Phoenix Suns season Outlook

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The Phoenix Suns made an unusual amount of changes to their roster this offseason with the addition of new head coach Monty Williams. I will be breaking down for you exactly what to expect from the Phoenix Suns this season.

The Phoenix Suns made a lot of moves in free agency such as signing Ricky Rubio to a 3 year $51 million deal close to the start of Free Agency, and we also saw the team make signings strictly for depth such as the 2 years $10 million deal for the services of Frank 'The Tank' Kaminsky. They also made a lot of new acquisitions via trades such as Aron Baynes, Dario Saric, Jevon Carter, and drafted two very experienced players in the first round of the draft in Cam Johnson and Ty Jerome. What type of production do we expect from them?

A lot of fans were outraged when Phoenix signed Rubio instead of going all out to acquire former Brooklyn Net, now Golden State Warriors guard D’Angelo Russell. However, fans have seen many benefits to having the grizzled veteran on the team. Rubio should provide a veteran presence on and off the court, and should provide great ball distribution as he's most notably known for his passing. They've been looking for someone since the departure of point guard Eric Bledsoe, to control the floor, and it seems they've finally done so. If you look at their guard depth under Rubio, they've much improved. Someone that can hold the tempo on offense and, is solid defensively in Carter, someone that can distribute and shoot the ball at great efficiency as a rookie in Ty Jerome, and an electrifying young rookie fresh out of High School in Jalen Lecque.

The Suns also have a ton of depth in the frontcourt surprisingly as that has been something they've lacked heavily the past 5 plus years. We have our 2018 1st overall selection in Deandre Ayton who can be a 20 & 12 guy for them this season and, possibly show that he has the potential to be the first option on this team. Running the frontcourt with the crafty power forward Saric who has his fair share of experience on a winning team along. His ability to space the floor should prove vital to the teams' success this season. The second unit includes former Boston Celtics big-man, Baynes who will handle the enforcing and the dirty work around the rim. The young 7'1 center, Ayton could learn a thing or two about utilizing his size from the physical 6'10 Baynes. Also, it'll be important that Phoenix properly uses Kaminsky, unlike what the Charolette Hornets did. Asking him to do things he can't prove ineffective as he previously was. The final mention would be the Malian power forward, Cheick Diallo who is still fighting for a roster spot.

The real question is what do we expect from this team? Last season the Phoenix Suns finished with a regular-season record of 19-63 which tied the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second-worst record in the league. Expect to see the Phoenix Suns take a pretty large jump from that win total and look to increase it by 15-20 wins. The Suns improved in every aspect of their game from shooting, defending, and experience. It'll be interesting to see what Monty Williams will do this season and how he'll utilize this with the new 0.5-second offense.

- Connor Phillipo