The Phoenix Suns are hungry for revenge after last season’s disappointing finish. From all the discourse around fans, before the season starts, fans around the league are lower on this team than they were entering last season. In their final preseason game, they won an overtime thriller against the Los Angeles Lakers. Let’s dive in and break down to see what stood out for the Suns in the preseason whether it’s good or bad.
The Suns Show Out in Preseason Finale
Nurkic is Back & Better than Ever
One player the Suns fans have been waiting to see is Jusuf Nurkic. Nurkic, who had been out the previous four games due to a left middle finger injury, suited up for the Suns last night for the first time this season. He stated at Media Day that he wants to work on shooting more threes, and that he “feels the best” he has in his career. We have already seen that with the addition of Mike Budenholzer, the Suns will prioritize the three-ball, and it works with this team. Suns fans have anxiously been waiting to see how he fits with this team, and he showcased his skills. Jusuf Nurkic showed against the Lakers that he fits that mold coach Bud wants him to be.
In his first showing this year in just 17 minutes, Nurkic had 15 pts, seven rebounds, and two blocks. Nurkic also shot 54% from the field and 50% on four three-point tries. This is a great sample size of what Nurk can bring to this team on amazing value. Suns fans should not be worried about the center issues they dealt with last season. As long as Nurk stays healthy, he will help this team contribute to winning.
Suns Hit on Both Draft Picks
The Suns are definitely grinning ear to ear, when they hear other fan bases talk about their draft selections. Both Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro have showcased they can make impacts for this team. We all have heard about Dunn’s jump shot. Against the Lakers, he was still dominant on the defense side, but the shot was not falling which is somewhat expected.
For Ighodaro though, he has showcased his fantastic skills as a big man, His main knock coming out of the draft was his size. Could he play center? Well the Suns were willing to figure that out, and it definitely has paid off. Ighoddaro had only six points and two rebounds, but he also tallied two blocks. He also saw minutes alongside Nurk, which allowed Nurk to stretch the floor more for the Suns. Expect coach Bud to experiment with the Suns depth as they have plenty of players who can play multiple positrons within the bench unit.
Do Not Write off Bradley Beal
Unfortunately for Suns fans, the discourse has already started on Bradley Beal. He is viewed as this team’s third star, and sometimes he does not live up to it. For many Suns fans, this is frustrating. Against the Lakers, Beal did not have a good game. He was 4-15 from the field and just 1-6 from three-point range. Now this is alarming for sure, but it is just preseason. In these five games, we have seen this team have players out. Both Devin Booker and Kevin Durant have underperformed in select games this preseason. I still believe Beal will reach the goals he set for himself at Media Day. We will see Bradley Beal back to himself, and this team will benefit even more out of that.
