When Beal, Booker, and Durant share the court, the Suns are scoring 135.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the 100th percentile compared to all lineups with at least 100 possessions played. They have a plus-25.1 net rating, also in the 100th percentile. They rarely turn the ball over, generate gobs of free throws, and have a 63 percent effective field goal rate; for reference, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are at 62 percent this season.
The Suns with their Big Three are essentially the best shooters from every spot on the court.
In other words, whether we have a chance is up to pure luck—whether the big three can stay healthy or not in the playoffs.
Isn’t that true of every team?
Take Luka or Kyrie off Dallas, do they have a chance?
Take Tatum or Brown off Boston
Take Giannis or Dame off Mil
SGA, Williams off OKC
When Beal, Booker, and Durant share the court, the Suns are scoring 135.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the 100th percentile compared to all lineups with at least 100 possessions played. They have a plus-25.1 net rating, also in the 100th percentile. They rarely turn the ball over, generate gobs of free throws, and have a 63 percent effective field goal rate; for reference, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are at 62 percent this season.
The Suns with their Big Three are essentially the best shooters from every spot on the court.
In other words, whether we have a chance is up to pure luck—whether the big three can stay healthy or not in the playoffs.
Isn’t that true of every team?
Take Luka or Kyrie off Dallas, do they have a chance?
Take Tatum or Brown off Boston
Take Giannis or Dame off Mil
SGA, Williams off OKC
Etc.
Perhaps, but our big three’s history makes it a dicey proposition.
Last edited by JeremyG on Thu Jan 25, 2024 9:38 am, edited 1 time in total.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
When Beal, Booker, and Durant share the court, the Suns are scoring 135.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the 100th percentile compared to all lineups with at least 100 possessions played. They have a plus-25.1 net rating, also in the 100th percentile. They rarely turn the ball over, generate gobs of free throws, and have a 63 percent effective field goal rate; for reference, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are at 62 percent this season.
The Suns with their Big Three are essentially the best shooters from every spot on the court.
In other words, whether we have a chance is up to pure luck—whether the big three can stay healthy or not in the playoffs.
When Beal, Booker, and Durant share the court, the Suns are scoring 135.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the 100th percentile compared to all lineups with at least 100 possessions played. They have a plus-25.1 net rating, also in the 100th percentile. They rarely turn the ball over, generate gobs of free throws, and have a 63 percent effective field goal rate; for reference, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are at 62 percent this season.
The Suns with their Big Three are essentially the best shooters from every spot on the court.
In other words, whether we have a chance is up to pure luck—whether the big three can stay healthy or not in the playoffs.
Love the positivity. Keep it up.
Just being realistic. Look at what happened earlier in the season when one of the big three was out. Their collective injury history does not give me much hope that they’ll all stay healthy through the playoffs.
"I'm a Deandre Ayton guy."--Al McCoy, September 21, 2022.
When Beal, Booker, and Durant share the court, the Suns are scoring 135.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the 100th percentile compared to all lineups with at least 100 possessions played. They have a plus-25.1 net rating, also in the 100th percentile. They rarely turn the ball over, generate gobs of free throws, and have a 63 percent effective field goal rate; for reference, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are at 62 percent this season.
The Suns with their Big Three are essentially the best shooters from every spot on the court.
In other words, whether we have a chance is up to pure luck—whether the big three can stay healthy or not in the playoffs.
I get being cautious about their injury history. But as others have pointed out, no team can survive the loss of one of its top 1-2 players and still be a title winner. Every team needs that same luck. And almost every contender has some dicey injury history:
Nuggets: Jokic is an ironman, but Murray and Porter both have had bad injuries
Clippers: Kawhi and George have both been injured a lot in their careers
Lakers: Lebron is 88 years old; AD is made of glass
Philly: Embiid has had a lot of injuries in his career; has been healthy for a while now, but always looming
some notable exceptions:
OKC: All their best guys are like 19, so they are probably going to stay healthy
Minny: I don't buy these pussies as contenders anyway
Milwaukee: Giannis is made of titanium; Dame and Lopez are healthy. Maybe Middleton is a bit of an injury risk but they will probably they'll be near 100% for the playoffs.
Boston: Probably the best combo of raw roster talent and durability/age; they are likely to get to the playoffs at nearly full strength. Maybe Porzingis is an injury risk.
SGA has had injury issues…but they were probably more tanking issues than real injuries. Dame is in the same boat, but he’s had more real injuries. I agree Boston is the one team with very little health concerns…just KP…but that’s kind of a big one, especially since Horford is 38.
