To say that the 2023-24 season of the Phoenix Suns was a disappointment would be a massive understatement. Much was expected of the Suns heading into the season, but all they could muster was an egg in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs
It could have gone so much better for the Suns if only they were given more time to gel together during the regular season, a notion that Grayson Allen brought up when the topic of team chemistry was brought up during Phoenix’s exit interviews on Monday.
Grayson Allen Gets Real About Factor That Hindered Fluid Phoenix Suns Chemistry
Allen pointed out the injuries that caused the likes of Bradley Beal and Devin Booker to miss games during the regular season as a reason why Phoenix was not able to smoothen out their on-court camaraderie. It’s one thing to have great talents, but making all the pieces work and get used to each other on the floor is a much different aspect that the Suns struggled with because of the absences.
(via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports)
I think injuries really shortened the time frame that we had to be the group that we wanted to be. When you look at the season, you have these benchmarks of where you should be by Christmas, All-Star, going into the end of the season.
And I felt like when we were starting the season off and preseason, we saw things that were like, all right, if we really work on this, this could be really good for our group. And then we go really the first half of the season without having our full five out there. And then you get into a point where you’re later in the season, and now everything is kind of, everything needs to be expedited.
With the Suns’ debacle in the series against the Minnesota Timberwolves now over, however, Allen seems excited about Phoenix realizing its full potential next season.
So I think that hurt us, which is why one of the positives, I’m looking forward to next season. Now that we have a year under our belt, with this group playing together and figuring things out, failing together, knowing what works and what doesn’t work, I feel like that’ll put us in a good spot for next year.
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