The Phoenix Suns are in trouble! They have dropped their second consecutive game in their opening playoff series against the Timberwolves. Even with Big 3 in the starting lineup, the squad cannot find its way around the #3 seed and an explosive AntMan. Somehow, the situation is reminiscent of what happened in the Clipper’s locker room early in the season. But who will take the Russell Westbrook route to balance out the offense? Gilbert Arenas’ gang seems to have an answer to this.
Looking to find answers, Arenas and his crew analyzed the game, at ‘Gil’s Arena’. The former Wizard stated that the flow of the Phoenix Suns’s offense was off. For him, they need a proper playmaker to control the game, and he thinks Beal is the man for the job. While Booker is definitely a superior passer with better vision, the 6’5″ point guard tends to function more as a scorer than a facilitator.
With Beal’s experience in the league, it’s only understandable why Arenas thinks the former Wizard’s star should handle the ball. In an attempt to sort the mismatch, Arenas said,
“This is what the real problem is. It’s [Devin] Booker is at the point playing like a shooting guard. [Bradley] Beal is the shooting guard playing like a point…I can’t have you guys in mismatch positions playing mismatched positions.”
Bradley Beal having more ball control could also help with the Suns’s turnover problems. The team has already gotten its pocket picked 36 times in just eight quarters, another major reason for their low-scoring performances. However, this doesn’t seem to be the end of the team’s worries while the WNBA guard Lexie Brown gave an unpopular opinion to fix further issues.
Lexie Brown suggests bringing Bradley Beal off the bench
While the offense was definitely a problem on the perimeter, the situation inside was even worse. Even Arena’s co-host Rashan McCants picked up on the Sun’s weak paint presence. For him, KD should take the responsibility of scoring inside as McCants added,
“And ain’t one of them relegated to one have a post presence. Just think if KD said “nah, I’mma function out the post tonight. Play off me.”
He furthered the same advice to Booker, to post a much smaller Mike Conley on the other wing of the floor. Having heard her co-hosts out, WNBA star Lexie Brown suggested benching one of Pheonix’s stars to create more space and opportunities for the team. Brown wondered,
“You think it would be the end of the world if they brought [Bradley] Beal off the bench?”
Brown’s question highlights the problem with Super Teams like the Phoenix Suns. They are notorious for having ball distribution problems, something even the Los Angeles Clippers faced early in the season. Usually, it takes one player to sacrifice for the team’s flow to reestablish itself, and for Lexie Brown, it has to be Beal.
