Phoenix Suns: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 Media Day
2. Phoenix will play faster and smaller
Even with Williams going down, the Suns have two starting-caliber centers (for a Western Conference bottom-feeder, at least). However, that doesn’t mean the team is blind to the league’s new direction as it increasingly goes smaller.
To play smaller usually means faster, and that message was consistent from the players as well. Though they played at the league’s second-fastest pace and averaged the ninth-most points per game last year, the Suns didn’t actually know what to do at that sped-up tempo, ranking 22nd in offensive rating, 29th in assists per game and dead last in assist-to-turnover ratio.
So what are the Suns going to do in 2017-18?
"“We’re gonna play faster,” Bledsoe said."
On the one hand, this seems like a recipe for disaster with a young roster that’s going to make a lot of mistakes. However, Dudley pointed out it’s really one of the few advantages this inexperienced roster can pose to more talented and veteran teams, as long as Bledsoe and Tyler Ulis can take care of the ball.
"“We’ve got nine guys that are 23 and younger so overall you’ve gotta play fast,” he said. “Our strength is our athleticism, our versatility and scoring. Our weaknesses is because we’re young, the knowledge of the game and defensively, we’ve been pretty poor.”"
McDonough is confident Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender have put on enough weight and strength to spend limited stretches at the 5, which would shift guys like Josh Jackson or T.J. Warren to the 4 — allowing the Suns to trot out some fun small-ball lineups built around speed, wing depth and offensive firepower.
The team’s draft strategy in recent years lends itself to this playing style, with multiple players who can theoretically play multiple positions. It won’t always be pretty, but if Chandler is hobbled/resting/traded and if Len fails to live up to expectations again, the Suns’ small-ball lineups will rapidly become fan favorites for the beautiful mess they create on the court.