The Suns Are Hot! (For Now)

"Markieff Morris" by Mwinog2777 - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.

The Phoenix Suns have been winning games and are currently sitting at a record of 7-5. Now, why has this been? Well let's start off with the Suns guard play that they seem to be very successful with.

Eric Bledsoe has averaged some great numbers for this Suns team and is starting to look like an all-star player. In 12 games, he has averaged 22.8 points, 4 rebounds, 5.8 assists, and 2.1 steals while shooting 37.7% from 3-point range. Not only that but his backcourt brother, Brandon Knight, has been amazing as well. He has averaged 21.9 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 1.4 steals as well as shooting 41.3% from 3-point range. These 2 have done really well together.

Brandon Knight has really been the reason for the Suns success. When the Suns lose, Knight averages 17.2 points, 4.4 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 4.4 turnovers as he shoots just 37.2% from the field, and only 27.6% from 3. In the wins, however, Knight averages 25.3 points, 5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and only 2.6 turnovers as he shoots 50.8% from the field and 49% from 3. So as you can see, Phoenix wins when Brandon Knight plays good, but when he plays bad, the Suns lose.

This may be surprising, but the Suns aren't that great defensively when Tyson Chandler is on the floor. Despite Tyson Chandler being known for a defensive player over the course of his career, the Suns play their best defense with Alex Len at center and T.J. Warren in the game. Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight seem to take a part in the defense and they average a great amount of steals. Also, Teletovic has been great as the team has had an amazing offensive and defensive rating when he is on the floor.

Markieff Morris has not played well for this team. In fact, his defensive rating is the worst on the team, and his offensive rating isn't so hot. This is a guy that should be traded off. I think a team they would trade him to is the Wizards. They would trade him for a guy like Nene. The problem is that Markieff hasn't averaged this low of numbers in 3 years in points, rebounds, and assists. This guy is hurting his team more than he is helping and I think it is more of an attitude problem that occurred this summer after he expressed his thought on the Suns trading off his brother.

The Phoenix Suns have been great to start the season, no doubt. Just take a look at their positions in the league in these categories.

• Points Per Game      - 3rd                - 105.8 PPG
• Rebounds Per Game- 3rd                -   47.4 RPG
• 3-point Percentage   - 3rd                -  38.6%
• Steals Per Game       - Tied For 5th -  9.2   
• Pace Of Play            - 3rd                - 102.42

Not to mention that they are 4th in offensive rating within the last 5 minutes of the game, but they are also 29th in defensive rating within the last 5 minutes, meaning that they are horrible in defense in the end of game situations. So why have they been winning so many games. Well, here is the issue. The Suns haven't beat any great teams really. Here is who they have won against.

• The Nuggets twice (6-7)
• The Blazers twice (5-9) 
• The Kings (4-9)
• The Lakers (2-10)
• The Clippers (6-6)

So really, the only somewhat impressive one was the win against the Clippers, in which that team hasn't even gotten off to the hottest start. They have taken care of business against these easy teams, but they really haven't beaten any tough teams yet. So, you have to look at this like the Suns are going to have a tough time making the playoffs. They have to continue their success, but most of all, Brandon Knight just has to play good. Just look at the stats. This is going to be tough for the Suns but I think that they have a chance to make the playoffs. I think that they have to trade off Markieff Morris. Bledsoe and Knight are amazing, and I think both should make the all-star game this year. Hopefully we see more from them and the Suns as they head into harder competition.