Brad does miss some gimmes when he ready but his dribble drives are easily the best on the team
The whole put the 3rd best defender on him surely isn't working for teams. I always feel like he can just blow by most on any night
When Beal, Booker, and Durant share the court, the Suns are scoring 135.7 points per 100 possessions, which ranks in the 100th percentile compared to all lineups with at least 100 possessions played. They have a plus-25.1 net rating, also in the 100th percentile. They rarely turn the ball over, generate gobs of free throws, and have a 63 percent effective field goal rate; for reference, Nikola Jokic and Giannis Antetokounmpo are at 62 percent this season.
The Suns with their Big Three are essentially the best shooters from every spot on the court.
In other words, whether we have a chance is up to pure luck—whether the big three can stay healthy or not in the playoffs.
Love the positivity. Keep it up.
Just being realistic. Look at what happened earlier in the season when one of the big three was out. Their collective injury history does not give me much hope that they’ll all stay healthy through the playoffs.
Yes because having a youthful, big man was so secure in the playoffs... Injuries happen anytime, to anyone, right? Even if it is a pussy ass rib injury.
Ya Beal is awesome…now that he’s healthy I really don’t miss CP3 at all. We are much more dangerous with Beal
I sometimes miss CP3 ... but I miss 3-years-ago CP3, not this-year CP3. And that player is long gone. In total I agree that the trade for Beal seems to have made us better this year. CP3 hasn't even been able to stay on the court for the Warriors this year, and when he's played, he's been a bench supporting player, not a core part of their team.
Beal is unlike any player I can think of in recent Suns history. Undersized for the 2spot but has the length and athleticism combined with insane quickness to get wherever he wants on the court. He's a 3 level scoring threat who's been a versatile defender for us. I still don't think we've scratched the surface with his abilities but he's filling the role we need for now. I look forward to watching him get on a hot streak and score the shit out of the ball for a few games.
I'm a fan of Beal and how he plays, because he plays very different than Book, but it compliments everyone else too. I think we're on the verge of Beal getting that 40 point game soon, and I think his averages will start to slowly increase. It was so fun seeing how surgical the Suns were against the Mavs last night. It's so hard for teams to focus or even take one of the big 3 out of the game, as it just opens things up for another one of them.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann "Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass
Ya Beal is awesome…now that he’s healthy I really don’t miss CP3 at all. We are much more dangerous with Beal
I sometimes miss CP3 ... but I miss 3-years-ago CP3, not this-year CP3. And that player is long gone. In total I agree that the trade for Beal seems to have made us better this year. CP3 hasn't even been able to stay on the court for the Warriors this year, and when he's played, he's been a bench supporting player, not a core part of their team.
That’s fair…I think I saw it more before Beal was here when Book sometimes didn’t know when to be a distributor and when to be a scorer. Book has been able to just be himself as we have plenty of distributors on the floor now.
I'm a fan of Beal and how he plays, because he plays very different than Book, but it compliments everyone else too. I think we're on the verge of Beal getting that 40 point game soon, and I think his averages will start to slowly increase. It was so fun seeing how surgical the Suns were against the Mavs last night. It's so hard for teams to focus or even take one of the big 3 out of the game, as it just opens things up for another one of them.
Beal is our best player at breaking down a defense by getting into the paint and forcing rotations. Book and CP3 and KD even are more methodical about getting to their spots. Beal just attacks and gets into the paint even if he’s not planning to shoot. We need that in order to get up more 3s.
It actually makes me curious if we attempt more 3s with Beal on the court so I’m gonna check.
I'm a fan of Beal and how he plays, because he plays very different than Book, but it compliments everyone else too. I think we're on the verge of Beal getting that 40 point game soon, and I think his averages will start to slowly increase. It was so fun seeing how surgical the Suns were against the Mavs last night. It's so hard for teams to focus or even take one of the big 3 out of the game, as it just opens things up for another one of them.
Beal is our best player at breaking down a defense by getting into the paint and forcing rotations. Book and CP3 and KD even are more methodical about getting to their spots. Beal just attacks and gets into the paint even if he’s not planning to shoot. We need that in order to get up more 3s.
It actually makes me curious if we attempt more 3s with Beal on the court so I’m gonna check.
I totally agree with this and meant to add this to post. He keeps the defense honest, because we will be playing one way and then all of a sudden they have to protect the paint in a way that they weren't ready for. A lot of times, he's attacking without them being ready, instead of setting them up in iso, where the defense tries to get ready.
"When we all think alike, nobody is thinking" - Walter Lippmann "Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them." ~ Frederick Douglass
I can’t find any data on whether we get up more 3s with Beal out there though…the one thing I found is 7 of our top 8 lineups that take more 3s than their opponent have Grayson in them. The only one that doesn’t is #1 and has only played 20 minutes together. And it had Eubanks, Yuta, and Okogie all out there. Might have been an early season lineup that just took a bunch of 3s one game…or played against a team like the Lakers that just doesn’t shoot 3s.
