The Phoenix Suns have enjoyed a nice start to the 2025-26 NBA season, and they firmly have the fan base back onside. Although their most recent defeat at the hands of the Atlanta Hawks came as a result of letting a 22 point lead slip away, the way head coach Jordan Ott has them competing on both ends has fans returning to watch this team play in their droves.
Coach Ott confirms rotation will change as games pile up.
The first year head coach spoke to the media in the aftermath of the loss, and he revealed that the coaching staff are going to be looking at new ways to keep fresh and win games by explaining that "we're going to have to find new parts of our rotation because these games don't stop". This is the correct approach to take at this stage of the season.
"We're going to have to find new parts of our rotation because these games don't stop. We play in two days. Even though we had two days in between, our guys were feeling it yesterday after 3 games in 4 days."
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) November 17, 2025
Jordan Ott as he talked about Collin Gillespie cramping up in 2nd… pic.twitter.com/UthdqG7hvb
If there was one criticism of previous leading men Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer - and really there were many more than that - it was their unwillingness to give role players an opportunity to earn more playing time. Relying on your best players in the postseason is great, but everybody has to chip in during the regular campaign in order to get there.
Already we've seen coach Ott embrace this by giving Isaiah Livers more game time, while Collin Gillespie has been brilliant off the bench. Pairing Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale in the starting five was both a brave and inspired move that has paid off, with both hurting opponents from deep on a nightly basis.
Adding another two-way point guard in Jamaree Bouyea might be trying that bit too hard to recreate the magic of Gillespie last season, but you can at least see the logic. Green is out of action right now, and it is up to coach Ott to continue coming up with new rotations and fringe guys to remain competitive each night.
Kevin Durant said on the second season of "Starting Five" on Netflix that scoring consistently is actually the hardest part of basketball, and he is right. The Suns have Booker for that and he does an amazing job, so it is about getting willing defenders who will give their all every night around him, and so far the coaching staff have achieved that.
This willingness to try new things could open the door for Nigel Hayes-Davis to work his way back into the rotation, while Jordan Goodwin and even Nick Richards can expect to see the floor more. Coach Ott is having a brilliant first season so far in The Valley, and accepting that he can't keep using the same players in the same ways each night - even though it has worked - is brilliant awareness.