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: Last season, Devin Booker‘s shooting was his 4th least-effective (.507), and his three-point shooting (33.0%) was his second-worst ever. How important is it for him to get to at least above his career averages in these areas in 2026-27?
GuarGuar: Definitely was a down year shooting-wise for Book last season. His high free throw rate and percentage is what kept him a decently efficient player last year still. He’s going to need to figure out the three-point inconsistency. There are plenty of guys later in their careers who became more consistent from three, and we need Book to achieve that. His shooting form is different in some way since he came into the league. I think it was to maximize his midrange percentage, but the cost has been consistency from 3. It’s really off-the-dribble threes where he struggles, catch and shoot he’s been solid historically. He’s gotta regain confidence from behind the arc, and I believe in him to do it.
zenzino: Very important. Next question.
For reals, Ishbia has unequivocally stated on numerous occasions that he is ride or die with Devin Booker. Great! Then build the team around him rather than having him adjust to the players that are brought in.
He spent a lot of time last season getting his teammates involved, which is great and what was needed last season, but I agree with many that point Book is not the most effective Book.
The ball is always going to go through Book, and that’s fine. But run some sets that get Book open looks and then, when he gets blitzed (top 10 in getting blitzed), open up passing lanes so the other guys can use his gravity to get open shots.
I’d really like to see Book be more offensively minded this season. Be slightly more selfish about getting his shots. I’d also like to see him be more selective with his 3-pointers. He shouldn’t try to be a high-volume shooter. If he averages around 28 per game, I’d be fine with his assists staying around 6 per game.
For him personally, I really hope he does and puts an end to the ridiculous narrative that he is declining.
Ashton: This feels almost like a loaded question because any self-respecting Suns fan would read this and go “of course this a problem!”
So, I reached for my contrarian hat to try to put this in context. Let’s start with this. Every now and then I get a job description interview from a recruiter that is a literal laundry list of hard to master skills that concludes with “and the kitchen sink”. I wonder what type of job description they would have to write up for Booker? Must be an all-star, must be an able defender, must be able to take over the game in the final minute, must be a play-making facilitator, must be a leader in locker room presence and mentor to players, must lead a winning team to the finals, and the list goes on, finishing with “and the kitchen sink”. This is how the Suns fans would want to write up their HR job description for Booker.
But I rarely encounter the “must-haves” and “nice-to-haves” in these job descriptions smorgasbord. To answer this question, is 3-PT shooting a “must-have”? No. For one, Book was never a volume three-point shooter. We used to joke if this would be the game that Book would put up and make seven or more three-pointers. It was the easiest prop bet in the world to say he wouldn’t. Why? Because teams long ago knew that targeting Book on the offensive end was the key to their defensive scheme. The sweep by the Thunder in last year’s playoffs showed exactly that.
Book is asked to do a lot of things on the court, and improving his three-point efficiency is a “Nice to Have,” but not that relevant in the grand scheme of Ott’s coaching. Playmaking is my “Must Have”. Olympic Book is what I am looking for this year, the same as last year.
Rod: Career averages in those areas would be acceptable but far from optimal. Book doesn’t have to carry this team, but he does have to lead the way…at least on the court. Playing more efficiently while sharing the scoring load with others is the way to do that, in my opinion.
This year, I think he’ll be sharing the court with the best supporting cast he’s had since 2021-22…with a deeper and arguably better bench. The loss of Mark Williams hurts the team, but I think they can make it through his downtime with the depth they have without dropping off too much. I know a lot of fans would be against Ighodaro starting in Mark’s place, but his ability to facilitate could work very well with a starting unit without a true point guard and allow Book to spend less time trying to play point and more time concentrating on putting points on the scoreboard.
Q2: The Suns were 28th in free throw attempts last season (20.3 per game). Do you believe they will get to the line more often in 2026-27?
