5 on 5: Analyzing the Suns preseason (so far)

1.) What/who has impressed you the most thus far in preseason?

Kevin: An unoriginal answer: the starting backcourt. Bledsoe has added aggressiveness to his game and Dragic has picked up where he left off last year. Otherwise, the rest of the players have been underwhelming.

Ryan: The chemistry of the starters. The Suns used the draft and free agency to acquire lots of backcourt depth, but the starters have been surprisingly good together thus far. This is a good sign for a team hoping to build on last year’s win total.

Eric: How explosive the offense will be. They are just never going to slow down. They are so deep, their second unit with Isaiah Thomas and Gerald Green will blow away opposing benches. I am also excited to see  improvement of both Markieff and Marcus Morris’ three-point shooting.

Scott: The point guard play has been the most impressive thing for me. Dragic, Bledsoe and Thomas have combined for 38.5 points, 11.0 assists and 6.3 rebounds per game. The three point guards have meshed well on the court, and I have no doubt that it will carry over into the regular season.

Gavin: Eric Bledsoe looking like a superstar. The guard has shot 62% from the field during the preseason, but more importantly looks 100% healthy. He’s been incredibly explosive and with the loss of Channing Frye, he’s going to need to consistently get into the paint.  Bledsoe has the highest ceiling of any player on the roster, and him reaching it is the Suns’ best chance at taking the next step.

2.) Is there reason to push the panic button on the rebounding issue? 

Kevin: I probably won’t push the panic button until a healthy team playing regular minutes hits the floor and can’t board. Miles Plumlee and Alex Len obviously need to carry the Suns in this regard. The Morrii have shown attentiveness toward the glass in spurts this preseason.

Ryan: Y-E-S. Last year, the Suns’ biggest defensive weakness was giving up offensive rebounds. This preseason has shown that the problem may be worse than before. Phoenix gave up 14 offensive boards to Denver and 13 to Houston without Dwight Howard. This is going to be a season-long problem without a big acquisition.

Eric: No, the Suns haven’t been a great rebounding team in awhile and don’t necessarily need to be. It will certainly help having Markieff Morris at starting power forward instead of Channing Frye. The Suns should be a pretty good shooting team and won’t need to necessarily be an elite rebounding team. It’s not great, but no need to panic.

Scott: I wouldn’t necessarily say that it’s time to push the panic button based off anything in the preseason, but I think most of us knew that rebounding wasn’t necessarily going to be a strength of this team. For me, the biggest issue is that Miles Plumlee has only managed to snag 13 rebounds in four games, which is fewer than each of the Morris Twins, P.J. Tucker, and Earl Barron.

Gavin: Not yet. Against Denver and Houston the Suns were only a net -4 on the boards. The Spurs outrebounded them by five, which is skewed by the fact the Suns put up 18 more shots. From a personal standpoint, the Suns have one of the better rebounding backcourts in the NBA, plus they’ll be adding some size at the center spot when Alex Len returns. The Suns do have to be careful about leaking out too early for fast breaks, but there’s no real reason for concern.

3.) Has Earl Barron done enough to beat out Shavlik Randolph for the final roster spot?

Kevin: It depends on if Phoenix is worried about Randolph’s sturdiness health-wise. The Suns will need somebody who can play at any given moment should Len or Plumlee go down. Randolph is a better basketball player but I might say Barron might end up being more reliable.

Ryan: Yes, because of the answer to #2. Barron is a better rebounder than Randolph. That’s reason alone to give him the final spot. This team needs big men who can board consistently.

Eric: No, Randolph should get that final spot. He has been on the Suns for a while now, while Barron hasn’t. In my article last week, Hornacek has given Randolph the green light to shoot threes when he’s open, which he will be. I think that gives him more of a chance to stick.

Scott: It’s definitely possible that he has. Shavlik Randolph has shown flashes of an expanded perimeter game, which may be what ultimately keeps him on the roster, but Barron has been solid this preseason. He is averaging 11.4 points and 13.1 rebounds per forty minutes. I think Randolph is still the slight leader for that last roster spot, but it’s definitely close.

Gavin: Yes, he’s played more minutes than Randolp in every game against NBA Competition and had a dominant performance against the Houston Rockets, finishing with a double-double in just 24 minutes. He also has a true NBA skill in his rebounding ability, recording 13 in that game against the Rockets. There’s no realistic scenario in which Randolph plays anything other than garbage time minutes for the Suns. Barron, with the team’s dearth of bigs, is one injury away from being a rotation player. By all accounts both are great locker room guys, keep the one that can actually contribute on the court.

4.) How much stake do you put into these preseason games?

Kevin: Little, so far. The Suns, however, are using this preseason to test run what’s actually a very different team than last year. It’s important. For a team like the Spurs, I put less stock into their performances.

Ryan: Not a ton, because I don’t put a ton of stock in single games. The 82-game slate is a marathon, not a sprint. The preseason is not a good indicator of how this team will fare over the long haul. Phoenix just needs to stay healthy and keep all these guards from literally fighting for playing time.

Eric: Not much. Maybe more into the second to last preseason game, just to see how the rotations come into focus. The preseason is for players to get back into game shape, improve their conditioning and for the coaching staff to sort out young players. It doesn’t really mean anything for the regular season.

Scott: It’s important to have perspective when looking at the preseason, but I think these games have been important for the Suns because of the arrival of Isaiah Thomas. The Suns have been able to work Thomas into the rotation and build chemistry between the Suns’ point guards, but overall I’m not going to draw any drastic conclusions about this team from the preseason.

Gavin: Not a whole lot. The records can be thrown out the window as evidenced by New Orleans’s 7-1 mark last year. As we saw with last Thursday’s Spurs debacle, games often come down to which team decides to rest more of their starters (and in this case their head coach). That being said, they have value in figuring out who’s going to fill out the end of the bench and experimenting with various line-ups and rotations.

5.) What are you looking to see in these final three preseason games?

Kevin: For a starting power forward emerge. So far it’s been unclear which combination of starters works well, and it’d be more relieving for Suns fans to see Markieff Morris separate from the pack. Otherwise, the regular season hits with a little worry that the loss of Channing Frye is going to hurt.

Ryan: Scrapiness and fight. Some of the reserves are playing for their lives. The Suns need players who don’t wilt under the fear of being cut, but instead play so hard the organization can’t help but keep them. That’s what P.J. Tucker did, and now he’s the heart of this team.

Eric: I’m looking at how the rotations will sort out, seeing if Plumlee can improve his jump hook and seeing if the Morris’ three-point shooting will continue.

Scott: I’m looking for two things over these last three preseason games. First, I want to see Miles Plumlee really assert his dominance, which he hasn’t done thus far. Plumlee is having a dismal preseason, and the Suns will need him to play much better going into the regular season. Second, I want to see a little more out of the rookies, Warren and Ennis, although I suspect Ennis will be spending a lot of his time in Bakersfield during the upcoming year.

Gavin: I’m looking for the Suns to continue to experiment with their rotation. The Suns have been experimenting with guys at different positions, namely Gerald Green at small forward and P.J. Tucker at the four spot. While a line-up featuring both of them at those spots might struggle defensively, their combined range would leave gaping holes on the other end for the guards to take advantage of. Speaking of which, I’d like to see more of Goran Dragic, Isaiah Thomas and Bledsoe on the court at the same time. With Bledsoe’s ability to guard wings, the line-up’s been viable defensively, while leaving opposing defenses scrambling to help and recover on three of the best penetrating guards in basketball. Throw in a Morris brother and Anthony Tolliver and the line-up has scary offensive potential.