Phoenix Suns Not Concerned Following Quiet Offseason

The Phoenix Suns are coming off one of the best seasons in franchise history.

They won a league-best 64 games, earning the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Monty Williams was named the NBA's top coach. Their best player, Devin Booker, played like he belonged among the league's budding superstars.

So why all the fuss about their nearly non-existent offseason?

For starters, the Suns were stunned in the conference semifinals by the Dallas Mavericks, perhaps thwarting guard Chris Paul's best shot at winning a championship. Many felt Phoenix needed to make a splash in the offseason by acquiring another superstar to complement Booker and Paul.

Williams has said all summer he is content with the Suns' roster as is.

"I like our team," Williams said during a recent interview with Sirius XM NBA Radio. "I love our guys."

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Williams is taking the same approach as Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra, his counterpart in the Eastern Conference. Like Williams, Spoelstra coached his team to the top seed last season. Like Williams, the Heat fell short of their goals.

They were bounced out of the playoffs by the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the conference finals and will enter this season with the same roster from a year ago. The only difference is the departure of forward P.J. Tucker to the Philadelphia 76ers and the addition of first-round draft pick Nikola Jovic.

It is unclear if the Suns and Heat chose to stay with their current lineups or just failed in free agent and trade negotiations. Time was, teams simply counted on bringing back the same lineup and trying it again the next season.

But this is the new NBA, where it takes more to keep pace.

Even the league's top seeds are finding it necessary to upgrade in the offseason. After the 2012 Heat won a title behind LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh, they added Hall of Famer Ray Allen and former All-Star Rashard Lewis.

In 2016, the Golden State Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers and felt the need to acquire Kevin Durant from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Teams are realizing they have to add talent to stay on top.

Still, the Suns are confident in their core group.

They took care of home first by re-signing center Deandre Ayton to a four-year, $133-million deal and giving Booker a supermax extension. The Ayton saga ended months of trade speculation.

At the same time, it eliminated any chance of the Suns acquiring Durant from the Brooklyn Nets. Many felt signing him was their best chance to stay on par with the Warriors, last year's champs. Ayton was the Suns' best bargain chip in a deal for Durant. By matching Ayton's contract, the Suns are unable to trade him until Jan. 15.

“I never talked to any of our guys about that,” Williams said of the Durant-Ayton speculation. "One, people don’t understand how hard trades are to pull off. When I first heard about the Kevin Durant stuff, I was kind of blown away by it just because, you know, we’ve been so blessed here to have guys want to come [to Phoenix]. At the same time, ‘at the expense of what?’ was my thinking."'

Williams never even mentioned the trade possibility to Ayton or anyone on the roster, for that matter. Most free agency speculation is far-fetched and simply to keep fans and media discussing the NBA in the offseason.

“But I wasn’t going to have conversations that didn’t need to be had," Williams said. "I think our guys are mature enough to understand that part of our business. I didn’t want to have conversations about stuff that didn’t need to be brought up. Part of it is because I’ve been in the business so long. It’s just hard to pull trades off, so that was my thinking."

While the Suns are a sure bet to compete in the West, there should be some concern. The blowout loss at home to the Mavericks was bad, one of the worst flops by a top seed in league history. This was supposedly the Suns' year to reach the next level after playing well in 2020 during the Orlando bubble season and then losing to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games in the 2021 Finals.

The inactive offseason has caused some to fall off the Suns bandwagon. ESPN recently graded each team's efforts during free agency. While giving other contenders high marks, the Suns were awarded a C-plus.

"Even after the negotiations ended with the Suns matching an offer sheet from the Indiana Pacers, it's tough to tell the team's goal in talks with restricted free agent Deandre Ayton," ESPN NBA analyst Kevin Pelton said. "If Phoenix hoped to force Ayton to choose between playing for the one-year qualifying offer or a non-max multiyear deal, that outcome did look realistic for a moment before the Pacers stepped in. The Suns were fortunate Ayton's deal wasn't more player-friendly, containing no player option or trade bonus."

Pelton said the Ayton deal could have "long-term ramifications" because it was poorly-handled.

"With Ayton's new deal taking them into the luxury tax, the Suns' other moves were all to add players at the minimum," Pelton said. "I liked the value for Damion Lee, who has quietly been productive for the Warriors during the regular season."

The Heat and Suns now enter training camp with a "run it back" mentality The Warriors are considered the favorites to repeat as champions while the Mavericks always remain a threat as long as they have Luka Doncic. Even though the Memphis Grizzlies were last year's No. 2 seed, they are probably a year away from being serious threats to the title.

The Suns are already a legitimate contender because of their good mix of veterans and youth. Paul is 37 but the average age of his supporting cast of Ayton Booker, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson is just 25. And a healthy Cameron Payne, who missed 24 games last year because of injuries, should help keep Paul rested for the playoffs.

"We've got a lot of young guys on our team," Paul said. "Even [last season's] experience in the playoffs is better than not."

Sure, fans are upset because the Suns did not make a major move to create excitement entering the season. As usual, all of it is probably overblown. The Suns have their key pieces and should learn from last season.

Expect them to be right in the thick of things in the West. They are contenders and the window is nowhere near closing. This team is here for the next several seasons.