GuarGuar: I think losing Royce and Grayson will help the team have a higher free throw rate this year. Those guys did not draw many fouls, and adding Bridges, who is a more aggressive slasher, should help too. As aggressive as Brooks is, he’s not much of a foul drawer, and it’s an area I’d like to see him get better at. We basically relied on only Booker to draw fouls last year.
zenzino: I hope so.
Book’s free-throw attempts jumped up by almost 2 to 8.1, which was good for 5th in the league. Hopefully, he can continue his physicality on the offensive end and repeat that.
Green has averaged under 4 per game in previous years. That dropped by half last season because of his injuries. He should be able to bring that up and maybe add 1 or 2 if he stays aggressive.
Surprisingly, Bridges also only averages around 4 per game. I would have guessed more. If he’s concentrating more on putting pressure on the rim, maybe his average goes up too.
I never really count on the Suns getting the benefit of the whistle, though. It’s the curse of the purple and orange since circa 1968.
Ashton: Nope. Sorry to say, Suns fans, but the evidence is just not there. I expect this statistic to be about the same as long as:
There is no dominant frontline to draw fouls
The Suns still have a line-up that is dependent on the mid-range shot. Especially on ISO plays where that is what the player is left with when being defensively shut down.
With Booker’s mouth and Brooks penchant to draw technical fouls, the Suns will not win the Zebra’s favoritism
This ranking may facilitate somewhat, but I just don’t see getting to the FT line in the cards. Oh, yeah, how many times do we play the Lakers again? My nod to the third point. There is just no diplomacy between the Suns players when encountering flopping and maybe phantom fouls and the refs. I am a firm conspiracy theorist that the refs hate us, but the players have a lot to do with that. I am not saying buy the refs flowers before the game, but the way the players conduct themselves on the court is just as important as off the court. Put the egos aside and play the game.
Rod: I think they’ll get to the line more often this year. How much more often? I won’t speculate, but it looks like the Suns are gearing up to attack the basket more often, which generally adds up to more trips to the line than a team that prioritizes three-point shooting. I don’t want the team to seek out contact, though, at least not at the expense of getting off a good shot, but I don’t want them to avoid it either. If they can just be at the league average for FT attempts, I’d be very happy with that.
Q3: Do you expect Koa Peat to get more playing time with the “big team” this year than Maluach and Fleming did in their rookie seasons?
GuarGuar: I don’t expect Koa to play any more than Fleming and Man Man did last year, to be honest. He’s got Fleming, Bridges, and maybe Oso ahead of him on the depth chart for the power forward position. I think the focus is gonna be developing him in the G League until the spring, as we did with Rasheer and Maluach last year. I will say though, Koa has looked way more polished than those two did this time last year.
zenzino: Before the Bridges trade, I would have said 100%.
Now, I’m not so sure. He’s very young with only his freshman season in college under his belt. And now there are thee power forwards on the team. They can afford to be patient even more than they were with the rookies last season.
However, one of the things about Man Man and Sheer was them needing to get their bodies NBA-ready. Koa comes with an NBA body out of the gate. So he has that going for him.
I’d like to see him play a lot with the G-League when the season starts. If he picks up where he left off in Summer League, he’ll soon be dominating. Then he might just earn some minutes with the “big team”.
Addendum: After writing this, news surfaced that Mark Williams will be out for 5-7 months with a torn labrum. I think this might have a bearing on Koa Peat’s playing time.
Because of how the rotations are going to need to be adjusted, I can see situations where the Suns will play a semi-small ball with Bridges and Sheer being the ‘bigs’ and the rest guards. I can also see Peat slotting in for Bridges when he needs a break.
Either way, small ball haters – prepare to hate. When they traded for Bridges and now with this MW injury, the Suns are going to be playing even more small ball than they did last season.
Ashton: This is the rare instance that I get to suggest a new rule. No Fantable member who actively supports their university as an alum must answer this question due to bias concerns about a former college player. This is out of respect for the Sun’s community that is composed of ASU supporters, people who do not give a damn about college athletics, and our international friends overseas (the University of Arizona beat the Lithuanian national squad before FIBA competition in an exhibition game. Michigan did not). Okay, I know my audience. So, Rod, I will pass on this question.
