CULTURE CHANGE
Suns lean on new coach, veterans to find growth
Devin Booker has remained optimistic through four horrible seasons, but he has newfound reason to have a positive outlook going into 2019-20.
“I just like our group, overall,” Booker said Wednesday. “From top to bottom, we have a lot of NBA minds around here. A lot of experience with guys who have been in the playoffs recently. Played in it last year. Even our young players are high IQ and I feel like they’re ready to go.”
The Phoenix Suns aren’t close to playoff contenders, and haven’t been for years, but they’re putting together a team under new coach Monty Williams that could start to show signs of one sooner than expected.
“I actually like where we’re at,” Booker said. “We don’t have the highest of expectations. So we’re building from ground zero, but I think people that know
Monty and the players on this team know we have high IQ guys and NBA guys that are ready to come and compete.”
That basketball IQ goes hand in hand with Williams’ 0.5 offense that’s designed to make the Suns play faster by passing, dribbling or shooting in 0.5 seconds.
Playing with pace is nothing new, but this could be a game changer for the Suns.
“I love it,” said Kelly Oubre Jr. after Phoenix hit 24 3s in a preseason win over the Portland Trail Blazers.
“You can’t hold the ball, you gotta keep it moving, keep the ball in mighty movements, play with each other. It doesn’t matter who shoots it as long as we get the best shot for us, and that’s the main thing. I think we’ll continue to get better with that as long as we continue to buy in and that’s the best way we can play.”
The 0.5 offense is one of the reasons Williams might be Phoenix’s best offseason acquisition.
He hasn’t been an NBA head coach since the 2014-15 season, but Williams led New Orleans to the playoffs twice in five seasons there.
Well respected, Williams, along with General Manager James Jones, is at the forefront of a culture change that could lead to success in Phoenix.
“He prefers us to call each other brothers,” Suns center Deandre Ayton said. “Having each other’s back on the court.”
Williams is Phoenix’s fifth coach in five seasons.
The Suns could use some stability there as they haven’t had a winning record since 2013-14 and haven’t been to the playoffs since 2010.
Coming off of their second-worst record in franchise history, the Suns have no illusions — and Williams isn’t trying to sell any, especially his players.
“We’re in the infant stage of our program,” said Williams, who signed a five-year contract with Phoenix after serving as an assistant in Philadelphia. “So, we just got to keep working. We’ve got to keep building every day. Can’t take days off. Every day, we’ve got to add to the mix and our guys are more than willing and capable of doing that.”
The Suns can keep working, but it likely won’t be reflected in their wins and losses in large part because the Western Conference is so loaded. Still, this season is about growth and improvement and Williams is looking to hold to the Suns to the higher standard in trying to achieve that.
“Coach Monty has that reputation around the league that there’s not going to be any BS going on around here,” Booker said.
The talk sounds great, but the Suns will find out soon enough whether they truly are ready to turn this franchise back into a winner it once was.
“Everyone’s contributing, everyone wants to be a part of it,” Suns backup center Aron Baynes said. “Hopefully that continues. We talked about it a bit this morning. We haven’t really much adversity yet. When that test comes, hopefully it still stays the same and we carry on these traits that we’re starting to show early.”
Team camaraderie is important, but so is talent. The Suns feel like they have more of the latter now.
Ricky Rubio, their biggest free agent acquisition, gives them a proven, passfirst veteran point guard.
Jevon Carter brings defense and intensity to same position and while Dario Saric, Frank Kaminsky III and Baynes give the Suns versatile frontcourt players.
Cam Johnson and Ty Jerome have shown in the preseason they could be valuable contributors as rookies.
Oubre is back. So is Tyler Johnson. Ayton and Mikal Bridges are a year older.
And then all of it comes back to Booker, who may for the first time in his NBA career has a collection of teammates who can help him finally start lifting the Suns out of obscurity.
“All of us are on the same terminology, and we just go out and play hard a lot,” Ayton said. “We just to really lock in on the small things to actually be great and finish off games.”
In making additions, the Suns also did some subtracting.
They traded away TJ Warren, Josh Jackson and De’Anthony Melton.
The also let Dragan Bender, Richaun Holmes and Troy Daniels walk.
This truly is a new Suns team, but they aren’t making any promises other than to play hard, compete and show improvement throughout the course of the season.
“I’m looking for the small things,” Jones said. “It’s really the approach and the consistency to doing the little things, the fundamentals. Sharing the ball. Passing. Taking good shots. If you see that decision-making efficiency and the efficiency increases throughout the year, that’s growth.”
Who knows. This might be the team Phoenix looks back five years from now on as the one that ignited the turnaround.
“We have to change that perception of us through the referees, through the whole NBA,” Booker said. “That’s what we have to do.”