The Phoenix Suns are 1-0. It was gutsy, ugly, wild, and impressive all at once.
Gone are the days of Jusuf Nurkic and Mason Plumlee fumbling the ball and missing bunnies. This center group looks promising,
and this was just the beginning.
Head coach Jordan Ott made a surprising lineup adjustment by adding Oso Ighodaro to the starting lineup. Many expected Mark Williams to automatically be penciled in as the starter despite the minutes restriction.
Oso Ighodaro joined Ryan Dunn, Dillon Brooks, Grayson Allen, and Devin Booker in the starting five.
Williams was partially brought off the bench due to conditioning and acclimating him to game speed slowly since he did not participate in the preseason. Ott added that they had minutes to use late in the game due to bringing him off the bench, essentially starting his “count” later to hit that “target number”. He added it was a long-term play and they have their eyes on the bigger picture, and they’ll “see how he responds to this”.
The breakdown of minutes in the opener was interesting and somewhat of an outlier due to coach Ott’s comments above. Mark Williams will likely start sooner rather than later. He hit the “high-end” of his target of 20-24 with exactly 24 minutes of action. Once that number is increased closer to the ~28-minute mark, I’d expect him to start.
Ighodaro, who started, saw 19 minutes of action, which left just 5 minutes for Nick Richards. Richards was fairly productive in his lone stint, but it was clear Ott wanted to keep Oso and Williams in rhythm and stick with them down the stretch.
- Mark Williams — 6 points, 11 rebounds, 2 blocks, 3-5 FG, +15 plus-minus in 24 minutes
- Oso Ighodaro — 7 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 3-5 FG, -2 plus-minus in 19 minutes
- Nick Richards — 5 points, 3 rebounds, 3-3 FG, -6 plus-minus in 5 minutes
This group looked strong overall, granted their competition was Drew Eubanks, Dario Saric, and rookies Dylan Cardwell and Maxime Raynaud. But nonetheless, it was encouraging to see an impact from the center position. I thought Williams played much better than the box score indicated as well.
Khaman Maluach was a DNP in his first-ever regular-season game. While I understand he is both a rookie and still extremely raw, I would prefer him to take the Oso minutes. No knock on Ighodaro, because we’ve all heard about how impressed the staff was with his work ethic and camp was. He earned the start by all accounts due to his performance and trust from the staff.
But…you have an absolute monster waiting in the wings who I think is ready to make an impact, despite any concerns some may have about how ready he is. Malauch was the 1oth overall pick, and they jumped for joy when he fell to them for a reason.
That was my lone complaint. If I were to nitpick, I’d add that I’d have preferred to see Fleming over Hayes-Davis as well, but once Jalen Green returns, I doubt either of them are in the rotation in the immediate future.
The bottom line is it’s a good problem to have “too many” center options for a team that has struggled to find any solutions in the past. For now, we just observe and track as the Suns handle this youthful center group.
