Suns News: Week 9 (12/15 - 12/21)

[ShelC]

Last Week's Games
Wed, Dec 10th @ Thunder 138-89 LOSS
Sun, Dec 14th vs Lakers 114-116 LOSS

This Week's Games
Thurs Dec 18th vs Golden State at 7:00PM MST/9:00PM EST on Suns Live, Arizona's Family 3TV/Arizona's Family Sports
Sat, Dec 20th @ Golden State at 6:30PM MST/8:30PM EST on Suns Live, Arizona's Family 3TV/Arizona's Family Sports

Suns Stories
Suns' can't finish furious rally, Brooks ejected in loss to Lakers
https://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/ ... 763843007/

NBA Power Rankings
https://www.nba.com/news/power-rankings-2025-26-week-9

#9 Phoenix Suns
Last Week:8↓
Record: 14-12
OffRtg: 114.2 (16) DefRtg: 114.2 (16) NetRtg: -0.0 (17) Pace: 100.0 (23)

The Suns got clobbered by the Thunder in the NBA Cup quarterfinals, and they’ve lost five of their last seven games overall.

Three takeaways

Devin Booker missed three games before returning on Sunday, and this 2-5 stretch has been tough, with all seven games coming against teams ahead of the Suns in the Western Conference standings. They’re 5-7 within the top seven in the West, with none of the other six teams having played more than eight games within the group.

Defense has sparked the Suns’ improvement. They’ve (unsurprisingly) taken a step backward on offense, despite a huge jump in offensive rebounding percentage. They’ve shot much less effectively than they did last season, are one of only four teams that have seen a drop in free-throw rate, and they’ve had the league’s third-biggest jump in turnover rate.

The Suns are the only team that’s beaten the Wolves since Thanksgiving, having held on for a three-point win in Minnesota last Monday. Phoenix has seen the league’s biggest drop in opponent transition points per game from last season, and the Wolves had just 11 (their second-lowest total of the season) in the loss.

Coming up: The Suns have scored just 105.7 points per 100 possessions over eight games against teams that currently rank in the top 10 defensively. They’ll play a pair of games against the Warriors’ fourth-ranked defense this week, having scored just 107 on 100 in a loss in San Francisco last month.

Week 9: vs. GSW, @ GSW

[Mori Chu]

Phoenix has seen the league’s biggest drop in opponent transition points per game from last season, and the Wolves had just 11 (their second-lowest total of the season) in the loss.

That's a wild stat. But it matches the eye test. How many times last year would we turn the ball over and then just give up on running back on defense, letting the other team have a free layup? So glad we are not doing that nearly as much any more.

[sunshoopjunky]

Hey Suns fans!
It's been a tough start to the season, and it really makes you wonder about those nail-biter losses. I crunched the numbers on our current 2025-2026 record and those games we dropped by 5 points or less. The difference is pretty wild and shows just how close we are to being a top team in the West!
Here’s the breakdown:
The Close Calls We Almost Won
So far this season, the Suns are 14 wins and 12 losses (14-12). Out of those 12 losses, four were decided by a margin of only 1 to 4 points.
The specific close losses were:
1 point vs Memphis Grizzlies
1 point vs Atlanta Hawks
2 points vs Los Angeles Lakers
4 points @ Oklahoma City Thunder
What Our Record Could Be
If we had closed out those four heartbreaking games, we’d swap those four losses for four wins.
Actual Record: 14-12
Hypothetical Record: 18-8
The Standings Difference
This shift from 14-12 to 18-8 is massive for our position in the Western Conference.
Where we actually are:
We are currently sitting in 7th place in the West.
Where we would be:
With an 18-8 record, we would jump all the way up to a tie for 2nd place in the West! We’d be right up there with the Nuggets and Lakers, just a few games behind the OKC Thunder for the top spot.
It just goes to show how fine the margins are in the NBA. One or two plays in those key moments and our season outlook would be totally different right now. Let’s hope we start closing those games out in the second half of the season!
Go Suns!

[BKinSJC]

Hey Suns fans!
It's been a tough start to the season, and it really makes you wonder about those nail-biter losses. I crunched the numbers on our current 2025-2026 record and those games we dropped by 5 points or less. The difference is pretty wild and shows just how close we are to being a top team in the West!
Here’s the breakdown:
The Close Calls We Almost Won
So far this season, the Suns are 14 wins and 12 losses (14-12). Out of those 12 losses, four were decided by a margin of only 1 to 4 points.
The specific close losses were:
1 point vs Memphis Grizzlies
1 point vs Atlanta Hawks
2 points vs Los Angeles Lakers
4 points @ Oklahoma City Thunder
What Our Record Could Be
If we had closed out those four heartbreaking games, we’d swap those four losses for four wins.
Actual Record: 14-12
Hypothetical Record: 18-8
The Standings Difference
This shift from 14-12 to 18-8 is massive for our position in the Western Conference.
Where we actually are:
We are currently sitting in 7th place in the West.
Where we would be:
With an 18-8 record, we would jump all the way up to a tie for 2nd place in the West! We’d be right up there with the Nuggets and Lakers, just a few games behind the OKC Thunder for the top spot.
It just goes to show how fine the margins are in the NBA. One or two plays in those key moments and our season outlook would be totally different right now. Let’s hope we start closing those games out in the second half of the season!
Go Suns!

There was also a four-point overtime loss at Utah early in the season; I'm not sure why you're not including that one in this hypothetical. Also, there have been three close games that the Suns actually won - 4 points in the first game of the season against the Kings, and one and three point wins against the TWolves. Especially in that first Wolves game, the opponents utterly collapsed to give away a game that should have been a sure win.

