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I am anchor
The Associated Press/Ross D. Franklin
New Phoenix Suns guard Bradley Beal, left, speaks during a news conference as Suns head coach Frank Vogel, right, looks on during an NBA basketball press conference Thursday, June 29, 2023, in Phoenix.
The Phoenix Suns were expected to add some players over summer.
But the players Phoenix ended up with aren’t anything to scoff at, according to a duo who has watched the club over the years.
The team bolstered its roster with a few unexpected big names to continue its pursuit of an NBA title.
Last month, the Suns acquired star shooting guard Bradley Beal from the Washington Wizards to pair with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker.
The team traded away popular 38-year-old point guard Chris Paul and guard Landry Shamet, five future second-round picks, four future pick swaps and cash considerations to Washington and one future second-round pick to Indiana in the trade, according to a Suns press release.
Beal averaged 23.2 points and five assists per game in about 33 minutes per contest, according to Spotrac.com. He played in 50 games during the 2022-23 season.
The Suns weren’t done.
On July 4, the Suns announced the signing of four free agents — forward Keita Bates-Diop, center Drew Eubanks, forward/center Chimezie Metu and forward Yuta Watanabe — to round out its bench.
Two days later, the Suns announced free agent guard Eric Gordon had also agreed to sign with the team.
“After Beal, I think they did a good job,” said Tim Kempton, a color analyst for the Phoenix Suns.
The team got a “tough kid” in Eubanks who could share the floor with starting center Deandre Ayton, Kempton said.
Eubanks has appeared in 248 career games with San Antonio and Portland in five NBA seasons. He shot 60.7% from the field for his career, one of just 15 active players to hold a career field goal percentage over 60% on at least 1,000 career field goal attempts, according to a press release.
The Suns signed Eubanks after pulling a qualifying offer away from backup center Jock Landale. Landale ended up signing with the Houston Rockets.
“He’s a big, strong kid (who) plays with energy,” Kempton said of Eubanks.
The color analyst said recruiting players like Gordon likely became easier after the team acquired Beal via trade.
Gordon was released by the Los Angeles Clippers after it was reported the team elected not to guarantee the final year of his contract.
“Especially with role guys — they can’t determine how their careers go (as much as stars),” Kempton said. “It’s definitely a little bit easier to recruit.”
Last year, Phoenix lost 4-2 to the eventual NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the second round of the NBA Playoffs.
Eddie Johnson, a Suns TV analyst, said the new teammates need to get on the court together this offseason.
“(The team needs to) play together a lot in the offseason, spend time with each other and set leadership roles,” Johnson said.
Losing Chris Paul, the Suns have premium ballhandlers in Booker, Durant, Beal and Gordon.
But the team can adjust by having balanced ball distribution, Johnson said.
The addition of Beal will make the game easier for the other stars on the team, he said.
The Suns are “automatically” a championship contender with the addition of Beal, Johnson said.
“(It takes pressure off Booker and Durant) a ton,” Johnson said. “Because (Beal) can drop 30 and carry (the team) when one of them miss a game or have an off game.”
The new Suns players give the team a legitimate chance to contend for a title over the next two to three years, he said.
“Now, you are one of the teams players are talking to their agents about,” Kempton said.
Brent Ruffner Lead News Reporter | Daily Independent @AzNewsmedia
Journalism has fascinated Brent Ruffner since junior high school.
Since 2001, his stories have been published in newspapers from the Albuquerque to the Arizona and he has always had a knack for making sure his facts are right and his words are to the point.
Growing up, Brent watched as sports reporters covered his beloved Phoenix Suns, a team he followed since Charles Barkley first arrived in Phoenix via trade in 1992. Sports reporting was a dream back then.
But after gaining some writing experience, Brent found a love for news instead of covering different types of sports. In 2008, he moved to New Mexico and covered crime, schools and city beats all while holding elected officials accountable.
He covered stories that ranged from a DEA drug bust gone bad to an award-winning story on school lunches.
In Arizona, Brent was a freelance writer who covered everything from the importance of citrus in the state to Esteban owning a store in downtown Prescott.
Brent is a 2007 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
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