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Inside The Suns: Media Day Questions, Preseason Games, Back End Of The Roster Decision

Welcome to Inside the Suns, a deep down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team in which the Fantable — a round table of Bright Siders — give their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.

Fantable Questions of the Week

Q1: This Monday is Media Day. What are the top 3 questions you would ask IF you were guaranteed to get 100% honest answers to them?

zenzino: Oooh! 100% honesty? Who shot JR? Where’s the beef? The mind boggles. (Yeah, I’m an 80s kid)

This is actually pretty tough. 100% honesty doesn’t help if they honestly don’t know the answer. You can’t ask about how players will work out. Most things they’ll just try and see.

Here’s my try at it:

Jordan Ott: What are the key things you learned from your first season as a head coach, and what are you changing this season based on that?
Mark Williams: Why do you keep breaking? Jordan Ott: Do you think Maluach and Fleming are ready to make significant contributions this season? If not, what do they need to show you, and what is the projected timeline?
Devin Booker: You’ve been dedicated to the Valley your whole career, and Mat Ishbia says he is ride or die with you. Is there any reasonable situation where you would consider asking to be traded?

Ashton: To start, I hope it is live-streamed on YouTube, as the comment section can be hilarious and stupid at the same time. Also, I hope that BSotS is well represented in this one and can get a question in or two. But Monday is going to be softball week for questions with long Mat Ishbia dialogues. I like the fact that this question asks for 100% honest answers and that could make me as ruthless as a reporter with a hypodermic syringe full of CIA-grade truth serum under the bright media lights. Ah, who am kidding? I would just need a bucket of water and a towel.

But I would not do that (I think), but I am sure the commentators might. Let’s get the softballs out of the way.

Coach Ott: Do you see a scenario where your starting line-up includes Collin Gillespie?

Coach Ott (again): Now that we know that Mark Williams will miss most of the season, what is the strategy for the front court? Will there be smaller lineups?

Devin Booker: The modern NBA has shifted to more of a three-point shooting offense. Where do you see yourself in this offense? As a 3pt shooter or a ball-moving facilitator?

The entire room: I actually want this one answered with a pre-and-post truth serum injection. You get the softball answer, and then after the truth serum, you give your real answer. Let’s include media in this as well.

How many games do you honestly expect the Suns to win this season?

BSoT writers, I hoped it helped, but you should just pull a Dave King-like article asking the board for questions.

Rod: First off, I’d like to state that I wouldn’t waste one of these questions on Mat Ishbia. A lot of the things he says sound like pure hype, but I’m not at all certain that he doesn’t actually believe them himself and, as with anyone, what people actually believe is true isn’t always factual. I believe Jordan Ott’s views of this team would be the most realistic.

To Ott: What do you see as the most realistic goal for the Suns this season?
Also to Ott: Do you think a Jalen Green/Devin Booker backcourt has a real chance of actually working out well?
To Book: How does this team compare to the 2020-21 Suns team that went to the NBA Finals?

Q2: Preseason games start in just over a week. What are you most looking forward to seeing in the first game?

zenzino: SUNS BASKETBALL!! Next question.

Between NBA and NFL, I think preseason is getting increasingly pointless, with starters often being mostly or even completely held out. I would like the new-look starting lineup to get some minutes together in preseason rather than start to work it out as the season begins.

What I hope I see is the Suns play at least the first half of each preseason game as it matters. I’d like to see an old-school preseason so the Suns can hit the ground running when the regular season starts. I don’t think they (or any team in the West) can afford a slow start while they figure things out.

That being said, I’m looking forward to seeing the young guys getting minutes with full NBA players to see if they can continue what we saw in Summer League.

Oh, and no injuries!

I’m looking forward to seeing the new-look starting lineup and how they mesh together. And Oso making some free throws.

It would be interesting to see if he can take that year-two leap into being a starting center.

Ashton: After Mark Williams’ injury, my attention completely pivoted to the C position. I normally would have inserted Miles Bridges into the starters here (my Fantable peers will cover me), but now I am looking at the Big Men in Oso and KM. I would not mind a two-fer as an answer to this question with split minutes between them both, but I will take Khaman Mulauch as the one to watch.

It would be interesting to see if he can take that year-two leap into being a starting center.

Rod: I want to see how well Book. Green, Brooks, and Bridges mesh in the starting unit. Obviously, we still have no idea whether Oso or Khaman will be the 5th starter yet, and whichever one does start will have an impact on how well the starting unit plays together, but due to injuries, we never really got a good look at how well a Booker/Green backcourt would work together, and the addition of Bridges adds yet another new wrinkle.

And while the starting unit is weak in three-point shooting, I wouldn’t call it “bad”…but it is something to be concerned about. Seeing how they play as such will be something I’ll keep an eye on. They’ve got some guys who can get hot from three in the starting unit, but will they rely on the uncertainty of that happening and fire away from three or concentrate on getting to the basket more?

Q3: To keep Doup Reath on the regular season roster, the Suns would have to waive Bouyea or Highsmith OR one of the two-way contract players (Brea, Huntley & Spencer). If they decide to keep Reath, who would you waive to create a roster spot for him?

zenzino: This would be super easy to name a knee-jerk person.

It seems like most people think Bouyea would be the obvious choice. But I say, “Not so fast!” Bouyea got his chance on a roster loaded with guards because of injuries. The Suns are still loaded with guards, but not as much as it appears. We lost GA and gained Kennard. While the 3-point bump was improved, the rest of what GA brought will be mostly missing. I don’t see Kennard bringing the versatility GA brought.

