Phoenix Suns: Ranking 6 experiments we might see at Disney

#2 Small-ball

As long as the Phoenix Suns have Deandre Ayton on their roster, Monty Williams will not take small-ball to the extreme that the Houston Rockets have. That being said, the most effective lineup the Suns had this season was Rubio-Booker-Oubre-Bridges-Ayton, where Dario Saric’s post presence was subbed out with Bridges’ athletic, defensive prowess.

Without Oubre, their options for small-ball become very limited unless Coach Williams wants to get really crazy and play all of his backup point guards at the same time.

Well, not all of them, that would be a violation, since there are only five players are allowed on the court at one time, but there were a few times late in the year when the Suns put Carter, Okobo, and Jerome on the court at the same time.

If you don’t recall, those times did not go well.

The most logical substitution in the lineup that worked so well is Saric or Johnson in place of the rehabbing Oubre. However, both of those players, at 6’8″, don’t exactly make a lineup worthy of the small-ball moniker.

Monty would have to sub in someone like Cameron Payne or Jevon Carter into the lineup (which maybe Booker moves to the three) in order to truly play small-ball, and I’m not sure how that helps.

Then again, if former Phoenix Suns coaching great, Mike D’Antoni, has the right philosophy, small-ball is the way of the future, and what better chance to experiment with it than the Disney bubble?