FIRST TAKE | “Phoenix is in trouble” – Brian Windhorst on Kevin Durant, Suns 120-105 loss to Kings

FIRST TAKE | “Phoenix is in trouble” – Brian Windhorst on Kevin Durant, Suns 120-105 loss to Kings

Here either Durant Booker Fox ready to go those two top six there in the league in scoring Kings up eight they’re about to go up double digits and remember Fox had that ankle injury if not this team would probably be a little higher than where they stand which is fourth in the

West and then in transition Malik monk overdrew Eubanks we putting together the top 10 we probably only need to find nine more sun’s trying to Rally it’s been a disappointing season by any measure Durant presence of mine to just make sure he’s an inch or two back to

Get the three 28 Fox right at Durant he had 23 it’s a little strange in the west 9 101 right now are Suns Lakers Warriors that’s usually the top of the West not the middle to the bottom look at sabonis in transition going behind the back putting the move on Booker and finishing

For the team that might have the best young core in basketball in the third Fox sabonis 28 11 and 11 fourth triple double of the year for sabonis and then Keegan Murray for three who last year is a rookie set the single season record for rookies from behind the ark he’s

Been on fire he’s been playing terrific basketball again particularly from Deep again for Mike Brown and the Suns won’t go away Booker at 24 but that only cuts it to 15 the suns are a 500 basketball team this is not what they expected at all an offseason full of hype the Kings

Roll 120 it’s been it’s been easy to kind of put the Suns in a different category because they’ve been so banged up um but well you’ll get your chance Bon Temps hold your breath right just we’ve been doing this since July I just saw your mute button was on try it

Again 14 and 13 uh not 15 and 14 um they’ve really lacked a in my view watching their last couple of games they they beat Washington two games ago and it was not an impressive Victory they was a hold J it was it was a squeaker

They they did play well in the first half against Portland which you know I guess was a good sign but absolutely rolled over in the second half and they just you know typically when you see a team lose a star player even if over the medium term they tend to struggle you

See a bounce and I don’t know if the be injury at being the third time he’s gone down was deflating I wonder about their chemistry not be not because they got issues with each other but because their entire team is brand new like nobody’s played with each other

Before and the minimum players that they signed frankly are playing like minimum players you know there are moments when Eric Gordon looks good there there have been moments where Josh aoi although he’s been out recently looks good there’s been moments you know Grayson Allen’s not a minimum player but you

Know he’s uh he’s had moments but you know this is a very new team and they have a new coach and so um I don’t see a lot of cohesion togetherness fight from this team um basically it’s Durant and Booker trying to do their Durant Booker thing and sometimes it works and

Sometimes it doesn’t uh Frank vogle is is asking for patience he is saying this is the process it’s going to take some time I believe it this team reminds me I’ve said it over and over I’m going to keep saying it reminds me so much of the 2010 Heat their

Construction reminds me of the heat um the the Heat players were a lot younger but um that team was absolutely thrashing around the pool for 20 games and their stars were all healthy in that case and it really took a year for them to figure it out so I’m I’m taking a

Step back I am a believer that this team is a real Contender still but I’m feeling alone in that and I don’t really have a lot of I don’t have a strong case to back it up um but trust me I’ll tell you I’ll tell you who looks good in this

Phoenix situation is Chris Paul because Monty Williams isn’t acquitting himself well in Detroit uh that team is it is unacceptable for a team with that level of talent to lose 24 games in a row they’re by the way we’re we’re talking about this Thursday afternoon Detroit is

Playing Utah the second night of a back toback with lry Markin not playing with Jordan Clarkson not playing T Orton Tucker not playing they better not gont George not playing they better win are actually favored on only the third time this year they’re just saying they better win that game and

They ain’t win it for a long time Chris Paul’s role on that team even though he missed a bunch of time with injuries in recent years it’s looking better and and I and I don’t okay we can’t I’m not going to sit here hold on the problem

With saying Chris Paul’s one coming out looking good in this when you’re saying Monty Williams is struggling uh let me look at the this is a very odd argument what are we doing here let me let me look at the standings real here’s who’s looking good in this

Me why because I said the DeAndre at and trade was bad and I said this team had a lot of injury prone players who were going to miss a lot of games and those two things have been true I don’t know what this Chris Paul thing is yeah

Because the Warriors are a spot below the suns in the standing so let’s let he ain’t smelling likeis Paul is not looking very good shooting any jump shots all of them are missing short yes God forbid you guys allow Nuance these waiting to see what the nuances

