Phoenix Suns preseason storylines to monitor: 3s, lineups

PHOENIX – Hey, Phoenix Suns basketball is here! That’s neat.

Preseason begins on Sunday in a fancy city near Los Angeles against the Lakers before everything gets underway in four more matches.

Basketball isn’t nearly as useless as football in the preseason, but don’t study too much.

With this in mind, we can still read up on something a little bit. Here’s what you should check out:

Disclaimer: Don’t worry about Phoenix’s 3-point attempts on a game-by-game basis. We’ll see some more in the 20s. Your hope is more consistently in the mid to high 30s and even reaches the 40s several times a month.

Is the intention already clear in the preseason? Do we see a clear difference?

Our best indicator is to focus on where the 3s come from. Devin Booker will likely start some dribbling, an early-season trend we’ve already seen. Here, too, some concern is warranted.

How many of these come from fluid ball movements, right around ball screens, etc. are progress points.

Who is the initiator?

It should mostly just be Tyus Jones. But will Booker, Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant still start offensive possessions? Are grab-and-go items still on the menu, or does Jones’ first instinct now always find him at the outlet? What if Jusuf Nurkic still did that?

It will also be interesting to see to what extent Monte Morris takes this into account. Assuming we get at least one or two of these matchups with all players available to play, it seems like a good bet that Jones or Morris will be on the field at all times. However, there are reasons not to do that and give Grayson Allen or Royce O’Neale a few more minutes to try and get both closer to 30 minutes a night off the bench. That depends on how sound the basis of the crime is.

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To extend this discussion even further, if we take a look at the rotation of all players, that’s the start of a clue when it comes to lineup combinations.

Three-guard lineups will be out there in droves and the combinations of them are extensive. It could even go as far as playing someone like Allen or O’Neale at the 4, again in an effort to give them more minutes. Will Phoenix delve even deeper into this pool by playing a small-ball 5 at times? It will be interesting to see how often Booker and Durant share the floor, as well as Beal’s substitution patterns.

It’s a bit of a stretch for preseason, but anything that’s down will be in the spotlight.

They actually have newbies now

That’s correct! Beal is particularly excited about the first-year boys taking on rookie duties, a tradition in which veterans assign tasks to the youngins to complete. This is especially crucial for road trips, so Ryan Dunn, Oso Ighodaro and Jalen Bridges better get the right snacks for Beal and Co. before heading to the airport.

As for those three, Beal is a big fan of what he saw.

“They just pay a lot of attention to detail,” Beal said. “They want to learn here and earn a living. They ask me, Book, and K questions constantly throughout the day. They are constantly scanning our brains. I’m happy for them because we’re going to teach a lot of them and they’re going to have the opportunity to do some really good things for them. … For young guys, rookies, they were light years ahead of most rookies coming here.”

Dunn is the wing the Suns need. All three attempts are dissected. Bridges is more of a plug-and-play newcomer of the two and has a reasonably good chance of carving out a role for himself. Until then, don’t expect Ighodaro to secure the backup No. 5 spot. He’s good right now, and if the details are right for him, the coaching staff will want to use him.

The only fight in training camp (or is it?)

It feels like we’ve moved up a solid nine spots in the rotation. Jones, Booker, Beal, Durant and Nurkic will make up the starting lineup. The bench will largely consist of pieces for Allen and O’Neale. Morris and Plumlee are likely veteran backups 1 and 5, leaving another gap for Bol Bol, Damion Lee, Josh Okogie, Bridges, Dunn and Ighodaro.

Everyone provides something the rotation could use more of. Bol is the athletic outlier of all athletic outliers, Lee is the sniper and Okogie is more on the ball and has tremendous rebounding given his size. Bridges is the best pure 3-and-D choice, Dunn is the most dynamic overall defender, and Ighodaros’ mobility on both sides is the extra layer that no other center can provide.

The safe bet is Bol, who is having a career year and has been really good for Phoenix. He hasn’t gained enough confidence defensively to get into the postseason rotation, but if he can build on last season and limit the mistakes, he’s been a spark plug offensively all year when he’s running.

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