It’s the crisis in Arizona. The Suns no longer chain victories as well, and icing on a very salty cake: Devin Booker was injured, and will miss at least four weeks of competition. In the Top 10 of the MVP race at the start of the season, D-Book will be greatly missed on the Suns roster. But as the transition to 2023 approaches, another question arises: will there be an All-Star in Phoenix this season?
We know an old bald man who will be under pressure. No, we weren’t talking regarding Chris Paul, but that works too. The Suns aren’t as dominant as they were last season, that’s a fact. Is it due to the backlash of the last Playoffs? To the business of the future-ex owner? At Jae Crowder’s sulk? Cam Johnson’s injury? Or even at the advancing age of CP3? Probably a bit of all of that. Attention, the situation is not dramatic either (we are not in Los Angeles), but unusual enough to be singled out. And with the Devin Booker injury which is added to the surrounding brothel… hello lowered ambitions.
Suns star Devin Booker will miss at least four weeks with a left groin strain, team says.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 28, 2022
Is there even one All-Star left in Phoenix? If Armani is back among the cacti before the All-Star Game, he will logically participate. But otherwise, it’s hard to imagine as we speak another Arizonan taking his teammate’s place in Salt Lake City next February.
Chris Paul ? Complicated. Since he blew his 37 candles, Chris is closer to Point Neutral than Point God. The leader of the Suns struggles, in scoring in particular (12.7 points per game at 41.3% shooting). Everywhere, CP3’s standards are dropping: the League’s top passer with 10.8 caviars per game last season, this year he has dropped to “only” 8.8 assists. Even on the throw line, the veteran seems to have lost confidence, as evidenced by the impressive drop in his percentages (87% in career, 78.4% this season). And if that was not enough to disqualify CP3, the 14 games already missed should take care of it. Yeah, looks like the Cipi fruit has been in sunny Arizona for too long.
Deandre Ayton ? Yeah. In the pivot of the cactus, there is good as well as less good. Alright, we’re making progress there. More seriously, if the young center of the Bahamas has recently shown that it is capable to put down the handle and to beef up his game on certain occasions, on a daily basis, it’s still not that. Often referred to as soft, DominAyton has even reduces its production on the rebound, going from 10.2 last year to 9.7 this year. There is certainly a slight improvement in scoring (18.1 points per game at 60%) but in defense, DeAndre is still not one of the great protectors of the NBA hoop. Wait, we are still talking regarding a 1st choice of an exceptional draft vintage, which measures 2m11 for a wingspan of 2m27, and you are going to make us believe that the guy is not not able to lay down more than one block per game ? Naaah, seriously…
And then, more pragmatically, we can at least say that the competition is absolutely crazy. On the back lines already, alone four to six guards are honored with an appearance in the All-Star Game by Conference. And in the West, let’s say there are some cool names that should go ahead of the Point God in the list (Do you know Luka Doncic, Ja Morant, Damian Lillard, Stephen Curry, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander et De’Aaron Fox ?). Even at the frontcourt level, the list is likely to be loaded: Zanos, le Joker, PG13, LeBron, AD (if he is back), without forgetting the Sabonis or others Straw Grant et Lauri Markkanen. DeAndre still has a chance to fight his way through, but he’s going to have to get some serious action.
The guards in the West:
Luka Doncic
Stephen Curry
I Morant
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Devin Booker
Damian Lillard
De’Aaron Fox
Anthony Edwards2 holders
3 substitutes, or 4 grand max.Good luck.
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) December 29, 2022
