Phoenix Suns: 5 goals as the season begins on Wednesday

Scott Bordow
The Republic | azcentral.com
Phoenix Suns forward Marquese Chriss (0) holds a shot against the Portland Trail Blazers during the third quarter in pre-season NBA action at Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Ariz. October 11, 2017.

Ask the Suns what goals they have for this season. 

The victory total never comes up.

Phoenix knows how far it has to go on the NBA evolutionary scale. That’s why coach Earl Watson constantly talks about growth rather than victories, and, on media day, General Manager Ryan McDonough said, “Obviously we’d like to win more than 23 or 24 games but we realize in the Western Conference a significant jump may be difficult given the brutality of the schedule.”

So if winning games isn’t the be-all, end-all this season – no one expects the Suns to finish with a .500 record, much less make the playoffs – what is?

The season begins Wednesday at home against the Portland Trail Blazers; what goals should Phoenix hope to meet by the time it plays its final regular-season game on April 10?

Here’s five:

Be competitive

Thirty-one of the Suns’ 58 losses last season were by 10 points or more. Phoenix opened the season with a 19-point loss to Sacramento and ended it with a 25-point loss to the Kings. Along the way they had losses of 25 points to Milwaukee, 17 points to Detroit and 28 points to Brooklyn.

Every team in the NBA has bad nights. Golden State suffered a 10-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers last season. But one way Phoenix can show its fans that it’s making progress is to play more games in which the outcome is in doubt in the fourth quarter.

“We’re really young, we know that, but we have to use that to our advantage,” guard Devin Booker said. “I think we can be a lot more consistent. We’re used to the NBA now.”

Cut down on the fouls

The Suns committed 2,030 fouls last season. The league average was 1,632. That discrepancy is why opponents shot 29.1 free throws per game, making Phoenix the most charitable team in the league. Memphis was next to last, allowing 26.9 free throw attempts.

Watson said Phoenix’s young players sometimes reacted poorly to the physicality of the NBA, grabbing and holding instead of playing good defense. The Suns still are young – the roster includes eight players under the age of 24 – but they have another year of experience. In theory, Phoenix shouldn’t hear the whistle quite so often. If the Suns can commit just five fewer fouls per game they’ll be around the league average.

Find out about Chriss and Bender

The Suns believe they have two cornerstone pieces with Booker and rookie Josh Jackson. What they don’t know, at least yet, is how Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender fit into their long-term plans. Given that, the most important goal they accomplish this season might be determining whether either player – or both – can be important parts moving forward. Doing so will help determine their draft strategy and what they might ultimately do in the free-agent market after the 2018-19 season.

Suns forward Dragan Bender (35) drives against Trail Blazers forward Al-Farouq Aminu during last week's preseason game.

Play some defense

In 2016-17 Phoenix ranked last in the league in points allowed (113.3) and opponents’ 3-point shooting percentage (38.2) and 26th in opponents’ field-goal percentage (46.7).

It’s hard to win games that way.

Because Phoenix wants to play at a fast pace it’s going to give up more points per game than, say, the Memphis Grizzlies. But the Suns added what they hope will be an elite perimeter defender, Jackson, and center Alex Len showed throughout the preseason that he can protect the rim as well as limit any second-chance buckets.

A jump into the top 15 in most defensive metrics is as unlikely as winning 50 games but can Phoenix just climb out of the cellar?

Community buy-in

Watson said Tuesday that, for the first time since he joined the organization, the Suns have a clear plan for the future, both in terms of talented young players and future assets. For the most part, fans seem willing to buy into the idea that Phoenix is trying to build for an extended run of success. But at some point, that belief will wane if there’s not real progress on the basketball court. One of the Suns’ primary objectives, then, is to convince fans that their patience will be rewarded.

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Wednesday's game

Trail Blazers at Suns

When: 7 p.m.

Where: Talking Stick Resort Arena.

TV/radio: FSAZ/KTAR-FM 98.7

Update: Portland will be without shooting guard C.J. McCollum, who is serving a one-game suspension for coming off the bench during a skirmish between the Suns and Blazers in the preseason. Phoenix will have to contend with Portland’s inside-outside combination of Jusuf Nurkic and Damian Lillard. Nurkic averaged a double-double last season (15.2 points, 10.4 rebounds) and collected 3.2 assists per game. Lillard was sixth in the league in scoring at 27 points per game. Alex Len was expected to see a lot of minutes in the paint against Nurkic but he's nursing a sprained left ankle and is listed as questionable.