So the real best case, if you want to reverse all the close losses and make them wins, would be 19-7. That's unrealistic, though. Nobody wins all their close games. You could swap the 3-5 record in close games for 5-3, and that would make it 16-10, which wouldn't be bad. Or you could posit worst case, where the Suns don't win any of those games and are 11-15 and barely hanging on to a play-in spot right now. In the end, the record is what it is.

Sorry I don't have a bunch of cute emojis to illustrate. Hope it's readable anyways.

[sunshoopjunky]

There was also a four-point overtime loss at Utah early in the season; I'm not sure why you're not including that one in this hypothetical. Also, there have been three close games that the Suns actually won - 4 points in the first game of the season against the Kings, and one and three point wins against the TWolves. Especially in that first Wolves game, the opponents utterly collapsed to give away a game that should have been a sure win.

So the real best case, if you want to reverse all the close losses and make them wins, would be 19-7. That's unrealistic, though. Nobody wins all their close games. You could swap the 3-5 record in close games for 5-3, and that would make it 16-10, which wouldn't be bad. Or you could posit worst case, where the Suns don't win any of those games and are 11-15 and barely hanging on to a play-in spot right now. In the end, the record is what it is.

Sorry I don't have a bunch of cute emojis to illustrate. Hope it's readable anyways.

Don’t get me wrong should’ve, would’ve, could’ve, and all that. Ultimately we are somewhere between the sky is falling and Ott getting coach of the year. What excites me is that we are a handful to play against, we are never out of a game, and we are learning from the bumps and bruises while still remaining relevant. Almost like a rebuild without the rebuild.

[Superbone]

Hey Suns fans!
It's been a tough start to the season, and it really makes you wonder about those nail-biter losses. I crunched the numbers on our current 2025-2026 record and those games we dropped by 5 points or less. The difference is pretty wild and shows just how close we are to being a top team in the West!
Here’s the breakdown:
The Close Calls We Almost Won
So far this season, the Suns are 14 wins and 12 losses (14-12). Out of those 12 losses, four were decided by a margin of only 1 to 4 points.
The specific close losses were:
1 point vs Memphis Grizzlies
1 point vs Atlanta Hawks
2 points vs Los Angeles Lakers
4 points @ Oklahoma City Thunder
What Our Record Could Be
If we had closed out those four heartbreaking games, we’d swap those four losses for four wins.
Actual Record: 14-12
Hypothetical Record: 18-8
The Standings Difference
This shift from 14-12 to 18-8 is massive for our position in the Western Conference.
Where we actually are:
We are currently sitting in 7th place in the West.
Where we would be:
With an 18-8 record, we would jump all the way up to a tie for 2nd place in the West! We’d be right up there with the Nuggets and Lakers, just a few games behind the OKC Thunder for the top spot.
It just goes to show how fine the margins are in the NBA. One or two plays in those key moments and our season outlook would be totally different right now. Let’s hope we start closing those games out in the second half of the season!
Go Suns!

There was also a four-point overtime loss at Utah early in the season; I'm not sure why you're not including that one in this hypothetical. Also, there have been three close games that the Suns actually won - 4 points in the first game of the season against the Kings, and one and three point wins against the TWolves. Especially in that first Wolves game, the opponents utterly collapsed to give away a game that should have been a sure win.

So the real best case, if you want to reverse all the close losses and make them wins, would be 19-7. That's unrealistic, though. Nobody wins all their close games. You could swap the 3-5 record in close games for 5-3, and that would make it 16-10, which wouldn't be bad. Or you could posit worst case, where the Suns don't win any of those games and are 11-15 and barely hanging on to a play-in spot right now. In the end, the record is what it is.

Sorry I don't have a bunch of cute emojis to illustrate. Hope it's readable anyways.

I have no doubt you’ll get there in time.

[Superbone]

[ShelC]

[TOO]

Yikes.

[Superbone]

Yep, we're going to have to give Watson some credit for his time in Phoenix if only for that. Butler eats teams and coaches up. After the Bulls, he chewed his way through Minny and the Heat. (Which just happens to be the name of a new TV series coming soon!)

[Mori Chu]

Butler would have been good here for a few years, then he would have started doing his shtick (not trying hard, missing games, passive-aggressively seeking a trade) and forced his way out. Blech. I like Butler okay but not as a team's #1 guy and not at all for the cost of Booker; that would have been a horrendous trade.

[Split T]

If Watson was still around then we are talking very early Booker. Probably when Butler was traded to Minny for Lauri and other stuff. That was around the Josh Jackson draft

[specialsauce]

PJ Washington for BOZO, Bum, Oneale and whatever pick we have.

[Superbone]

If Watson was still around then we are talking very early Booker. Probably when Butler was traded to Minny for Lauri and other stuff. That was around the Josh Jackson draft

It was 2017.

[Split T]

Jackson was the 2017 draft so that makes sense

[O_Gardino]

Bledsoe - Ulis - Barbosa
Knight - Jenkins - Milsap
Butler - Warren - Tucker - DJJ
Dudley - Bender -Chriss
Chandler - Len - Williams

DYNASTY

[Split T]

On the plus side, it would have made us better that season and kept us from getting the 1st pick in 2018…might’ve meant we drafted Luka, JJJ, Trae, or even Shai.

[Superbone]

On the plus side, it would have made us better that season and kept us from getting the 1st pick in 2018…might’ve meant we drafted Luka, JJJ, Trae, or even Shai.

Probably would have been Bagley.

[Split T]

lol…or Mo Bamba

[Shabazz]

lol…or Mo Bamba

It was interesting watching Bamba play against Maluach in the GLeague game last week.

I hope the coaches pointed him out to Khaman as a cautionary tale. They were pretty similar prospects entering the NBA and Bamba is hanging on for his NBA life after a nondescript career.