventual champion Denver Nuggets. The only opponent they faced who managed to do that.

There are some more question marks around Beal - it is hoped this will be the deepest he will have ever gone in the postseason - but he has stepped up for the franchise recently. With a clean bill of health and a willingness to run the point, Beal has looked more comfortable in his role as the third star with this group. After these three however, look for the following guys to let the Suns down.

3. Drew Eubanks

It feels like Suns fans have a love/hate relationship with backup big Drew Eubanks. There's no doubt he's limited in what he can do on both ends of the court, and on some nights he is simply bullied by bigger opponents. But just when it looks like The Valley is out on him, he puts in the kind of shift that sucks them back in.

Make no mistake - if coach Vogel and the Suns want to go on a deep run - then Eubanks can only be used in a limited capacity. Jusuf Nurkic is the starter here while Durant will likely spend more time at the five than at any point during the regular season. But when Eubanks is on the court, it will be about surviving.

Any potential first-round matchup is going to target him hard when he's out there, with teams such as the Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets - two of the likely matchups if the Suns remain in the sixth spot - having the kind of youth and depth to attack Eubanks. Imagine Chet Holmgren going one-on-one with him for example, and putting him in a torture chamber.

Offensively it will be a case of Eubanks getting out of the way, and yet he generally won't have the luxury of playing with all three stars as he'll be coming off the bench. What this will mean is the ball will be funnelled to him as a result of on-ball pressure from opponents, so Eubanks will have to get involved whether he likes it or not. A scenario the Suns will try really hard to limit.

2. Eric Gordon

Eric Gordon might feel aggrieved to end up on this list, but there's a very good reason why he will ultimately let the Suns down when the call upon him in the coming weeks. Unlike Eubanks and pretty much everybody else on the bench outside of Royce O'Neale, there are actual expectations to deliver for Gordon.

So whereas anything the Suns can get out of Eubanks, Josh Okogie or Nassir Little (if they even play) will feel like found money, this team needs about 15 minutes of Gordon each game. In that time he'd be expected to shoot as close to 40 percent from deep as possible, while chipping in with about 10 points and the ability to defend bigger players than himself for small stretches.

During the regular season Gordon has done pretty much that, at 11.2 points per night on 38.3 percent shooting from 3-point range on 5.8 attempts each game. Playing in 65 games - and starting 24 of them while averaging 28 minutes a night on the court - also looks like a good omen for how much Gordon will be able to help in the playoffs.

But if you've actually watched him play this season, then you'll know that on quite a few nights, he has looked every inch the player who has been in the league since 2008. With the game slowing down and each possession mattering even more, it is hard to see how Gordon is going to be the player who everybody agreed last summer the Suns did extremely well to get on the veteran's minimum.

1. Bol Bol

It is painful to even see Bol Bol make this list, because the fact he will make the playoff rotation at all shows you the kind of amazing season he has ended up having in The Valley. An afterthought until around Christmas - and a player coach Vogel blatantly did not trust - Bol then exploded into life with some nice scoring nights and even nicer highlights.

He looks like the most beloved Sun by both fans and teammates, with everything positive he does being celebrated like he just broke the scoring record in arenas both in Phoenix and further afield. Coach Vogel also deserves credit for being able to create a scheme that allows Bol and his defensive limitations to fit into what he is trying to achieve each night.

But it is those same limitations that are going to hurt the Suns in the end when he is out on the court. Bol will be hidden against weaker offensive players outside of the paint when he's on the court, yet we all know opponents are going to ensure they get the switch they want to get higher level scorers onto Bol.

As willing as he is to do whatever is asked of him, Bol still gets lost defensively, misses rotations and is not a good rim protector despite his length. He can and does alter plenty of shots away from the paint, but a Rudy Gobert or Nikola Jokic is going to destroy him inside. It will be sad to see when it happens and he is forced to the bench again, but the playoffs will expose Bol's still growing game.