Suns prepare to start camp with retooled roster
The Phoenix Suns intend to build around their star backcourt tandem of Chris Paul and Devin Booker, aware of the raised expectations for the team this season after their offseason player moves.
Suns General Manager James Jones said the supporting cast for the two allstars, which includes improving thirdyear pros Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges, is trying to establish an NBA identity.
“My hope is by committee, we can establish a collective identity that supports those two guys,” Jones said on Monday with the start of the NBA season only 23 days away.
The Suns certainly have the look of a team in win-now mode, with Paul and veterans Jae Crowder, E’Twaun Moore and Langston Galloway added via trade or in free agency.
The signings of guards Moore and Galloway, plus big man Damian Jones and forward Johnathan Motley, were made official earlier on Monday.
“I appreciate their support,” Jones said when asked about heightened expectations from the Suns’ fan base. “The goal is never to just win games, the goal is to win a title, and in order to do that you have to win your division at some point, you have to win in the playoffs. The fans, their expectations for us to win the title. That’s the only way I know how to play, that’s the only way I played. We don’t come in here to just win games.”
Jones said he expects Moore and Galloway, part of the Suns’ new-look depth, to “be who they’ve been.”
“They’ve been contributors on some good teams. They’ve been good contributors, but most importantly, they’re shooters,” Jones said. “I’ve been very
clear about types of players that we value and the skills and traits that we look for when we’re trying to build our team. Having two guys that have been consistently good shooters ... was important to us.”
Moore, who spent the past four seasons with the New Orleans Pelicans, averaged 10.7 points on 47.4 percent shooting from the field and 40.4 from three-point range in 264 games with the Pelicans.
Galloway averaged 10.3 points in 66 games with Detroit last season, shooting career highs of 43.5 percent from the field and 39.9 percent from three-point range.
The Suns will move into a “bubble” of sorts for preseason training camp, which Jones said will start on Friday at the Verizon 5G Performance Center, the team’s new practice facility. That’s after individual work this week, where a player can work with a coach one-on-one.
Jones said the Suns need to establish their own identity that differs from successful teams from the past, and that every year is a new Suns team, be it major changes or minor changes to the roster.
Expect position battles, Jones said. That will be part of forming the “bycommittee” group of role players.
“We have to push our reputation, we have to push our focus forward,” he said. “We are different, and we should be different because this is a different NBA. This is a different season and with COVID, who would have thought that we’d have to overcome all these challenges just to play this game?”