Ah, screw that. I want Koa to get all the minutes he can steal. Starters, developing bench players in KM and Fleming, it doesn’t matter. Steal those minutes, Koa! Show everyone how to get to the free thorw line (Q2) and be an free throw average shooter (which he is). Sun fans will surely enjoy the effort, though. Koa can quickly become a favorite of the Suns fans.
Will it happen? No. Sheer and KM, rightfully, need their development minutes and will take those minutes away from Koa. But you never know. At this point, I thought it was undetermined if Koa Peat would even play on the “Big Team” but rather spend most of his time tearing it up in G League.
Rod: At this point in time, I’d be very surprised if he got more court time than last year’s rooks but it also wouldn’t surprise me if he does get more. Maluach and Fleming obviously weren’t ready for prime-time minutes last season, but Peat still has time to prove himself worthy of some court time in training camp and in the preseason games.
Right now, I expect Fleming to be Bridges’ primary backup at PF with Peat behind him. Fleming and Peat look like different types of PFs to me, though, with Fleming as a 3&D type and Peat as a driving, attack-the-rim sort. Which type is ultimately going to be the best fit with the other players on the court? I have no idea…yet.
I also don’t know how well Peat is going to be defensively in the NBA, and that could play a big role in his court time as well. I’m hoping that he turns out to be a major surprise for the Suns, but I’m not counting on it.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Suns Trivia/History
On September 12, 2005, the Suns signed former Arizona State University star shooting guard Eddie House to a one-year deal. House didn’t disappoint, appearing in 81 games off the bench; he averaged 9.8 points per game and 38.9% from beyond the arc in 17.5 minutes per game. The Suns would finish the 2005/06 season with a 54-28 record and make it to the Western Conference finals before finally being sent home by Dallas 2-4.
On September 13, 1978, Curtis Perry, a major figure in the Suns’ NBA Finals run in 1975-76, retired after four seasons in the Valley. Perry set career highs during the 1974-75 season of 13.4 points and 11.9 rebounds per game. His 11.9 rpg that season is the 5th highest single-season rebounding average in Suns history, and his career average of 9.49 rpg for the Suns is 7th on the Suns’ All-Time leaders list.
On September 16, 1974, the Suns acquired Curtis Perry, Dennis Awtrey, Nate Hawthorne and a 1976 first-round pick (Adrian Dantley) from the New Orleans Jazz for Neal Walk and a 1975 second-round pick (Clyde Mayes).
Walk, the Suns’ first-ever draft pick (2nd in 1969), averaged 14.7 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, missed only two regular-season games during his 5 seasons in Phoenix, and in 1973 averaged 12.42 rebounds per game which is the second-highest single-season rebounds-per-game average in Suns history behind only Paul Silas’ 12.53 rebounds in 1971. His career high for the Suns was 42 points vs. the Milwaukee Bucks on January 11, 1972. The Suns won 115-114 and Walk outscored future Hall of Fame member and the man picked first above him in the 1969 NBA Draft, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, 42-27.
In 1988, while Walk was living in Phoenix, it was discovered that he had a benign tumor enveloping his spine. Following surgery, he was left in a wheelchair, from which he played wheelchair basketball for the LA-Phoenix Samaritans in the Southern California league of the National Wheelchair Basketball Association. In 1990, he was honored at the White House by President George H. W. Bush as the “Wheelchair Athlete of the Year.”
He later worked for the Phoenix Suns in the Community Affairs department and sadly passed away on October 4, 2015, due to an unspecified blood disease.
On September 16, 1994, on the same day that the NBA finally approved a one-year, $1 million deal for Danny Manning, the Phoenix Suns submitted a one-year, $850,000 deal for power forward Wayman Tisdale, arguably making the Suns the deepest team in the NBA at that time.
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
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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