3 wishes for the Phoenix Suns this Christmas

1. Unclog their offensive machine

Becoming the offensive beast everybody predicted the Suns would become won't be easy, but it is integral if they hope to reach the heights they have set out for themselves. Swapping Nurkic for Ayton was meant to be the roster move that turned this team into an offensive supernova, at the expense of having a better big man to man the paint defensively.

Outscoring opponents every night is a tiresome way to win games - but when you have Durant, Beal and Booker - you're in a position few in league history have been in to try and achieve that goal. Even without Beal for most of the season so far, the shooting of Allen, Gordon and Yuta Watanabe, combined with what Nurkic can do on that end, was supposed to lead to good things.

Instead the Suns are bang in the middle of the road in offensive rating (15th, 115.4) so far this season, and that is with Durant playing most games. In the last five games, in which the team have gone an ugly 1-4 and lost to the Trail Blazers, they have been a horrendous 25th in this category (111.9). It would be hard for this group to be that bad if they actively tried to be.

Considering the Detroit Pistons - losers of 26 straight games - have had a rating of 108.4 in that same five game span, it really speaks to the depths which the Suns have dropped to. It gets worse than that again though, because this season the Suns are below average (16th, 36.7 percent) on 3-pointers made.

Given that nailing open shots from deep around their three (or two) superstars was a large part of what they were trying to achieve, it goes a long way to explaining the offensive woes in Phoenix. If they can begin to blow away opponents again - which was saw at points during a seven game win streak earlier in the season - then the Suns can get their season back on track.