Leading to Chris Paul’s role that he played on the Suns uh was pretty important and that is being highlighted by the fact of the way the suns are performing in the way yes because the guy they traded him for is hurt all the time that’s the problem like yeah nice

If they had an ambulatory point guard on their team Chris Paul’s old ons he ain’t new ons um listen the problem with injury-prone players is they tend to get hurt a lot and that’s what’s happening with the Suns Bradley Beal has been hurt basically all season they’ve played 24

Minutes as a trio together and it’s not just that Bradley Beal hasn’t been there when Beal’s not there the workload on Kevin Durant and Devin Booker is not sustainable it’s not sustainable for especially KD at his age with his injury history but you know Booker’s been

Banged up a lot this season the last couple of seasons and those guys it’s it’s it’s like it was in the playoff series against the Nugget after CP3 went out if Booker and Durant aren’t awesome the Suns aren’t very good like the they can’t though they can’t afford those

Guys to have off nights an off shooting night for Booker they lose to freaking Portland like it’s a struggle man and and you’re right about the there you talk about zero continuity and Booker if anybody ask Booker about you’re the only player left in the 2021 finals roster

He’s been asked that a million times you’ll get an eye roll but the fact that they’ve completely turned over the roster since then and like basically since last year’s trade deadline continuity matters man it’s and you see like you saw the Wolves it took

A year for the Wolves kind of to to get their feet after the gobear trade and with some injuries and whatnot it’s It’s just tough to make wholesale roster changes and and hit the ground running and I think they’re deal with that as well as the injury issues well and nkit

Has just not been good and you know they they again like you said this team was built on three guys who get hurt a lot I think Nur has done okay but he hasn’t he’s been he’s been okay nurit is a okay starting center I would say he’s below average

Starting center who’s been below average I think if you’re ranking him by numbers he’s below average and he’s been below average but you know again like KD is like you said he’s played a huge load in terms of minutes and and role on this team he’s only missed a couple of game

So far knock on wood he stays healthy but if he has to keep carrying this kind of load for a long time he’s probably going to end up missing some time he’s an older players had a bunch of injuries it’s just the realistic reality at this

Point for him and you who knows when Bradley be’s going to be back like this it’s just they you know the all the problems that they potentially were going to have have all come to the four in the first third of the season and when you start missing games with

Injuries and having guys out that’s hard to like get that ship turned around at some point because there’s all these ancillary impacts of that of guys having to play more minutes themselves and make up more for more stuff and then it just Builds on it as it goes along and like

Mcmah said there’s not a great history of these kind of moves resulting in immediate success and you’re only compounding the chances of that outcome the negative outcome happening when you have so little time for these guys to be together on the court no matter when Beal’s back at this

Point it’s going to be pretty limited before the playoffs start basically Beal and you know he told Spears in his andscape diary hopes to be back for that two week time whatever let let’s say he’s back start of January there’s been almost half the season gone he’s essentially missed half the season

At that point because like he’s barely played the games he’s playing it’s not like he’s he’s barely played dating back to last midseason quite frankly it’s not like he’s been in any kind of Rhythm I don’t even Durant even Durant and Booker have barely played together Durant

Barely played last year before he got hurt and uh you know obviously they played some in the playoffs and you know Durant and Booker have been out different games this year even so even those two guys don’t have a ton of chemistry yet I I don’t think you can

Completely dismiss the Suns simply because they’ve got two of the top we can argue the number but it’s not a very big number to the top what dozen players in the league or whatever you they’re healthy if they’re healthy come to start of the playoffs they’re going to be a

Feared team just like the Lakers were last year like the Lakers got some breaks in terms of guys getting hot you know ruy shooting the lights out but they had LeBron and AD healthy when the playoffs started and if you have those two guys healthy you get a little luck

You got a chance and same with the Phoenix if those guys are healthy in mid April and they get a little luck they’ll be a threat but they’re not it’s it’s just hard to look at them and say they’re going to get to their optimal

Outcome and it’s also hard to look at it frankly and say they’re going to be healthy this point you have to just assume somebody’s not even gonna be out there I mean it’s almost like Beal is a bonus star because that’s like you can’t count on them but boy that’s

A big old contract for a well we hope he can be around some well also tell you what one thing that’s been overlooked in the whole thing with Phoenix they make these trades they take on all this money and what’s the first thing they do they dump Cameron Payne for nothing saved

Money yeah right and listen Cameron Payne is not a all World player by any means but he’s a perfectly adequate Foree for that fore for Spee so Fore Foreign Fore you for