New Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer already has the play called in the huddle for the team.
Budenholzer spoke this week to Steve Aschburner of NBA.com and revealed the team’s starting five for next season. The plan is to start newcomer Tyus Jones along with their Big Three of Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant plus Jusuf Nurkic rounding out the starting lineup.
“Certainly we feel like Tyus has established himself as a great starting point guard in our league, and he will be our starter,” said Budenholzer. “When you put him out there with Kevin, Brad, Book and Nurk, we feel like we’ve got a strong starting five. And a really strong bench behind them.”
The Suns, who were swept out of Round 1 last season, rolled with a starting backcourt of Beal and Booker, neither of whom are true point guards. The addition of Jones, who averaged 7.3 assists per game last season for the Washington Wizards, should help them reach a higher offensive ceiling.
Of course, that also means the Suns may now suffer a bit on the defensive end with Jones supplanting Grayson Allen, who started 74 games last year, in the starting lineup. With a soon-to-be 36-year-old Durant now the best one-on-one defender in the starting lineup and the team having to funnel everything into an average rim protector in Nurkic, there is a real danger there of Phoenix hemorrhaging points next season.
But the likes of Allen, Royce O’Neale, and Josh Okogie can still do some nice defensive work off the bench or in certain situational spots. The Suns will really be hoping for Budenholzer to put together the right stew, especially since they may not be willing to keep their Big Three together forever.
