Bradley Beal is a great player, but he doesn't fit in Phoenix
Reports of the Suns trading Chris Paul and Landry Shamet to the Washington Wizards for Bradley Beal are breaking up Father’s Day dinners all over the NBA landscape.
Some fans are drooling over how the offense might look and how Beal has an opportunity for a career year since opposing teams will have to focus on stopping Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.
Others are wondering about the depth in Phoenix since Booker, Durant and Beal make about a bajillion dollars in combined annual salary.
And the perpetual Deandre Ayton trade speculation is taking on a life of its own.
All that’s legit.
But for me, it’s just about basketball, right now; and purely from a basketball perspective, I don’t get this one.
Book and Beal have very similar games.
I’m just not a huge fan of redundant talent on NBA rosters. I struggle to remember a time when a roster like this won a title.
It didn’t work when the Suns had three guards (Isaiah Thomas, Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe.)
It didn’t work when the Lakers had three ball-dominant playmakers (LeBron James, Rajon Rondo Russell Westbrook.)
It hasn’t worked with the Clippers duo of all-everything, two-way wings (Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.)
It didn’t work when the Hawks had a slew of scoring tweeners (Kyle Korver, Paul Millsap, Thabo Sefolosha, Kent Bazemore, Al Horford and Elton Brand.)
It didn’t work when the Knicks had a pair of scorers at power forward (Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony.) Or when they had a pair of dynamic combo guards (Steve Francis and Stephon Marbury.)
OK, sure, it worked when the Bulls had Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and Ron Harper.
And it worked when the Pistons had Isiah Thomas, Joe Dumars and Vinnie Johnson.
But those are a couple of the greatest teams of all time … and those titles came a long, long time ago.
Maybe I’m wrong here.
But I’m not interested in the offense and how it will look with Booker at point guard all season.
I don’t care much about salary cap concerns at the moment.
And I’m not even thinking about trading Ayton.
Right now, I’m struggling with the reality that the Suns swapped an aging, expensive, injury-prone point guard, for a younger, more expensive, injury-prone combo guard.
I just don’t see how it’s going to work.
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Bradley Beal is a great player, but he doesn't fit in Phoenix