Granted, Kennard filled in admirably for the Lakers in the playoffs, but that is a small sample size against a team missing their best facilitator and best scorer. And, as soon as they put Thompson on him, he was shut down.

While many are high on Spencer (I also think it was a good signing), I still think Bouyea is a proven asset within this system and with these players. Especially if we get the pre-concussion version.

Unless health is an issue, I am not swapping Highsmith for Reath. Nope. A healthy Highsmith is the 3-and-D this team needs off the bench.

That leaves the two-way spots. I’m sure we’ll see some Spencer in pre-season. I’m not sure about Brea and Huntley. Brea was so good shooting in college; I would love to see him find the range in the NBA. Especially since the Suns offloaded almost half of their 3-point shot-making and replaced them with one shooter who barely shoots 4 a game. I suspect there will be more than a few games this season where the Suns die by the 3.

Because of Huntly’s injury, we didn’t get to see him in SL. I have no idea where he’s at with his development or how much runway he’s going to get.

To sum up: No for Bouyea and Highsmith. If Reath does really well in camp (and preseason?), I’d like to see him on a 2-way. I’ll let the coaches decide whose spot he gets.

Ashton: I am really not sold on any of the names given and wouldn’t lose sleep if any of them were waived. I would say keep Highsmith for size, and Bouyea is just a fan favorite all around. I have not seen enough of Spencer to have any type of judgment, and maybe I should have made him the focus of Q2 as the Suns will need 3pt shooting, badly.

When it is all said and done, I guess Huntley is the odd-man out, as I hold out hope the Brea’s long-range shooting percentages increase.

Rod: Since Mark Williams will likely return about the time a two-way player’s eligibility would run out, I’d prefer that the Suns waive one of the two-way players and sign Reath to a two-way contract. If it was done that way, I’d waive Brea to open up a spot for him. Out of all the possibilities, Brea has just impressed me the least and would likely not be missed…even by the Valley Suns. It’s also possible that they could bring Brea back on a G League contract to play for the Valley Suns as they did with Huntley last season.

If they want to get him on a standard NBA contract, the decision becomes a little harder. I think Highsmith might be the more valuable player overall, but I’d hate to lose the PG depth by waiving Bouyea…but then the Suns also have Spencer on a two-way contract, so the need to hang on to Bouyea might not be as great as some might think. All things considered, I suppose I’d go with waiving Bouyea, unless Highsmith’s still not back to 100%.

As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!

Suns Trivia/History

On September 27, 1972, Al McCoy called his first game for the Phoenix Suns, a 128-102 preseason win at the ABA’s Utah Stars to move to 3-0 following 2 wins vs NBA teams in Puerto Rico. The game was played under ABA rules, which included the three-point line __ years before the NBA adopted it. Utah was 0-10 from 3 with the Suns not even attempting a shot from downtown.

On September 27, 1983, the Suns signed Paul Westphal as a free agent to a 2-year contract. Three years earlier, Westphal had been traded by Phoenix to Seattle for Dennis Johnson. He would play only one more season with the Suns before being waived and subsequently retiring.

On September 28, 1993, Phoenix signed 30-year-old power forward A.C. Green as an unrestricted free agent. Green, who played his first 8 seasons for the Lakers, played 3.5 seasons for the Suns and averaged 10.6 ppg and 7.7 rpg while starting 162 of 273 games played.

On October 1, 1991, the Suns traded Xavier McDaniel to the New York Knicks for Jerrod Mustaf, Trent Tucker, a 1992 2nd-round draft pick, and a 1994 2nd-round draft pick. McDaniel had been acquired by Phoenix the previous season from the Seattle SuperSonics for Eddie Johnson, a 1991 1st round draft pick, and a 1994 1st round draft pick.

On October 1, 1997, as part of a 3-team trade, the Phoenix Suns traded a 1998 1st round draft pick, a 1999 1st round draft pick, a 2000 2nd round draft pick, a 2001 1st round draft pick and a 2002 2nd round draft pick to the Denver Nuggets and then sent Tony Dumas and Wesley Person to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavaliers sent back a 2005 1st-round draft pick, and the Nuggets sent Antonio McDyess to Phoenix.

Important Future Dates

Sept. 28 – Media Day
Sept. 29 – Training Camp opens
Oct. 5 – Suns @ Pistons (preseason) 4:00 PM
Oct. 7 – Suns @ Bulls (preseason) 5:00 PM
Oct. 10 – Suns vs. Spurs (preseason) 7:00 PM (ESPN2)
Oct. 14 – Suns @ Spurs (preseason) 5:00 PM
Oct. 16 – Suns vs. Jazz (preseason) 7:00 PM
Oct. 20 – 2026-27 NBA Season Begins
Oct. 24 – NBA G League Draft
Oct. 26-Nov. 5 – NBA G League Training Camp
Nov. 6 – NBA G League Tip-Off Tournament begins
Dec. 15 – Most players signed to new contracts can be traded
Jan. 5 – 10-day contracts may now be signed
Jan. 10 – All NBA contracts are guaranteed for the remainder of the season
Jan. 15 – All players signed to new contracts can be traded
Feb. 11 – Trade Deadline
Feb. 19-21 – NBA All-Star 2027

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