One of the reasons the Phoenix Suns made the playoffs last season was because they had the ninth best defensive rating (112.9) in the league.
First year head coach Jordan Ott brilliantly building out his game plan and identity from that end of the court, with everybody from Dillon Brooks to Collin Gillespie thriving.
Suns got rid of two players who slowed Victor Wembanyama down
But in moving on from Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale, coach Ott is now without too underrated guard/forward combinations who successfully slowed down Victor Wembanyama of the San Antonio Spurs last season, en route to a surprising pair of wins.
We chronicled how productive a game plan that was here at the time, and it is also fair to point out that the Suns may well have gotten better by turning that pair into Luke Kennard and Miles Bridges. You can't only plan for one opponent either, even if the Spurs do figure to be the team anybody will have to get through to advance out West for the foreseeable future.
Putting smaller and aggressive players on a giant like "Wemby" was central to that game plan and it worked a charm. Only the Suns don't have a player of that profile anymore with the departure of Allen. O'Neale may not be thought of as highly on that end of the court, but he played his part alongside Allen.
It is not as simple as putting Brooks and Bridges on Wembanyama instead and hoping for the same outcome.
The Spurs have too many scorers to sacrifice that much of their defensive firepower to the Spurs' best player, and that was the beauty of who guarded Wembanyama in the past. Neither Allen or O'Neale is as good a defensive player as Brooks, Gillespie (taking his size into consideration) or Mark Williams (his ability to anchor the paint).
Yet they were used on the Spurs' main offensive hub and they had a brilliant impact.
Those expecting the Suns to again be a top 10 defense because they in theory added a bigger forward in Bridges and have Khaman Maluach coming on quickly will be given a reality check in the early goings of next season.
The potential is there to go to the next level, but right now the fit between the starting five looks awkward, while more will be expected of Gillespie this time out. Jalen Green has never been known for his ability to slow opponents down either. A shame to see this perfect game plan leave Phoenix.
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