One of the best words to describe the Phoenix Suns so far this season has been "feisty". They've quickly emerged as an opponent that teams hate to see crop up on the schedule, and their desire to annoy you and press you high up the court is a large part of the reason why.
Suns shown some real love by Logan Murdock of The Ringer.
The Suns aren't the only team that have embraced defending on every possession like its the midway point of the playoffs, and Logan Murdock of The Ringer recently wrote an interesting piece on the rise of the full court press in the league this season.
A style of play that can trace its roots back to the NBA Finals last year, and really in the months leading up to that seven game series, as Rick Carlisle had the Indiana Pacers playing like men possessed every night. No press was too extreme, no lost cost too ridiculous to chase after.
I mean dude Collin Gillespie is the best 6th man in the NBA pic.twitter.com/wYm1krrHdZ
— LEEZUS (@AndrewLeezus) November 27, 2025
We live in a copycat league, and in Collin Gillespie the Suns have their very own T.J. McConnell. As Gillespie himself says in the opening salvo of Murdock's piece -
"It’s one way for me to stick in the league. I got to play hard. I got to compete. That’s probably my calling card as an NBA player." We know Gillespie is doing much more than that, we've got big goals for the point guard, but that desire to defend has helped the Suns win games.
For a national media outlet to lead off with the Suns when breaking down the hot new trend is well deserved for a group who many expected to be a bottom-feeder this season. Instead they're beating the teams that they're supposed to, and taking valuable Ws off better opponents as well.
This shift in play style has come at a great time for Phoenix, as they have the roster to go out and make life difficult. It's one of the keys to the seventh best defensive rating (110.6) they've had across the last two weeks, per Cleaning The Glass.
Gillespie, Dillon Brooks and Grayson Allen (when healthy) pressing opponents hard, all being backed up by a monster in the paint in Mark Williams. This was the vision head coach Jordan Ott had for the roster when he took over, and so far it is paying dividends. Shining a spotlight on Phoenix is deserved.