Phoenix Suns: 3 goals for Ryan Anderson in 2018-19

3. Spend at least 30 percent of minutes at the 5

This isn’t an important goal for Anderson because he’s not necessarily better or worse as a center; this is important because the forward rotation is currently much more crowded than the center rotation.

Assuming Trevor Ariza and Anderson start at the 3 and 4, that leaves the trio of Mikal Bridges, Josh Jackson and T.J. Warren all coming off the bench. All of them deserve heavy minutes, but they’ll be tough to come by, especially with Dragan Bender in the mix too.

The only backup centers on the roster are soon-to-be 36-year-old Tyson Chandler and almost-didn’t-make-the-Philadelphia-76ers-roster Richaun Holmes. The more minutes Anderson plays as a smallish 5, the more time the Suns have with Warren or Jackson on the floor instead of Chandler or Holmes.

That may cause some defensive issues, as Anderson isn’t known for his rim protection, but it should help greatly on offense. Lineups with a frontcourt of two of the Anderson-Ariza-Bender trio would provide great spacing for whoever is alongside them.

They would also be a great way to get Josh Jackson in a pseudo-starting lineup. With *insert starting point guard here* and Devin Booker in the backcourt as well as Jackson, Ariza and Anderson in the frontcourt, those lineups would have a pretty good mix of defense and offense, with shooting in spades.

Positional estimates aren’t very precise for percentages, unfortunately. For example, if Anderson plays next to Bender in the frontcourt, even if Ryno is guarding the opponent’s center, he’ll probably still be listed as the power forward because he’s shorter.

Still, it’s not the specific number that matters; 30 percent was just an arbitrary choice. The important thing to note is that he should spend a good amount of time playing small-ball to allow the young wings to shine.