3 goals for Ryan Dunn's rookie season with the Suns
By Luke Duffy
2. Be top five in defensive rating on this team
Dunn's time on the court will be evaluated by what kind of impact he is having defensively, so this is both an obvious and achievable goal. Last season the Suns ranked an underrated 12th in defensive rating during the regular season (113.7), a fact that went under the radar for many.
Central to that were players like Allen and center Jusuf Nurkic overexceeding expectations, while Durant had perhaps his best ever defensive season. Certainly you could make a case for that. It will be on Dunn then to come in and right away be in the mix as a player who raises the defensive floor when he is on the court.
When you consider Nurkic might well take a step back, and that Beal for example isn't exactly an elite defender, a path opens up for Dunn here. If he can play 15 minutes a night and make it difficult for opponents to score on some trips down, his selection by the Suns will already be viewed as a success.
Without putting too much pressure on him, the Suns have really missed Mikal Bridges since letting him go in the deal that got them Durant. Even a rookie Bridges showed something on that end - and if Dunn can replicate that - then the long-term vision for the franchise just got considerably brighter.