DNP-CD’s
There were three DNP-CD’s on opening night which isn’t entirely a surprise, however the names of several of those DNP’s kind of are.
Rookie Mikal Bridges, offseason acquisition Richaun Holmes, and third-year player Dragan Bender, all remained entirely on the bench, never sniffing a moment of action.
Troy Daniels was a first half DNP-CD, but finished with 4 minutes of play in the third quarter (without attempting a 3), another surprise for many fans.
The thing of it though is: while we want to see Bridges; Holmes is an Alan Williams-type spark plug that will be fun to watch; Daniels is a career 40% 3-point shooter; and Dragan Bender is living on borrowed time, I don’t think that many Suns fans really care about who didn’t play on opening night, because the play of the regular rotation (even Ryan Anderson finished with a +22 although he shot 1-4 for 2 points and only 1 3-point attempt).
For the first time in many years, the Phoenix Suns have actual depth on the roster and don’t have to seek for diamond’s in the rough off the deep end of the bench.
Sure, it’s neither championship-level depth neither is it even likely to be playoff-level depth. But the fact that there was a highly touted rookie who didn’t play, a veteran sharp-shooter in a system built for him that only got 4 minutes, and two other players who we had expected to see regularly this season (although the question of in what situations remains to be seen), almost everybody would agree that the regular rotation played so well, missing a few end of the bench guys isn’t all that killer.
This is all likely because unlike his predecessors, Igor Kokoskov has been told that it is Time to Rise, and he is ready for the challenge.