12 reasons why bringing CP3 back is a no-brainer

This one move could fix the Suns’ biggest roster problem.

Rumors continue to swirl that Chris Paul wants to live closer to his family in Los Angeles, and is deciding between minimum deals with the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers. It had been my opinion that CP3 would prefer the Clips due to actually being in LA, and being a better team. But, John Gambodoro announced that the Clippers have no interest in bringing him back, leaving the door wide open to the Suns.

While CP3 doesn’t align with the vision of young, fast, and rangy, the Suns would be grade A idiots to turn him down. It’d be the equivalent of the end of Dumb and Dumber when Lloyd and Harry turn down the opportunity to tour the country slathering suntan lotion on bikini models. When the Point God asks if he can play for you, you say “YES!”

However, some people may need convincing. Without further ado, I give you X reasons why the Suns should absolutely bring him back on board.

1. Their depth at PG is awful

Currently, the Suns have one point guard on their roster, who (as much as we like him) is a 26 year-old veteran minimum pick-up from the G-League. Bringing in CP3 instantly turns a position of weakness into one where they’re at least average, even if CP3 is 40 years old and on the wrong side of the hill.

2. Point Book is a bad idea

There’s a reason why the Suns’ best years in the Devin Booker era have all come when he was paired with a defensive-minded floor general who can run an offense and distribute, namely Rubio and Chris Paul.

Sure, Booker can run the offense for stretches, but he simply lacks the handles and the vision to be the primary ball handler and distributor. That’s why the Booker-Beal has been a disaster. Bringing CP3 on board means that Booker gets to spend an extra 24 minutes per game at his natural shooting guard position.

3. It benefits Collin Gillespie

Gillespie made great strides last year, and he looked competent in the limited sample size we were given under Budenholzer. But, he’s still probably better off as the backup PG, logging 16-24 minutes per night and learning from perhaps the most fundamentally sound PG in the history of the game. He’s absolutely as good as Cameron Payne was when backing up CP3, and the Suns’ offense will continue to function with him running the show against other teams’ second units.

Photo by Kavin Mistry/Getty Images

4. It benefits the young big men on the team

Paul’s impact on Victor Wembanyama was undeniable. The graphic below shows that without CP3 on the court, Wemby’s statistics were markedly worse in most areas.

With Mark Williams, Rasheer Fleming, and Khaman Maluach acting as raw, above-the-rim bigs who don’t really create for themselves off the dribble, CP3 would likely be a Godsend. Each of them is a major lob threat, and only CP3 has a history of being good at feeding guys like this (sorry, Book).

5. Leadership and tough love for guys who need it

We got to watch CP3 for three years here in the Valley, and we all know he will tear your head off and yell down the bleeding stump if you’re loafing it, not paying attention, or blowing your assignments. He’s always had a cerebral approach, and kills himself at both ends of the court and expects others to as well. In short, he holds guys accountable, particularly on defense.

And wow, there are some players on the team that need this tough love (looking at you, Jalen, Bradley, and Mark). CP3 doesn’t align with young, fast, and rangy. But he does align with the idea of accountability, effort, hustle, basketball IQ, and communication, and generally giving a shit. One of the biggest things he brings will be that accountability, and I’m here for it.

6. He can still be a starter

One of the things that people are saying is that he can’t come here to be a starter. Ummm…fun fact, starter doesn’t mean you have to play 30+ minutes per game.

If CP3 can give the team 24 mpg, that’s fantastic. That’s 24 minutes where we have a starting caliber PG on the court that we didn’t before, all for the low, low price of the absolute freaking minimum you can pay an NBA veteran. He had an Estimated Net Plus Minus of +0.6 last year, better than 76% of the players in the league.

7. Team defense

CP3 is still 6-nothing and a step slower than he used to be. But, he’s still better on defense (44th percentile) per EPM than Gillespie (43rd), Beal (35th), Booker (8th), Green (26th), or Allen (23rd). He’s still capable of steering his man into tall guys like Wemby (or Williams or Maluach). He’s still vocal, and he’ll likely make other players’ defense better with communication and accountability. For all the talk of Paul being a defensive liability, he’s still better than any of our other guards, and his leadership is likely to help them improve. He also still generates a lot of steals (91st percentile)

8. Steals = fast breaks, even if you’re not the one finishing

Can CP3 be convinced to try to turn steals into fast breaks? I suspect so when it’s a matter of the other guys getting up and running so he can make the outlet pass. The Suns want to play faster, and while CP3 isn’t a perfect fit, I believe he could be convinced to contribute to it.

9. The CP3 effect

It’s no secret that everywhere CP3 goes, his team gets better. Even now in his 40s, I suspect this would be true given the Suns have no starting PG, and that lack of a PG forces their best player (Booker) to play out of position and reduce his on-court value.

The graphic below is a bit dated, but the Spurs’ winning percentage last year was .415, despite losing Wemby for the last 36 games of the season (where the Spurs went 13-23). When the two were on the court together, the Spurs were 6th in offensive rating and 2nd in defensive rating.

10. The Suns make the future worse by being terrible

Which brings me to my next point: the Suns cannot afford to be terrible, because their draft picks go to another team until 2032. In fact, being terrible makes some OTHER team stronger through the draft lottery. So, tanking does them less than no good, and CP3 is sort of the opposite of tanking, given #9 (above). Thus, failing to pick CP3 up to win a few more games doesn’t help their future draft odds. It also probably helps current player development (as discussed above).

11. It addresses the Suns’ biggest problem…sort of

The tables below show my best guess at what the Suns’ rotation will be without CP3, and what it will be with him. Note that by playing Booker as a PG, it forces the Suns to play their best guy out of position most of the time, thereby reducing his value. You also note that the Suns go 2-deep at every position like this: Gillespie, Green, Dunn, Fleming, and Maluach / Ighodaro is potentially a serviceable rotation. A level deeper than that, and you still have O’Neale, Allen, and Beal as third stringers. Indeed, the two most uncertain positions in the 2nd unit can be covered by guys in the 3rd string.

It’s still unbalanced at SG, but the rotations make more sense, and they put Booker in a position to succeed after a year that was his worst since his rookie season.

12. It gives the fans a reason to show up and cheer

Phoenix has a history of loving players who chose to end their careers here, even if they’re a shadow of their former selves. Dan Majerle, Kevin Johnson, and Leandro Barbosa all come to mind as players who are remembered very fondly here. Even Barkley gets a good reception in the Valley because he never turned on the fans (just the ownership).

CP3 will always be remembered for the 2020-21 title run and the 64-win season. I have no doubt he will give it everything he’s got: his competitiveness prevents him from slacking off, and fans will notice.

I’m old enough to remember Majerle’s final game as a Sun. It was a meaningless blowout of the Mavericks, and yet, the entire sellout crowd stayed in the stands to the very end, and erupted when he touched the ball. To paraphrase Field of Dreams, if you sign him, they will come. After two seasons of listless basketball, a feisty (if aged) CP3 plus a bevvy of young, motivated, hustling fliers will be amazingly fun to watch by comparison.

And if Paul retires from the NBA in a Suns uniform, giving it his all every night, he seems to be a lock for the Ring of Honor and earning a place among the most beloved players in franchise history.

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