The mid-season deal is over, the most important is the swap between Harden and Simmons, but Irving's appearance problems, Simmons' health problems, Harden and Embiid's run-in problems are all uncertainties, if all goes well will make the two teams better, otherwise it will be the beginning of the next disintegration, for the championship team, the stability and chemistry of the lineup is crucial, and strengthening the team while keeping the core players unchanged is the best way to make the team's strength increase, from this point of view, The biggest winner in the middle of the season is definitely the Suns.
Before the mid-season trade began, the Suns' record was the first in the league, the combination of Paul, Booker and Ayton was as stable as ever, but they did not slow down the pace of reinforcement, of which the most rumored was Saric + Smith + the first round of the deal for Rocket Gordon, although it was not reached in the end, but the Suns unexpectedly completed two other whistle-blowing transactions, which was a godsend, the first with Smith + second round back to Craig, the second was to use Saric's season reimbursement of the trade exception in exchange for Holliday, That is to say, the Suns added two rotating players without any losses, and also saved their first-round draft picks.
In the game against the Magic, the Suns new signing ushered in the debut, Craig played 23 minutes, got 14 points, 3 boards, 4 assists and 2 breaks, plus or minus as high as +21 the first in the game, Holliday although only played for 9 minutes, but also 5 shots 4, three-pointers 3 shots 2, efficient to get 10 points, and finally the Suns beat the opponent by 27 points, both of them performed very well, especially Craig, last year he was one of the biggest contributors to the Suns to reach the Finals, the offseason did not leave him to make the fans very confused, It was absolutely wise to trade him back this time.
The Suns' interior line Ayton, McGee and Biyombo are all traditional interior lines, with flaws in foot movement, coupled with Saric and Kaminsky's season reimbursement, the team's number four position is extremely weak, especially in the face of a small lineup no one can top the position of center, the Suns are also aware of this problem, has been hoping to introduce a swing man in the fourth and fifth positions, but there is no suitable candidate in the market, other teams are not willing to accept Saric's contract, originally hoping for a buyout of Thaddeus Young, Also because of being traded to the Raptors lost the possibility of reinforcements.
Although Craig is not as versatile as Young, but his body is very strong, the three-point shot is even a little better than Young, the most critical thing is that he is very strong in changing defenses, almost from the first position to the fourth position, last year's playoffs to defend James 6 of 2, George 12 in 3, alphabet brother 4 2, if not injured by the alphabet brother, the Bucks may not be able to laugh to the end, with the return of Craig, the Suns' "four famous catches" are all back in place again (Bridges, Crowder, Johnson and Craig), Two starters and two substitutes made the Suns' forward line impeccable.
Last year's playoffs thought it was the closest to the sun championship, I didn't expect the sun to show such a strong dominance this season, not only that, the team is still constantly adding reinforcements to increase strength, I don't know if Paul can realize his dream this year, let's wait and see!