The Suns have built great offenses before and it never got them a title

Offense vs. Defense: Which is more important?

There’s an old adage in sports: defense wins championships. And in many cases, it holds true.

Take the Cincinnati Bengals from a season ago, a team that could light up the scoreboard. They racked up 472 points and led the NFL with 43 touchdowns. Offensively, they were relentless. But their defense? A sieve. They gave up the second-most touchdowns in the league. And no matter how electric their offense was, the pressure to be perfect every drive became unsustainable. They missed the playoffs entirely.

In baseball, the San Francisco Giants come to mind, the ones who claimed three World Series titles a decade back. They didn’t overwhelm anyone with firepower. What carried them was pitching and defense. They knew how to control the flow of the game.

From a Phoenix Suns perspective, this becomes an even more compelling conversation. Because this franchise has recently delivered some of the most potent offensive basketball in its history.

Two seasons ago, they averaged 116.2 points per game. Last year? 113.6. For reference, the highest single-season scoring average in Suns history was 119.3 points, all the way back in 1969–70.

This past year’s squad took and made more threes than any Suns team before it. Their offensive rating? Third-highest in franchise history.

And yet they didn’t even make the playoffs. Why? Because they couldn’t stop anyone.

Their defense ranked 27th in the league. On that end of the floor, they were turnstiles. The effort was inconsistent. The rotations were slow. They traded away their only rim protector midseason and left a gaping hole in the paint. The numbers tell you the story, but so did the eye test: they simply couldn’t defend. And no matter how beautiful the offense looked in moments, it was undone by a defense that couldn’t hold the line.

It’s because of all this — the numbers, the trends, the collapse — that the instinct is to side with defense in the offense-versus-defense debate. And for the most part, I do.

I’ve always had a soft spot for defense, regardless of the sport. Most of my Arizona Cardinals jerseys? Defensive players. Patrick Peterson. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie. I’ve always admired the guys who could stare down a fully-loaded offense and simply say, “Not today.”

That mindset has shaped the way I view basketball, too. And maybe that’s why Shawn Marion was my favorite Sun for so many years. Because defense in Phoenix has always been the exception, not the rule. Marion made it an art form. He was everywhere, doing everything, and rarely got the credit he deserved.

Look at the history books. How many Defensive Player of the Year winners have worn a Suns uniform? Zero. How many Suns have made the All-Defensive First Team? Just ten. And nine of those were guards. Don Buse (3), Dennis Johnson (3), Jason Kidd (2), Raja Bell (1), Mikal Bridges (1). That’s the full list.

Defense has never been this franchise’s calling card. Which is exactly why it matters so much when it’s missing. So the natural instinct is to say defense is more important, especially when you consider the Suns’ history. This franchise has had electric offenses, historic scoring seasons, and All-NBA talents. But no championships.

The easy conclusion? They never defended well enough.

And yet, as I look toward next season, I’m not convinced it’s that simple. My fear is that the pendulum has swung too far the other way. That this Suns team might defend at a high level but struggle to score. I wonder where the points will come from, how they’ll close games, and what the offensive identity even looks like in crunch time.

I hope the defense can force enough turnovers to feed the offense in transition. But hope is not a strategy, and speculation is not a system.

In the big picture, balance is the equalizer. You need to score. The game demands it. But defense can shape the game in ways offense can’t. Defense disrupts rhythm. It turns talent into frustration. It gives a team its edge.

So if you asked me which side of the ball I’d choose to prioritize? It’s defense. Always. Because while every game is about putting points on the board, there’s something special about a team that knows how to keep them off. That’s rare. That’s disruptive. And that’s the kind of basketball I love to watch.