When Paul was brought in in the 20-year offseason, even Suns management may not have imagined that they would not only record 51-21 in the second place in the West during the regular season, but even beat the Lakers, Nuggets, and Clippers in the playoffs to successfully reach the Finals.
Although the Suns did not take a 2-0 lead in the 21 Finals and successfully won the championship. But the "accident" of reaching the finals also made the Suns management realize that with their lineup and strength, they have a good chance of winning the championship in the next few years.
Because whether it is Booker or Ayton, they are far from reaching the peak of their careers, and there is still room for improvement. Especially when the Suns went a step further in the regular season last season and posted a 64-18 league-first record, many people thought it could be the closest the Suns have come to a championship in recent years.
But who knew that they lost 3-4 to Doncic's Lone Rangers in the second round of the playoffs. It was after this failed season that Suns management knew that if they wanted to go further in the playoffs — they would have to follow the example of the 73-win Warriors and bring in a super scorer without changing the team as much as possible.
So when the Nets' rebuilding became inevitable before this year's trading day, the Suns did not hesitate to use "Bridges + Johnson + Crowder + 4 first-round picks + 28-year first-round swap rights" as a bargaining chip to "exchange eight for two" to get Durant.
After getting Durant, although the Suns are not as strong as the "five-star warriors" of the year, they are also regarded as a strong contender for this year's championship. And in the first round of this year's series, although the Suns lost to the Clippers in G1, under the power of Durant and Booker, the Suns won G2, G3, and G4 successively, taking a 3-1 lead.
With George and Leonard's injuries and leads, a 3-1 lead for the Suns to advance to the second round is almost a certainty. Even now, many people still firmly believe that the Suns will be able to re-enter the Finals under Durant's leadership, and even successfully win the championship...
In fact, there are still hidden dangers behind the Suns' win, and if you don't pay attention to rushing out of the West, you can't win the championship
1. "Duke Double Core" has too much playing time, and there is a lot of injury risk. During this year's regular season, Booker averaged 34.6 minutes per game, and although his playing time was not too long for a core player, he missed 29 games due to injury.
While Durant averaged 35.5 minutes per game in the regular season, he was not only injured in Nets time (nearly two months off), but even missed more than half a month due to injury after joining the Suns. And now that the Suns are in the playoffs, they rely too much on the "Duke combination".
Even against a game without George and without Leonard, Durant and Booker had to play 40+ minutes to ensure that the team won the game. If there is only one round of the series, but the Suns have to win at least three series to win the championship, can Durant and Booker, who average 40+ minutes per game, really be able to stay healthy?
2, Booker vs Durant, the Suns have not yet established Durant as the absolute core. Based on Durant's performance in the new season - averaging 28.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 55.6% shooting percentage and career hard honors, normally he will beat Booker to become the absolute core of the Suns, just like he beat Curry back then.
But today's Durant is not the first core of the team, whether it is the number of shots or tactical position, he must rank behind Booker. If you face the Clippers without Leonard, or a team weaker than the Suns overall, it doesn't matter much if Durant can't get the ball at key moments.
But once the game is in a state of stalemate, or when facing a team whose roster strength is not inferior to the Suns, or even stronger. If the Suns still have Booker as the absolute core at key moments and let Durant perform a "meaningless switchback run" on the court, then it will be difficult for the Suns to win.
That is to say, don't look at the current 3-1 lead of the Suns Clippers, promotion to the second round has become a sure thing. If they still don't pay attention to the "Duke dual-core" playing time and establish Durant as the absolute core, then even if they can break out of the West in the end, they will not be able to win the championship...