Young Suns Squad is Ready to Roll

By administrator1 September 29, 2016 01:44

By Francisco Romero

Preseason workouts have started for the Phoenix Suns as they prepare for the upcoming 2016-17 NBA season.

“We are one of the youngest teams on the league, we are excited about the potential of our guys, we also wanted to add that we have some solid veteran guys who can come in and help us win games,” said Ryan McDonough, Suns general manager as he addressed the media earlier this week.

Indeed the Suns are young and are coming into this season with their first two picks in last year’s draft in Dragan Bender and Tyler Ulis; the addition of Leandro Barbosa and Jared Dudley somewhat balance the age and experience difference.

Picture Courtesy: suns.com

The bulk of the responsibility to carry the Suns will fall into three exciting and versatile players in Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker and Brandon Knight; three proven NBA guards that will be battling each other for playing time and as McDonough put it, “it is a great problem to have.”

The Suns player to watch this upcoming season is Devin Booker, a star in the making that should take the Suns to the next level once the young corps develop.

“His (Booker’s) work ethic is off the charts, he has handled everything very well. He is a very mature guy for his age. It is certainly exciting for him and as a team concept with him for the future, we are excited to see, with an off season in which he has worked so hard,” McDonough said during a press conference.

The Suns finished last season with a record of 23 – 59; McDonough will not place a specific number of wins he would like to attain, but specified that the following are goals set up for the upcoming season:

“We want to be the hardest playing team in the league.”
“We want to help our young guys develop, especially the rookies, we want the younger players to be better in April then they are today.”
“Just win as many games as we can.”

The Suns first preseason game will be Monday October 3^rd against the San Antonio Spurs at Talking Stick Resort Arena, tip-off is at 7:00 pm.