Monty Williams is committed to winning, but in order to achieve that objective, he is going to experiment with this Phoenix Suns team at Disney.
The one thing we know for sure about the Disney bubble is that there will be no tanking. In what was the only move that made sense, the NBA locked in the current standings that will determine the lottery odds (unless a team currently ranked 9th or lower makes the playoffs). That means there is no advantage for the Phoenix Suns to feature Jalen Lecque and Cheick Diallo for 48 minutes per game; the Suns are going to have the 10th best odds in the lottery (barring a miracle run to the playoffs).
However, that doesn’t mean there won’t be ample experimenting. The Suns are essentially playing with house money in these final eight regular-season games, so taking gambles they might not have previously, is all but certain. That being said, they aren’t just going to put it all on one random roulette number and hope for the best. Everything new twist will be a strategic trial in order to win or see what will contribute to winning next year.
The Phoenix Suns are going to experiment at Disney.
"“Everything we’re going to do will be based on winning games. So, if I put Mikal or Cam [Johnson] or any one of our guys in a situation that is not as familiar to our fan base, it’s not to just experiment for experimenting sake. It’s for the win. That’s always been our mindset. We’re all highly competitive and we’re going down there to win games. I don’t know any other way I can say it.”"
Like most experiments, some of the new strategies Monty implements will fail, and Phoenix Suns fans need to be ready for that. The most notable failed experiment this season was no doubt Bayton (I still hate calling it that), where Deandre Ayton and Aron Baynes started alongside each other in an effort to keep Baynes’ hot hand on the court.
Hopefully, however, Coach Williams finds something (or somethings) that do work. For example, playing Mikal Bridges in place of Dario Saric along with the rest of the starting lineup proved to be the team’s most productive on-court quintet.
So whether it is defensive matchups, lineup adjustments, or Deandre Ayton shooting 3s, expect to see plenty of new wrinkles with the Phoenix Suns take the court in Orlando. Coach Williams is going to channel is Bill Nye the Science Guy and perform some public experiments to learn more about his team and figure out how best to achieve the objective hypothesis: to win.