Photo by Jeff Haynes/NBAE via Getty Images Phoenix’s owner and GM shut down the need for a point guard. Mat Ishbia’s long week after the Phoenix Suns’ 2023-24 season began Wednesday. Ishbia, who is the majority owner of the Suns and Mercury, told reporters he will hold conversations with coach Frank Vogel to his players in the next three days. “I have not had one discussion,” Ishbia said. “About my GM, coach, or even trading players, supposedly now in the media. “I’m here Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to have those conversations.” Phoenix’s season ended abruptly. The Suns were swept out of the First Round of the playoffs by the Minnesota Timberwolves, who ended the team’s season after back-to-back discouraging home losses. Phoenix has seen its year shut down at home in blowout fashion in each of the last three seasons. Wednesday, Ishbia and Suns general manager James Jones spoke to local media to discuss what went wrong for the Suns. The 44-year-old Ishbia in his first season as majority owner proclaimed his roster was the best in the NBA, but it clearly had weaknesses, namely a “Big 3” of scoring players without a point guard. Here is what Suns GM James Jones said when asked by @GeraldBourguet if the team needs a PG:"I think the team could benefit from having a point guard...that's a narrative you'll hear a lot, 'point guard, point guard, point guard..' I'm sure that's great. Who do you want? Like,… pic.twitter.com/VGClTYgfsD— Trevor Booth (@TrevorMBooth) May 2, 2024 “I’m a point guard,” Ishbia joked. “They didn’t want to sign me, I’m not good enough.” It was reported by TNT’s Chris Haynes that Suns coach Frank Vogel, who Ishbia refused to affirm would be back for next season, wanted a point guard, though the front office did not. “Everyone talks about these things. And, whether we need a point guard, whether we don’t need a point guard, there’s a lot of discussions…I don’t know if that report is correct, by the way, whether Frank thought that or James thought that or vice versa.” The Suns struggled to take care of the basketball. They ranked No. 25 in the NBA in turnovers (14.9 per game) despite having Bradley Beal and Devin Booker to man the position. B-Ball Index says the Suns had the sixth-worst turnover percentage in the NBA. “You want the ball in those guys’ hands as much as possible,” Ishbia said. “If you have a point guard or someone else out there, the ball is in their hands’ less.” Phoenix’s point-guard situation is one that is dire. The Suns struggled to take care of the basketball in close games this season, something that changed their record and ultimately had them stuck as the No. 6 seed and fighting to stay out of the play-in. In March, Phoenix reverted point-guard duties to Beal, who spoke about his experience in the role on Monday. “It’s tough in today’s society, like it’s not really, everybody keeps saying, ‘A true point guard,’” Beal said. “There’s not really any ‘true’ point guards that play in today’s game. It’s a lot of combo guards and a lot of scoring guards. It’s about initiating our offense. We just could’ve all been better in that fashion, I could have been better, just pushing the pace. “Obviously, taking care of the ball a lot better than what I did. But I was comfortable with it, man. I’m able to handle the ball, I’m able to handle pressure and it’s just dumb passes and silly mistakes and just unfathomable passes and just thinking out there. We were all — Book, same thing — we were all just comfortable handling the ball. Point guard, not point guard label, we didn’t really care about that.” The Suns’ point-guard duties included many of ‘Spain’ and middle pick-and-roll sets, which disabled the team from ultimately taking advantage of Kevin Durant, who was tied with Booker at 27.1 points per game. Phoenix gave up former forwards Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson for Durant, who is arguably the most dominant player in NBA history because of is height and skill, was instead used like those players and too often relegated to the corner in offensive sets. The team must find a way to isolate Durant, who is ranked No. 7 in overall gravity by B-Ball Index. Durant is best used at the high post and in the short roll and corner, but he needs to receive touches around the mid- and low-post and corner quickly to become more effective as a player. “A constant focus for us is to continue how to figure out and maximize Kevin Durant,” said Jones, who played previously with LeBron James. “No one has done it yet. “When he’s playing at the highest level, he makes us a really, really good team and we’re damn near unbeatable.”
Source: https://www.brightsideofthesun.com/2024 ... oint-guard