Ovie Soko says the Phoenix Suns have established themselves as a dangerous team
Sky Sports' new NBA analyst also gives his thoughts on rest, recovery and load management following the controversy over Kawhi Leonard being rested for a TV game
Tuesday 12 November 2019 18:36, UK
Ovie Soko is thrilled by the rapid growth shown by the Phoenix Suns and says the team have established themselves as a team to be respected in the Western Conference.
'Suns are no joke and have earned respect in West'
My Phoenix Suns are dangerous right now and are one of the most exciting teams to watch because of their rapid growth. I'm thrilled and I love what I'm seeing. I'm certainly not saying 'Suns to win the championship', no, but they have taken huge strides.
I see this Suns team in a similar mould to how the Boston Celtics were able to develop under coach Brad Stevens. The Celtics have huge stars but they play a team brand of basketball. It's not the two-man game that a lot of the league has moved towards.
With Boston, it's five guys pitching in every night. That's real basketball, not living or dying on two guys shooting you in or out of the game.
Ricky Rubio has been a revelation for Phoenix. He suits the Suns and they suit him very well. He is an old school pass-first point guard that wants to run the team and get the ball to where it needs to go. Up until now, I think he has found it hard to fit in on other teams in a guard-heavy league where point guards are often asked to score 30 points a game.
It does not have to be like that. A point guard is there to run the team and ensure everyone is clicking on all cylinders. In Phoenix, it is not necessary for him to get 30 but he can be indirectly responsible for a lot more than that - the team's overall production which is a result of him moving the ball around and getting his team-mates shots early in positions where they are comfortable.
Kelly Oubre is a rising two-way star. He has that sort of potential, the energy he plays with. I can see him filling a Jimmy Butler-type star role. He can grow into that kind of mould where he has the ability to score and make plays. He will get offensive rebounds to score on some nights. On others he will get hot from three.
Oubre is not a flat-out scorer but that's what Devin Booker is there for. 'Book' is an undeniable pure scorer and one of the best in the league at it. There are not many players in the league more skilled at putting the ball in the hole.
The dynamic of those three players - without even getting into the production that Aron Baynes (with his toughness and new three-point threat), Jevon Carter (and the grit he brings) and Tyler Johnson have brought to the table - is so important for the Suns. Oubre is respected in the locker room and he makes sure everyone is playing with their hard hats on. He does not take plays off and he throws his body around.
All that speaks to the massive culture change bought in by coach Monty Williams in his first year with the team. It's a complete 180 and I love it!
There was one thing I saw in Phoenix's win against Brooklyn which really illustrated their shift in culture. The Suns turned the ball over and their star man Booker was busting a gut sprinting back and directing traffic on defense. That shows Williams has got the whole team on the same page. 'Book' isn't going to be their best defender by a long shot, but he is prepared to bust his tail. That sets the tone for the team.
Phoenix are one of the best three-point shooting teams in the league (they rank fifth in three-point shooting percentage - 38.4) and having all these guys being able to shoot takes pressure off Rubio and allows him to play his game, getting his team-mates in the right positions.
When DeAndre Ayton comes back from his 25-game suspension, he will find this Suns culture contagious. The guys are having fun playing with each other. There are high-fives going on everywhere and guys are picking each other up after makes or misses. They lead the league in assists per game (28.5).
These little things are part of what building a winning culture is about. If they stay hungry to play together and grow as a team, I think they will move from strength to strength. They have found their identity and have learned how to win. The beauty of that collective identity is that it has not taken anything away from the players' individual talents. Booker can still be that unapologetic offensive assassin. Their rivals in the West have to respect them. They are no joke.
'NBA needs to find better balance over player rest and recovery'
Rest and recovery has been an issue in the NBA for a good while but now it has become a discussion that must be had.
We are seeing a lot of injuries, including some that are taking time away from huge players in the game, including KD, Paul George, Stephen Curry. We do not want to miss out on the prime years of special players, like we did with Penny Hardaway, Tracy McGrady and Brandon Roy back in the day.
In recent times, the stress of the regular season and injuries have come to bite at the back end of the season, the time when the NBA has its biggest audience. The playoffs are when the world is watching. We want to see the best players in the world at the top of their games.
Is the 82-game regular season schedule too demanding on the players? We are seeing players' bodies breaking down. And last year, with Kawhi Leonard's time being well managed, he delivered a championship for the Toronto Raptors. It's hard to argue in that case that load management didn't work.
But you have to see the argument from both sides. Michael Jordan has come out and said the players are paid to play 82 games. There is a reason you are seeing players sign mega-contracts. The new TV deal is the biggest part of the top players being given these mega-deals.
I'm not sure what the exact solution is but the NBA has to find a balance between finding time to give the players some time to rest their bodies and the fact that fans want to see the superstars like LeBron, Kyrie and Kawhi when they come to their town.
If the guys are not given enough recovery time, you are not going to see the best of them. You are going to get them just walking up and down the court for the first half of games. Is that value for money? In a sense, that's even more damaging. As things stand, teams have to find their own way of ensuring players get their recovery and get through to the end of the season.
Should the NBA consider a shorter regular season? Do you remember how exciting the shortened season after the lockout in 2011? Everyone had so much energy you saw real high-octane basketball all the time. A player having a 40-point game that year was a huge deal because it was evident how hard everyone was playing.
The AAU factor is another important part of the discussion. Youth players are putting a lot of miles on the clock before they come anywhere near the NBA. The game is becoming 'professional' at the levels below the NBA, like the Triple A and Double AA leagues in baseball. The load the youth players are putting on their bodies at AAU level means they are going through the rigours of a professional schedule from their early and mid-teens.
Injuries are a sad reality of sport, every athlete and every fan knows that. But are we being as smart as we can about preventing injuries?
It's a really important discussion right now and I do not want it to take losing a special player to injury for the league to find the right solution. I think spreading out those nationally televised back-to-back games is a good place to start. There are big names and special players throughout the league that could be slotted into the schedule, not just the big-market teams.
Maybe you are not watching Kawhi, maybe you are watching Devin Booker and my Phoenix Suns.
Read more from Ovie Soko throughout the season as part of Sky's best-ever NBA offering, which will include 134 live games and a record 48 games in weekend primetime slots.
You can also check out episode two of Sky Sports Heatcheck, our new weekly NBA show live on Sky Sports' Youtube channel at 5:45pm on Tuesday evening.
