3 takeaways that actually matter from Suns' disappointing season opener vs. Nuggets

Coming off an NBA Finals appearance, the Phoenix Suns were armed with continuity and home-court advantage against an opponent they’d swept in their last four meetings who was still missing its second-best player. As such, the Suns felt like heavy favorites to win their 2021-22 season opener Wednesday night.

Unfortunately, they submitted the type of sloppy, dysfunctional performance that was all too rare last season following their 8-8 start.

In a 110-98 loss to the Denver Nuggets, the Suns struggled to hit shots, stopped moving the ball and underwhelmed defensively for most of the evening. Phoenix looked great in the second quarter, building up a 16-point lead with 1:27 to go before halftime…but then everything fell apart. Denver closed the half on a 10-1 run, chopping the deficit down to seven points, and then proceeded to outscore the Suns 59-40 in the second half.

“We missed a ton of shots and put them in transition,” he said. “Our transition defense was below standard tonight, but we certainly didn’t have the body movement, ball movement on offense that flattens teams out, breaks them down. We didn’t see that consistently tonight, and then couple that with missing a ton of shots, transition defense, and the communication in pick-and-roll was not that great.”

It was just that kind of night for Phoenix. Devin Booker only managed 12 points on 3-of-15 shooting. The Suns committed 18 turnovers, shot 41.4 percent overall, gave up 17 3-pointers and were led by just 16 points from Mikal Bridges.

It was an ugly way to start the season, but fortunately, there are still 81 games for improvement. Here are three takeaways from Wednesday’s home opener that actually matter.

Deandre Ayton has a statement…half

After not getting the five-year max contract extension he wanted, Deandre Ayton had more motivation than anyone to ball out on Wednesday. It was his chance to show Suns management and the rest of the world that not only did he deserve to get paid for his part in Phoenix’s exemplary Finals run, but that he had more tools in his bag to develop too.

For the first half, it looked like Ayton was well on his way to a statement game. He scored 8 of the Suns’ first 12 points, including a couple of smooth jumpers off the dribble and even a pick-and-pop 3 later in the second quarter:

“I want to be more of a threat,” Ayton said. “I am more of a threat, but you know, just seeing what the defense gives me.

“I’m open, so coach say shoot if it’s open, and I’ve been working on it.”

By halftime, the big fella had 13 points and 4 rebounds on 5-of-7 shooting. In the second half though? He only managed 2 points and 2 rebounds on 1-of-3 shooting.

Williams was complimentary of the job Ayton did of bailing out the Suns’ offense early on, but he didn’t particularly care for the quality of shots the team was getting.

“Early, he was pretty good,” Williams said. “I thought he settled us a bit, but again, like some of those plays, even when we scored, it just didn’t feel like us. So it just didn’t feel great. When the ball went through the basket, it was just like heavy-lifting tonight as opposed to it being easy.”

That type of quote comes off as incendiary, but it was directed at the Suns’ offense and ball movement in general (something Williams repeatedly brought up in his postgame presser), not Ayton specifically. DA hitting midrange jumpers off the dribble would be a major bonus if he can do it consistently, but it should never be the Suns’ meat and potatoes on offense.

Monty mentioned some of the easier looks DA got in the pick-and-roll, particularly on the short roll, as the type of high-quality offense they couldn’t generate for him as often as they usually do. For whatever reason, Ayton wasn’t able to capitalize on as many high-percentage looks or clean up on the offensive glass as often against Denver.

“The ball stopped moving,” Ayton said, echoing his head coach. “I’d say a little fatigue kicked in as well. But then after ball stopped moving, turnovers as well. is Our transition defense leading to them scoring as well.”

The biggest statement from DA, however, came after the game, when he spoke to the media for the first time since the news broke that he wouldn’t be getting an extension. It was only natural to wonder where his head would be at after missing out on a max deal. After all, Ayton entered training camp talking about the sacrifices he made last year, how much he didn’t like his big man role and how he wanted to expand his game offensively.

But on Wednesday night, Ayton said all the right things about his contract situation.

“The one thing about me, throughout my own life, I’ve always learned to control what I can control,” he said. “Obviously I’m disappointed, but I’m still trying to get us back to the Finals. I still gotta represent the team and myself. I’m just a competitive man. I just like to compete to the best, and anytime I’m in between them lines, that’s what you gonna see outta me, nothing else.”

So for anyone worried his contract situation might tempt him into trying to do too much on the court to earn his payday, Ayton offered some reassurance.

“I play to the best of my ability when my back’s against the wall,” he said. “I know the true meaning of professionalism, and when I’m in between the lines, nothing else matters.”

Landry Shamet fits right in

Another lone bright spot in the Suns’ season opener was Landry Shamet. Plenty of people were surprised when the fourth-year guard earned a four-year, $43 million extension after only being in Phoenix for a few weeks, but if Wednesday was any indication of what the Suns saw in practice, it makes perfect sense.

Finishing with 11 points in 19 minutes off the bench, Shamet went 4-of-5 from the field, drilled all three of his 3-pointers and was a team-high +12 for the game. The degree of difficulty on some of his shots off the bounce was pretty impressive:

When the Suns trailed by 11 points late in the first quarter, Shamet’s personal 5-0 run helped make it a more manageable six-point deficit heading into the second period.

“Obviously we know how well he shoots the ball, but he knows how to play,” Devin Booker said. “He’s a high-IQ player and defends at a high level too, so you know it fits right into what we’re doing.”

Williams had said before the game he felt the new additions were still “a ways away” from getting all the Suns’ terminology down pat, but Shamet sure wasn’t shy about his contributions either way.

Even so, Phoenix’s head coach felt the difficult shots he was hitting could’ve been made easier with better ball movement.

“You just said it: He hit tough shots,” Williams said. “We didn’t generate the wide-open looks that we’re accustomed to. Cam [Johnson], Jae [Crowder] had some, but we gotta generate those shots by running offense, putting pressure on the rim with our bigs, getting the ball in the paint, playing paint to great. We just didn’t do that a lot tonight.”

It’s one game

The Suns’ season-opening loss to Denver was about as bad as this team has played on both ends in a long time. Williams and the Suns pinpointed several areas that just weren’t up to par, but defensive communication was a recurring answer.

“Communication in the pick-and-roll, they were popping guys and we didn’t switch those screens appropriately,” Williams said. “And then the times when we turned it over or missed a shot, they were getting up in transition. Our sprint and turn wasn’t at a high level tonight. So we’ll look at the film. Our guys felt it. They know who we are, and we gotta play to our identity, and that wasn’t it.”

Despite the poor showing, nobody seemed particularly concerned. After a grueling Finals journey and another condensed offseason, the Suns understand the grind of a deep postseason run. They’ve got work to do on the defensive end, but it’s a process.

“That’s a game one thing,” Ayton said. “Obviously we have some new set of guys on the team, and we just have to play our type of defense and just have to be consistent in it as well.”

Now that the NBA calendar is back to normal, Phoenix is keeping its long-term prospects in mind more so than last year. Panicking over one bad outing isn’t on the agenda for this group.

“It’s the NBA, and we’re back,” Booker said. “The games are coming and we understand that, but I guess it’s a long season. It’s 82 games-plus for us, and we realize that.”