{"id":808879,"date":"2026-08-11T06:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T06:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/808879\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T06:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T06:33:21","slug":"suns-notes-closing-lineup-brooks-50-win-needs-preseason","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/808879\/","title":{"rendered":"Suns Notes: Closing Lineup, Brooks, 50-Win Needs, Preseason"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Suns\u2019 starting five looks pretty clear cut. Devin Booker<\/a> and Jalen Green<\/a> will comprise the starting backcourt, Dillon Brooks<\/a> and summer acquisition<\/a> Miles Bridges<\/a> will man the forward spots and Mark Williams<\/a> will get the nod at center.<\/p>\n

Should that also be the closing lineup for a team that went 13-17 in games decided by six points (two possessions) or less last season?<\/p>\n

The Arizona Republic\u2019s Duane Rankin<\/a> examines that question, noting that Collin Gillespie<\/a> was the only player to post a positive plus\/minus (+0.1) in the fourth quarter among roster members who averaged at least 20 minutes per game last season. Rankin sees Gillespie and another offseason addition<\/a>, Luke Kennard<\/a>, in the mix for crunch time minutes along with the projected starting five.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s more on the Suns:<\/p>\n

Brooks signed<\/a> a three-year, $73MM extension on Saturday. It\u2019s another example of Phoenix\u2019s front office opting for continuity, Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports<\/a> writes. Iko notes that the organization also re-signed Gillespie, Williams and Jordan Goodwin<\/a> to reasonable deals. If Brooks and Green can stay healthy this upcoming season, the Suns might just benefit from that strategy. Iko points out that Brooks, Green and Booker played fewer than 150 minutes together last season and the team still won 45 games.
\nSpeaking of win totals, what would it take for the Suns to reach the 50-victory mark? Rankin lists<\/a> Green\u2019s health and Kennard\u2019s outside shooting as major factors. They\u2019ll also need one of their young bigs \u2014 Khaman Maluach<\/a>, Rasheer Fleming<\/a> and Koa Peat<\/a> \u2014 to make an impact, as well as big contributions from third-year players Ryan Dunn<\/a> and Oso Ighodaro<\/a>.
\nThe Suns won\u2019t play the Lakers this preseason after doing so in each of the past three years at Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California, Rankin<\/a> notes. However, the Western Conference rivals could resume their preseason matchup there in 2027. \u201cThis year, it was a scheduling issue just based on Lakers\u2019 preseason commitments,\u201d said John Page, senior vice president of Acrisure Arena.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Suns\u2019 starting five looks pretty clear cut. Devin Booker and Jalen Green will comprise the starting backcourt,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[7,4216,2292,1195,861,958,27218,1171,1011,10510,6,11328,2065,472,4045,2028,4909,604],"class_list":["post-808879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix-suns","tag-basketball","tag-collin-gillespie","tag-devin-booker","tag-dillon-brooks","tag-jalen-green","tag-khaman-maluach","tag-koa-peat","tag-luke-kennard","tag-mark-williams","tag-miles-bridges","tag-nba","tag-oso-ighodaro","tag-phoenix","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-phoenixsuns","tag-rasheer-fleming","tag-ryan-dunn","tag-suns"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/117075483276403048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=808879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/808879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=808879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=808879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=808879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}