After the nightmare! Say goodbye to the giant mode! Is it right or wrong?

It has definitely been a nightmare journey for the sun over the past five years. Looking back at the perspective of hindsight, the ups and downs of the journey can be said to have made fans take a high-altitude roller coaster. First, they accidentally touched the finals, which seemed to have an opportunity, but then they took a sharp turn and fell into a vicious cycle of chaos and repeated reconstruction.

Time is turned back to 2021, Chris Paul joins the team, and the Suns have entered the finals after many years. At that moment, Suns fans may have really seen some hope. Booker is growing into the team's facade, and young people such as Ayton, Mikal, Johnson are also getting better. The old man Paul is holding the team, and the team has completely changed qualitatively.

But this hope was quickly shattered. The Suns in the second year were ruthlessly eliminated by Doncic in the playoffs. This round of defeat directly caused the team to fall from the altar.

After that, the Sun fell quickly like an evil person: the coach had a conflict with the players, and the logic of the team building was completely unbalanced; the new boss took office and various stumblings were spared to exchange for veteran superstars at all costs; the large number of basic-paying players filled the list and built the team around the "superstar + basic-paying" model; the result of this operation still ended in failure; then faced a major purge and rebuilt again, and the team fell into a repeated vicious cycle.

Looking back at the past season, when Durant, Booker and Bill stood together, everyone thought this was a group of super three, but in fact it was a team without souls. After several consecutive years of lineup reshuffle, there are very few core players who can stay except Booker. Even players like Okoji and Boer play for the longest time in the team.

For this situation, it is difficult not to ask: What is the Sun's goal?

And in this context, it is inevitable that some people will feel resentful. In the interview, Devin Booker said mercilessly:

"The past two years have been the most difficult moment in my career."

Since entering the league, Booker has not been the kind of person who likes to complain, but in the dilemma of the team's chaos and successive failures, his sense of loneliness is inevitably magnified.

In the entire league, he stayed on the list of players who have never changed teams, Booker has changed 125 teammates since he entered the league in 2015, second only to Curry. But Curry has entered the playoffs in the fourth year of his career and has only partnered with three coaches in his career. On the other hand, Booker did not reach the playoffs threshold until his sixth year, and now he has no championship and is about to welcome the eighth coach. In contrast, the degree of ups and downs is self-evident.

Of course, even in the face of a difficult situation, Booker never complained and still held on to the sun. In order to give back to this core, the Suns have also made changes they can make. In the offseason, Durant and Bill were sent away, in exchange for a group of brand new young people:

Jaylen Green, Mark Williams, Maruach, Fleming, and Kobe Brea; at the same time, Booker successfully completed an early contract renewal with the Suns.

The team's senior management has a clear attitude, and Booker is the well-deserved core; and the team's boss Espeare has emphasized many times that he will try his best to build a tough and fighting young team, even if the success is not in the present. Judging from this attitude, the sun seems to gradually begin to get out of the vicious cycle of quick success and instant benefits, and move towards patience.

Referring to the current lineup, the starting lineup of the Suns in the new season can basically be confirmed:

Book, Jaylen Green, Dillon Brooks, Reus O'Neal, Mark Williams;

This lineup may not be as gorgeous as before, but it is young enough and tough enough.

As for substitutes, Gillespie is a point guard candidate, and Grayson Allen no longer has to be forced to play as a small forward, focusing on three-pointers and conduction. Young people like Dunn and MaluAchi can also provide vitality on the defensive end. The performance of European MVP Nigel Hayes will also be the X factor on the bench.

Looking back on last season, the Suns had serious offensive problems, with more passes and fewer assists, and their overall style of play was rigid. Although the fast break efficiency is high, the number of counterattacks is extremely low, which is a standard elderly team; now, after the lineup becomes younger, there will be obvious changes in physical fitness and defense. Previously, the new coach Jordan Ultra emphasized defense, conduction and transfer of the ball many times, which is also significantly different from the singles style in the past few years.

In reality, the Suns' record in the new season will not be very good, and the most optimistic one may be the edge of the playoffs; even if you are not careful, you will become the last train in the division. But the Suns' focus is not on the present, the key is that the team has finally begun to clarify the direction and no longer blindly chase big names, but to build a stable team for Booker and then slowly cultivate it.

Borrowing the interview with boss Esby:

"Fans no longer want to see the cold superstars huddled together, but hope to see a tenacious team that is willing to fight and defend, which can make fans stand and applaud."

And this is the culture that the team should have.

Five years ago, the Suns entered the finals, and no one thought that they would fall into the quagmire in five years. And now they have made a choice again, what will happen in five years? How will fans look back on the summer of 2025?

Mini-game recommendations:Kingdom Rush