Today marks the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, a day that changed the course of history and reshaped society as we know it. For those who know 9/11 only as a chapter in a history book, understand that it was a line of demarcation. There was life before September 11, and life after it.
Anyone who lived through that day remembers where they were, what they were doing, and the feeling that something had permanently changed. I was a freshman at Scottsdale Community College at the time
and remember sitting at a bench on campus, attempting to comprehend what happened and what it meant moving forward. It’s hard to believe a quarter of a century has passed since those tragic and horrific events, and the repercussions are still felt today, whether we always recognize them or not.
September 11 carries another anniversary for me, a much more personal one. It was the day I graduated from Basic Combat Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, in 2003. After struggling through two years of community college, I joined the United States Army because guys my age were doing something meaningful, serving and defending the country, while I felt like some jackass without direction, purpose, or structure.
The Army gave me structure. There was an order to things. A cadence to every day. Wake up. PT. DFAC. Training. MREs. More training. DFAC. Shine your boots. Go to bed. Then wake up and do it again. I didn’t fully appreciate the structure being drilled into me during those hot, humid days in Missouri, or Misery, as I still like to call it. But that structure became a cornerstone of my life.
That cadence is still with me today. And, strange as it sounds, you can see some of it in the way we approach SunsRank. Like life in the military, an NBA season has rhythm. Structure. An order of operations. Here at Bright Side, SunsRank is part of that cadence.
Before the season starts, we rank the entire roster from top to bottom based on who we believe the best players are at that exact moment. It becomes a snapshot of our collective thinking before anything real happens. Then come the player previews. Then Media Day. Training camp. Preseason. And finally, the season itself. That’s the structure. That’s the order of things.
Before we reveal the final preseason SunsRank tomorrow, I wanted to first show how the writing staff views this roster. These are the voices who will help narrate the 2026–27 Phoenix Suns, and these rankings represent their baseline for how they see each player and where they fit within the hierarchy of the roster.
Here are our rankings.
You’ll notice that some writers are higher on certain players, while others are clearly lower. That’s a good reminder that SunsRank is built around a subjective question. Who is better than whom? There isn’t always a clean answer.
So after looking through the rankings, I identified a few of the larger deviations from the group and asked each writer to explain why they had certain players higher or lower than everyone else.
Mark, you had Jalen Green ranked 6th on the roster, which feels a little lower than where most people might expect him to land. What kept him from cracking your top five?
Mark Bowser: I viewed the rank as a question of value, which, to me, needs to consider production per dollar of contract amount. Right now, Gillespie and even Goodwin have shown more value per dollar and greater availability. This could obviously change as the season progresses. If Jalen shows he can facilitate, pound the rock and turnover less, continue to produce rim pressure and threes — and do it for 75+ games — then he might rise to #2 on my list.
Brandon, you were the highest on Koa Peat, putting him 11th in your rankings. What is it about Peat, whether it’s his upside, versatility, or potential role, that made you more bullish on him than the rest of the staff?
I believe Peat’s body is NBA-ready, and he brings a lot of what the Suns don’t have at the forward position. He is a bruiser. He is physical. He plays with toughness, and plays with an edge. He can handle the ball, make plays for others, and finish at or around the rim. I view his transition to the NBA as a seamless one, and believe many will look back and wonder how he fell as far as he did. He may not get minutes right away, but by the end of the year, it’s easy to envision him being an impact player, at whatever role he is assigned.
Holden, you were the lowest on Ryan Dunn, placing him 15th. After everything we saw from him last season, what caused him to slide that far down your SunsRank ballot?
Holden Sherman: Once Rasheer Fleming started to get more playing time, Dunn became unplayable. His inability to space the floor and his lack of progression on the offensive end renders him unplayable when Phoenix is playing a center or forward that can’t space the floor.
Tom, you came in on the lower end with Mark Williams, ranking him 9th. Is that more about concerns with Williams himself, or are there simply other players on this roster you value more heading into the season?
Tom Mildenberger: Any discussion about Mark Williams has to start and end with availability. 60 games were a jump, but he wasn’t available when we needed him the most in the postseason. Beyond that, I’m not super high on his impact.
He’s a legit 7-foot starting center, but despite his Go-Go-Gadget arms, he’s not a great rim protector, nor is he a plus rebounder for his position. Those are two things the Suns are going to need more from at the center. It’s really easy to compare him to Deandre Ayton as they are physically very similar players, but Mark Williams production has never surpassed the Ayton line. A lot of that may be due to inconsistencies with health, and I’m not completely out on Mark Williams potential, but until I see a rise in blocks and ten rebounds a game, the Western Conference playoff teams feature a lot of good centers.
Right now, I see Mark Williams as an average center when he’s on the court.
Kevin, you have Oso Ighodaro at 6th, easily the highest ranking among the staff. What do you see in his game and his potential role that made you willing to put him that high?
Kevin Humphreys: Last season, Oso Ighodaro played in all 82 games and earned the trust of Jordan Ott to close out games for the Suns. His switching ability on defense and his connectivity on offense are unique to the roster. With score-first players like Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks, and Miles Bridges all playing significant minutes, the Suns will need connectors on the floor, which is where Ighodaro will slide in and be a valuable asset to the team. If Maluach’s ability to stretch the floor is legit and they can play together in the second unit… look out. Despite having Mark Williams and Maluach on the roster, I expect to see Ighodaro closing games again this season because of his high basketball IQ.
Bruce, you’re the high man on Jamaree Bouyea, ranking him 13th. What has he shown you that makes you think he deserves a little more respect in the SunsRank hierarchy?
Bruce Veliz: Bouyea gets the 13th ranking as he has proved last year that if he gets an opportunity, he can make the most of it. The big question revolving around that this season, though, is whether he will still get those opportunities with a deeper roster this year.
Bouyea is someone to me who could make a rotation if all the stars align for him, and that could become a possibility here in Phoenix.
Who do you align with most? Which writer shares a similar methodology, ranking philosophy, and overall SunsRank with you? Maybe that’s the writer you’ll find yourself agreeing with throughout the season because your perceptions of the team are similar. Or maybe you’ll identify a writer or two who are consistently higher or lower on certain players than you are.
That’s part of the point. Our goal has always been to provide a complete, holistic picture of the Phoenix Suns, not clickbait designed purely to shock and awe. Because if history has taught us anything, shock and awe campaigns tend to be heavy on noise and light on substance.
