National Basketball Association

Suns look shiny as training camp opens

Published Sep. 30, 2014 12:27 a.m. ET

foxsports

PHOENIX -- It's hard to beat that new-karma smell.

And instead of noticing the appealing aroma from last season's uprising may be starting to fade, the Suns' official media day offered an enhanced whiff of victory.

True, that's not dissimilar from what you'd experience around most NBA teams in late September. But after things seemed a little off for most of the summer, Monday's gathering was fresh with optimism.

The reasons are legion.

Eric Bledsoe was at US Airways Center armed with a new five-year contract and a 70-watt smile -- one watt for each million dollars in his new deal. Backcourt-mate Goran Dragic returned from Slovenia accompanied by new Adidas sneakers with Boost-technology cushioning ... and freshly-hired brother, Zoran.

The Morris twins reenlisted with no whispers of restricted this or qualifying-offer that, and nobody dropped anything on second-year center Alex Len.

With everything seemingly in line, all that's required for Suns triumph is another season of chemistry building from Jeff Hornacek.

Before the drive up to Flagstaff for training camp, the second-year Suns coach was asked for priority of preparation.

"Pretty much the same as last year," Hornacek said, leading off with using the altitude in Flagstaff to assist the Suns with being in better condition than any other NBA team.

See, leading the league in fast-break points was nice. But Hornacek, who finished second in coach of the year voting last season, wants more speed. He pointed out his first Suns team was a measly eighth in pace, as determined by possessions per 48 minutes.

"I want to play faster," he said. "We want to be one, two or three."

That certainly is more than reasonable.

We're all aware of how effective the Suns were when speedsters Bledsoe and Dragic were working together. Throw in diminutive whirlwind Isaiah Thomas and the makings of a blistering attack are obvious.

But this quest for speed and the aforementioned good contractual vibrations doesn't guarantee anything. The Western Conference, of course, isn't the local rec. league. And stockpiling assets that can run, jump and shoot means Hornacek has the responsibility of converting a lot of talent into victories.

This can be a bit messier than fitting role players around a superstar or two.

When asked if it'll be tricky to define roles, the former standout guard said he's not sure when the concept was established. In Hornacek's opinion, an NBA player has to be prepared to produce whenever his name is called.

"We have a lot of guys that can play," he said. "We're deep. The guys that are playing well will get more minutes."

Yeah, training camp and subsequent practices should be pretty salty.

For additional perspective on what is required of the Suns to be more than a feel-good story this season, we take you to Dragic.

"We need to correct those small games we should win," the Dragon said, referencing a few slip-ups against less-successful teams last season. "We gave away too many games."

Being even harder to guard -- the Suns also were ranked eighth for offensive efficiency last season -- should help; having Bledsoe healthy seems like an obvious remedy.

But the Suns were only 15th in defensive efficiency last season. They were miserable in allowing paint points, an issue exacerbated by poor performance on the defensive boards.

Having locked up their rotation players, Hornacek and the coaching staff will attempt to increase defensive awareness from these players. That's a good start.

They also could receive a rim-protection boost, however, from one player capable of stepping in, stepping up and pulling all of this perimeter talent together.

That player is the 7-foot-1 Len, who will open the season behind incumbent center Miles Plumlee (from whom another level of improvement is expected).

Len's recent medical history is no secret.

But his potential to contribute in a far more significant way this season was suggested by Dragic who said this:

"Those pick-up games we played," the Dragon said, "he looked amazing."

Dragic also said the pick-up game wars included some serious defensive work from returning three man P.J. Tucker against rookie three man T.J. Warren.

Even with Tucker, Marcus Morris and swingman Gerald Green around, Warren could provide more minute-finding situations for Hornacek, who seems quite pleased to have the former North Carolina State star.

"T.J.'s got a great skill," Hornacek said. "The guy can put the ball in the hole. He'll battle anybody. He's not afraid of anybody.

"I told him that if he can score against P.J., he shouldn't have any problem scoring against about 99 percent of the guys in the league."

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