What We Learned About Suns in November

The Suns gave us a mixed bag to digest last month.

Nov 30, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) guards Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) during the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images / Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- The first full calendar month of the 2024-25 NBA season is officially complete - and the Phoenix Suns got through the month with a 7-7 record despite having many things working against them in the middle of the month.

The Suns missed Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal for seven games apiece - while also dealing with Jusuf Nurkic's lower leg issues/general inconsistency in the lineup.

Despite this, the franchise managed to tread water and are now looking up as the roughly next 4 months are decided - and here are three things that we learned about this team moving forward.

The Suns Can Beat Anyone

The Suns - with all the unnecessary losses in the midst of November - also secured a nice collection of victories.

This included a pair of wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers - along with resounding victories over conference contenders in the Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors.

The Suns have proven that they can win games in a variety of ways, from gridning out close games in the half-court, to spacing-and-pacing opponents to an extreme. This could and possibly will bode well for them in the future against formidable opponents such as the Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers - perhaps even the Boston Celtics.

Phoenix Must Stay Healthy

The Suns can win games with two of the three members of the star trio. They cannot consistently win with only one.

While role players such as Royce O'Neale, Ryan Dunn, and Tyus Jones have largely been formidable in the roles they have been handed, they are role players just for that reason.

O'Neale in partiuclar felt the effect of not having Durant or Beal - seeing a major dip in scoring efficiency in a more expansive role - which is simply where logical thinking should take one.

While the Suns have numerous quality role players, it is completely reasonable to believe that the production said role players bring forward won't be as efficicent when asked to do more than the pigeonholed roles typically entail.

The Suns are clearly at their best when these players aren't thrust into roles that aren't natural - it is of utmost importance to protect Durant and Beal moving forward - which could include discussions of cutting minutes played down on a nightly basis.

Suns' Offense Can be Elite

The Suns' offense has been fairly average within the context of the rest of the league - currently placing 13th in ORTG at 113.4 so far - per the official NBA website.

The recent string of games - plus the teams ahead of Phoenix - should give Suns fans hope that the team can reach the upper echelon of offenses across the league.

Less than a point per game separates Phoenix and 8th place Sacramento - and the recent trajectory points to the Suns possibly working their way into the top 7-8 in the near future.

Phoenix has seen 5 of the last 6 games have result in performances at least 110 points - 2 of these which were minus Durant.

With Durant, the Suns have two of the 10 best scorers in the league along with the aforementioned role players that fit in nearly perfect unison with the star talent.

The three-point volume, potential to play with extreme pace on a whim despite ranking 18th currently, and the clear intention of how the star players/role players will work around each other are clear reasons as to why Phoenix could finish the season among the five best in the NBA.

The next chance to catch the Suns in action is tomorrow night against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in what will be the final group stage game of the NBA Cup.