RealGM

Hi suns fans! congrats on making it this far, excited to see how this series turns out

As a raps fan I havent been watching the finals/suns run as much as I'd like so im here to ask their beloved fanbase to rank CP3. book and Ayton in terms of importance/impact this entire run.

I know Chris paul is the man who pulls the strings, but book is the scorer, and Ayton has been a a consistent stud.

Just curious to see how you rank the 3 and why?

This year:

1. CP3 (He put us over the top)
2. Ayton (He changes the game at both ends of the floor with defense, rebounding, and gravity/spacing on offense)
3. Book (He's good but his impact could be replaced with any other high scoring wing player)

The future:
1. Ayton (See above)
2. Book (See above)
3. CP3 (He's getting older and will eventually fall off).

For the playoffs:

CP3, Ayton, Booker (you could argue Ayton has been more important or the biggest part of the playoff run given his importance, consistency, lack of depth, etc, if you also consider CP3's availability...but CP3 definitely the most important when he is there).

For the season:

CP3, Booker, Ayton

You could argue Bridges was more important than Ayton this season because Bridges is our best defender and most efficient player, glue guy, etc...can spread the floor, cut, steal and initiate or finish fast breaks, pass, rarely turns it over (except this last playoff game)..

but we have more depth on the wing, so Ayton has been important all season, especially when Saric didn't play well. Ayton had a somewhat inconsistent season, but a lot of that was not utilizing him on offense, but regardless he always contributed with screen assists, contesting shots, and rebounds. He had some monster rebounding games and then some just good ones, and a few duds. It seemed to take him a long time to really get used to and absorb all Paul was trying to teach him, so sometimes he would kind of have paralysis by analysis..overthinking things which would lead to some inconsistencies.

You can almost argue that he has been our most important player in the playoffs though...he's been the most consistent, though Paul has been consistent when healthy and after getting the rust worn off after the COVID 10 day quarantine.

1. CP3
2. Book
3. Ayton

If we're including the whole regular season + playoffs.

1. CP3
2. Booker
3. Ayton

1) Ayton
2) Cp3
3) Booker

Importance is crucial. We lose Ayton and it’s a clean sweep. The other two could be replaced and we might still have a chance.

We’re 3-0 down In games AD plays if Ayton is out.
We might even lose a few games to Denver/Jokic without him.
We probably lose in 6 to Clips.
We get swept by Giannis bucks without Ayton or Saric.