For those who don't know, Vecenie is a scouting guy who does a lot of work on the NBA draft. But during the season, he'll watch a few games a night and give bulleted notes on what he saw. He watched last night's game, and here are his notes on the Suns:

• I hate everything about what this Phoenix team has done to its starting lineup. They were without Mark Williams and Oso Ighodaro tonight, so Maluach had to start. But really, the problem here is that Jalen Green and Miles Bridges are the antithesis of what made this team fun last year. They were so selfless and played for one another on defense last season. They moved the ball quicker and made better decisions. This group doesn’t do that with the starters. Coming into tonight, Phoenix’s starters had a negative-35.5 net rating and tonight might make that slightly better, but not much better. They got their ass kicked.
• Green’s stat line looks about as good as it could. He had 20 points, four assists, four rebounds, only one turnover and shot 8 for 13 from the field. I wouldn’t say he played poorly, but I didn’t love the game, either. I counted at least five possessions where he brought the ball up the court and shot the ball without passing, one of which was a pretty egregious one at the start of the second half where Phoenix clearly set up a Spain/stack action with Maluach and Booker, and Green just rejected the screen, drove to the rim, overpenetrated, and got stripped by McCain. Midway through the first, he had another no-pass possession where he settled for a contested midrange shot with 15 seconds left on the shot clock without trying to create anything for his teammates. When Green keeps it simple, attacking driving lanes when they come available as a slasher with his athleticism, taking open catch-and-shoot 3s, and cuts to the rim, he’s an effective player. He can attack mismatches well. The problem is when he tries to isolate or play in ball-screens against high-level defenses or defenders. He also doesn’t process it quickly enough and holds the ball too long upon catching it, allowing rotating defenses to catch up while he surveys. I don’t think he’s a fit with Devin Booker in the starting lineup.
• Bridges was even worse largely because he can’t defend anyone. He gets caught in no-man’s land in help way too often. He can’t move his feet quickly enough on defense to deal with guards in switches. He ends up having to play too passively and is too far off of them, allowing them to get space and time to shoot. He also isn’t a good enough shooter to take advantage of when he’s open. He’s made 33 percent from 3 over his last four years, and only has one year in his career over 35 percent despite taking six per game over the last six years. He did a nice job moving without the ball, particularly in some moments where OKC was in zone coverage. Again, he had 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists. The box score looks great. He did not play well.
• My real issue with everything Phoenix is doing here with this group is that none of it is in service of accentuating Devin Booker or the scheme Jordan Ott found success with last season. Gillespie makes life easier for Booker by spacing the court, being an aggressive point-of-attack defender, and making good decisions. Goodwin and Brooks take really tough matchups on defense and are physical. Ighodaro was out tonight, but he moves the ball quickly. But Green and Bridges just have not looked like a fit at all. Maybe it gets better as the season continues, but their careers to this point would not suggest it.
• I also haven’t really loved the Khaman Maluach as a starting center experience so far. I just don’t think his hands, screening or offensive processing skills are good enough yet for such a large role. Tonight he had to play 25 minutes because Ighodaro missed the game. But four turnovers in 25 minutes for such a low usage player is a killer. I also haven’t loved his positioning on the glass, and even around the rim he has moments where I feel like he can get pushed around. There was a specific one at 4:14 in the third quarter where Shai just put his shoulder into his chest and drove him backwards before throwing down a dunk on him that ended up not counting because the refs called a strange foul prior. I am definitely in favor of him being a backup this year, I think he’s shown enough to be useful there. But I’d probably start Ighodaro over him when he’s back healthy because I think they need someone who can process the game quickly and move the ball with this starting lineup.

Like I genuinely don't know how it could get worse from here. But we all know the one move to officially start the rebuild and he won't take it.

At least in 2024 we had the unpredictable bursts of Bol Bol.

Now, we have a roster filled with redundancies. This coaching staff plays small-ball with a team that can't make threes or rebound. Please re-read that and understand how insane that is.

There will almost never be a night where Book and Green have a good shooting night if they are on the court together.

The 2013 Suns had half of the talent this team has and would wipe the floor with this current roster.

Is it the ownership? Is there any basketball acumen at the top? No retired pros, no former GM's. At the end of last year, size and ball handling was the priority and we traded for Miles Bridges of all people.

Is it the coaching staff? Is there any excuse for the lineups that Ott is playing? Should Miles Bridges be playing twice the minutes as Jordan Goodwin?

The coaching staff and front office have not put these guys in a position to win. Sure, the players need to take accountability, but does this roster highlight our players strengths? Is it smart to have a bunch of ball dominant, undersized, guards/forwards that can't hit threes or rebound, on the court together?

I'm glad I'm gonna spend it with all of you fine folks. Suns in 4 forever!

