Nobody’s knows but it’s fun to speculate. (Phoenix Suns Rumors). 2026

[Chaplin]

Ott didn't play Manman and Fleming enough. I wonder how many games Green, Williams, Dillon, Book and Grayson played when all were healthy.

Fleming, yes. But Manman? I love the kid and his potential, but let's be honest, he wasn't ready for most of the season.

 

[Mainstreet]

I think they also just lost focus from being tired and injured. Both Booker and Gillespie definitely had some physical things going on. All the coaches we have had lately will just run the legs off the guys during the season. They need to trust their lineups more and play more guys and spread the minutes during the regular season. It happened this year, and even when we had KD. Maybe we take a step as a team this season, and get more of the lineup involved.

A team needs to have discipline, to play the same way every night. The only way to do that is by playing defense or a system offense like SSOL.

And I don't think SSOL is coming back without D'Antoni, so the Suns need to fix their defense.

 

[Proximo]

Fleming, yes. But Manman? I love the kid and his potential, but let's be honest, he wasn't ready for most of the season.

I don't know, he actually seemed to get better really quickly. How much was his play in the G-league responsible for his progression I don't know, but the Man Man during summer league wasn't half the player he finished the season as. I think giving him time earlier on may have made him progress that much more.

 

[Yuma]

A team needs to have discipline, to play the same way every night. The only way to do that is by playing defense or a system offense like SSOL.

And I don't think SSOL is coming back without D'Antoni, so the Suns need to fix their defense.

Hard to play it at the end of the year when it's small ball. We played a bunch of teams down the stretch that would play to get the switch on Gillespie and then try and take advantage of his lack of size on offense. Also, When you switch a bunch of guys shorter than 6'5", it really doesn't slow the other side down. We struggled with defensive boards, or more precisely keeping the other team off the offensive glass. We need to get more defensive oriented guys. We got a bunch of smaller guys who try hard, but it would be like in football getting a bunch of 250 OL guys in the NFL and not expecting them to give up sacks. Sometimes you just need some size. Just a couple guys in the low post that can rebound, defend, and erase the occasional shot or two, would help the guys up front play better defense.

 

[Yuma]

I don't know, he actually seemed to get better really quickly. How much was his play in the G-league responsible for his progression I don't know, but the Man Man during summer league wasn't half the player he finished the season as. I think giving him time earlier on may have made him progress that much more.

I also don't know if it was just his size, but he kept guys going across the paint from taking shots. They tended to make the pass out rather than stopping and trying to shoot over him like the shorter guys. It's hard to quantify the amount of times that happened, but you could see guys not shooting that were shooting before he came in. Hopefully more minutes will help slow other teams down.

 

[Yuma]

Ott didn't play Manman and Fleming enough. I wonder how many games Green, Williams, Dillon, Book and Grayson played when all were healthy.

What's weird is there are a lot of stats showing that they really didn't play that many minutes together. Seems like someone was always missing for injury or injury minutes management.

 

[Mainstreet]

Hard to play it at the end of the year when it's small ball. We played a bunch of teams down the stretch that would play to get the switch on Gillespie and then try and take advantage of his lack of size on offense. Also, When you switch a bunch of guys shorter than 6'5", it really doesn't slow the other side down. We struggled with defensive boards, or more precisely keeping the other team off the offensive glass. We need to get more defensive oriented guys. We got a bunch of smaller guys who try hard, but it would be like in football getting a bunch of 250 OL guys in the NFL and not expecting them to give up sacks. Sometimes you just need some size. Just a couple guys in the low post that can rebound, defend, and erase the occasional shot or two, would help the guys up front play better defense.

Then, when playing small lineups it becomes almost inexcusable when they get beat down the court for layups.

Shooting over the top is one thing but not getting in front of the offensive player and blocking out is another.

 

[Hoop Head]

Then, when playing small lineups it becomes almost inexcusable when they get beat down the court for layups.

Shooting over the top is one thing but not getting in front of the offensive player and blocking out is another.

Smaller guys seem less willing to take hits. There are exceptions like Nash over the years but largely guards avoid contact to stop guys. I think part of that has to do with making their fouls count and being on the perimeter they use fouls on guys who slip past them so they need to make each one count.