Deandre Ayton has played the role of a thankless big man and given finite room to flourish. The bill has seemed to come due on the good will he's shown during his subjugation into such a blunt instrument role. Read more »
Phoenix Suns Analysis
Deandre Ayton And The Center's Dilemma
What Chris Paul Can't Do
Whether you're one of Chris Paul's eager critics, or someone with enough of a tolerance for sorrow to keep riding the roller coaster with him more hopefully, there's no questioning that, even if this sadly mythical loss isn't a proper send-off, it could act as a fitting, sourly poetic bookend to his career. Read more »
Can The Suns Stop The Pelicans From History?
The No. 9 seed Pelicans, largely microwaved at the end of the season through trades and rapid youth project improvements, wouldn't be here without the new format, but now they look like a team that should've belonged in it all along. Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Suns jumped from 30th in the NBA in Net Rating in 17-18 to 29th to 18th in 19-20 to third last season and first in 21-22. Read more »
Chris Paul Is Finally Understood
On his fifth team, in his 17th season, the man who may be his sport's greatest commander of all time has fatefully found his greatest love: a potent battleship crew that is willing to do everything just his way. Read more »
Twelve Characters: Devin Booker
Devin Booker had been the guy he was in 20-21 for at least two seasons, and his trajectory toward that plateau was as steady as it gets. Read more »
In The End There Is Only The End
One team wins it all and they are the happiest group of guys who ever lived, they are invincible and immortal and beautiful and exhausted. They vacation, extravagantly. And then we reset and go again. Read more »
The Narrative-Proof Finals
In the NBA, there is no story beyond the narrative. But these Finals are different. The teams and players have oscillated wildly between extremes from game to game, at once confirming and refuting any prior notions. Read more »
The Suns' Precision Vs. The Bucks' Bravura
Death by a million cuts has always been the driving philosophy of Chris Paul's angular, probing game, and in the Suns he has the ultimate armada of like-minded blades. Read more »
Suns Show They're At The Top Of Their Good-Good Game With Finals Opening Win
It would be a stretch to say the Bucks need to perfect, or suggest that they could be. They need to be at the top of their good-good game, because that's where the Suns are, that's the register at which we're operating in these Finals. Read more »
A True Variety Of Styles In This Year's Final Four
Despite all the bellyaching about how the NBA has become a homogenized soup of three-point shooting, this year's playoffs reveal the true variety of the game's best teams. Read more »
These Playoffs Have Been A Bridge To Something New
The 2021 NBA Playoffs have been a bridge to a new era, one that will not fully blossom for a few more seasons, but one that fans can see a faint outline of now. Read more »
Devin Booker's Breakthrough As A Modern Throwback
The days of Devin Booker being an empty stats, bad team star are over. He's become one of the more complete offensive guards in the NBA, helping a deep Phoenix squad overachieve in every possible way. Read more »
The Suns Are Built In The Point God's Image
The Suns have adopted Chris Paul's style, not his sensibility. Unlike nearly every other Chris Paul team, the Suns don't appear universally terrified of and reliant upon Paul. Read more »
Ten-Year NBA Net Rating Rankings (Infographics For All 30 Teams)
The Jazz jumped from ninth in Net Rating last season to first in 20-21. Read more »
Chris Paul And Jrue Holiday's Rebellion Against Obsolescence
Top-heavy NBA teams do something to the way we look at the landscape of contenders that frustrates us more than the notion of great players joining forces; they seemingly render a tier of masterfully skillful players obsolete. Read more »
The Jazz, Suns Will Soon Get To Decide For Themselves What They Are
The Jazz and Suns have established themselves as two different types of main character but they're both defined by a kind of improbability, an anxiety about whether or not what they've been so far reflects what they're truly made of. Read more »
The Suns, And Chris Paul's Endgame
What the Suns do in the playoffs will likely be the beginning of Chris Paul's true endgame, his quest to be remembered any differently. Read more »
20-21 NBA Season Preview: Pacific Division
While the Lakers are trying to repeat and the Clippers are trying to figure out what wrong, the Suns and Kings are seeking their first playoff berths in ages, and the Warriors want to stave off another gap year. Read more »
Thirty Futures: Phoenix Suns
What was so gratifying about the work Chris Paul did in Oklahoma City last year was its pastoral element. Will those vibes travel with him to Phoenix? Read more »
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