Small sample, I know, but three games in and I'm having Vogel/Bud flashbacks.
Last night in OKC, Book played 34 minutes and finished with 3 points on 1-of-7 shooting. He did lead the team with 7 assists and didn't turn it over once. So he did exactly what you ask a point guard to do. He just didn't do what you ask a franchise scorer to do. Bridges took 17 shots, Brooks 14, Green 13, and even Maluach got up 10. Our best player took 7.
Two nights earlier he dropped 43 in the win over the Warriors. That's the whole argument in two box scores. When he's hunting his shot, we win. When he spends the possession organizing everyone else, he disappears and we lose.
The starting five right now is Book at PG, Green at SG, Brooks and Bridges at forward, and Maluach at center, while Gillespie and Goodwin lead the second unit. There's no real point guard in that starting group. And after the GSW game Book himself said the bench has better chemistry than the starters, and that the first unit needs to learn from how everybody in those groups sacrifices. That's a pretty loud hint.
We've already run this experiment:
2021: CP3 runs the offense, Book is the off-ball killer, we make the Finals and he puts up back-to-back 40s on the Bucks.
2023-25: Book becomes a full-time PG to make the KD/Beal roster work. He posts a career-high 7.1 assists, and we get a first-round sweep and a lottery season.
Last year: Ott leaned into Book as a scorer first and resisted turning him back into a pure floor general. He averaged 26.1 a game and we pulled off a surprise 45-win season.
Book is at his best coming off pindowns, catching on the move, attacking a defense that's already rotating. He's at his worst walking it up against a set defense with the whole scheme loaded up on him. OKC just showed the league how to guard us: crowd him at the point of attack and make someone else beat you.
Not saying he can't pass. He obviously can. But a 6-assist secondary creator who's a 30-point threat every night is worth a lot more than a playmaker who scores 3.
Seems simple to me. Start Gillespie or Goodwin, let Book play the 2 and run him off screens, and let Green be a sixth-man flamethrower where he gets all the touches he wants.
Am I overreacting to three games, or does Ott need to change the starting lineup before this turns into another wasted year? What would you do?

Peep the asterisk at the bottom * ☠️

In post game, he was essentially saying they gotta stop taking bad shots, play ANY defense, force them to go side out or something, and specifically said that this wasn’t the right game for Booker be in facilitator mode. EJ sounded very disappointed in Booker.

I know it’s overreaction Tuesday but how are we realistically feeling?

Suns vs Thunder
8 minutes left in the 4th quarter and Booker has only ATTEMPTED 6 shots. What is he doing? Why is he being paid so much money and not ATTEMPTING enough shots when he’s having an off game? Is it time to move on from Booker???

EDIT: I like Devin Booker….. but not as the 1st option/primary ball handler. He is being paid franchise player money but is better off a 2nd option and an off ball player.

Beat LA!

I am a book fan, but tonight was undeniably rough. For the record I don’t want him to or think he would ask out.

That said, his play almost seemed like a protest against the coaches/FO.
Watching his post game interview with Duane Rankin, it seemed the closest to outright criticizing coaching and teammates that I can remember seeing from him

Did anybody else get that vibe from tonight or am I way off base?

Brandon Williams. I know it sounds so inconsequential to add someone like him, but we desperately need paint touches from a quick guard that can make defenses collapse reliably.

We also need a 6’10 rebounder that lives just to rebound.

A big dude that has to rebound and dunk occasionally.

We also need a passer, but there are no options so this is the second best thing with the resources we have.

Bismack biyombo or Dwight Powell to stretch the floor.

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Back again. I'd love to hear the pro Booker crowd defend this one. His burst and athleticism is gone and he knows it. My theory is that he doesn't force the issue anymore against good defensive teams because his pride won't let him. It's easier to play the "playmaker" role and be Mr. Cool than embarass yourself getting shut down on every iso play.

For gods sake, Dillon has more explosiveness than Devin at this point.

Side notes:

Bridges should be dealt but unfortunately I believe they will extend him to justify the trade and double down on it.

Jalen Green looks good but is clearly the one that is being traded away at some point.

Luke Kennard only playing 16 minutes after shooting 3/5 from 3 and having no plays ran for him.

Is Fleming not good enough to get minutes?

I thought last year we saw a lot of good from him and u really thought he would’ve ended up being at least a first off the bench kind of guy. Now he’s only getting garbage time minutes.

The Suns traded their two best 3 point shooters for a guy that’s actually smaller than Fleming and I feel like Bridges isn’t doing anything different than what Fleming could do.

Does someone know something I don’t?

What do you think about the new logo in the practice shirts? I think it looks like an oversprayed decal!

Going to my first Suns game soon