Ryan Dunn’s offense has been so uneven that it’s easy to see why his minutes have bounced around with the Suns. But Phoenix is in a spot now where that old problem doesn’t carry the same weight it used to.
The Suns are sitting dead last in defensive rating at 125.8, and that reality has changed the conversation around Dunn. Head coach Jordan Ott has already settled on a 10-man rotation, and Dunn is in it with the second unit.
Even so, his role has been lighter than it was in his first two seasons. Through four games, he’s averaging 12.8 minutes, almost seven fewer than each of those previous years, along with career lows of 4.8 points and 3 rebounds.
The scoring isn’t there, and there’s no pretending otherwise. Dunn can disappear offensively and still have value because of what he brings on the other end.
He can be the kind of connector who doesn’t need touches, doesn’t need shots, and doesn’t care if the ball bypasses him entirely. That matters on a team where Devin Booker and Jalen Green are carrying most of the scoring load anyway, and where Dillon Brooks had started to find his scoring rhythm again before getting himself ejected in the recent loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Dunn is not going to push Brooks or Miles Bridges out of the starting five. But the Suns are running out of clean answers, and giving him more minutes is one of the few short-term levers left to pull. He’s built to bother opponents, not to fill up a box score, and that’s exactly why he still has a place.
No one else on this roster quite offers what Dunn does defensively. Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin are willing, but they don’t have Dunn’s length or the same ability to disrupt possessions the way he can. If Phoenix can get that on the floor for 10 more minutes a night, even if it means Booker sees more double-teams and the offense gets a little stickier, it may be a trade-off worth making.
That’s the strange part of all this: a year ago, Dunn was trying to survive on a team that was scrappy and hard to play against. Now he’s being asked to help rescue a defense that has gone flat. The speed of that fall says plenty about where the Suns are right now.
In Other News...
Suns Still Have The Same Problem But This Loss Felt Different
The Suns keep saying the emphasis is on defense, but the early returns have been hard to ignore. In their NBA Cup opener against Denver, Phoenix fell 127-120 and gave up a season-high point total, a familiar issue for a team that has spent the first stretch of the season trying to dig itself out of the leagues basement on that end of the floor.
What made this one feel a little different was the way Phoenix stayed in the game offensively and still came up short. Miles Bridges posted 24 points and 10 rebounds, but Jamal Murrays 39-point night kept Denver in control when it mattered most, leaving the Suns at 1-3 and still searching for a defensive answer that has yet to show up. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Rotation Squeeze Is Putting Jamaree Bouyea In A Tough Spot
Jamaree Bouyea was a useful piece for the Suns last season, getting into 46 games and carving out a role with his defense. This year, though, the path has narrowed fast. Phoenixs rotation has tightened as head coach Jordan Ott tries to sort through a defense that has been a problem, and Bouyea has only gotten into two games so far, with his minutes kept to a minimum.
The squeeze could ease if the Suns make a change on the perimeter, and Jalen Green is the name to watch there. If Green ends up moving to the bench, Bouyea would have a better chance to work his way back into the mix. For now, though, his situation is a reminder of how quickly a dependable depth option can get pushed to the edge when a team is still searching for answers. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Durant Is Making The Suns' Early Problem Look Even Worse
Kevin Durants move to Houston has done more than change the Rockets ceiling. It has also sharpened the contrast with the Suns, who are already dealing with an early-season defensive mess while watching their former star fit into a team that looks far more organized around him. Houston has paired Durant with Alperen Sengun, Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard and Fred VanVleet, and the result has been a fast start that puts the Rockets near the top of the league in scoring while giving them a defense that has held up far better than Phoenixs.
For the Suns, the bigger issue is not just losing Durant. It is that the same roster questions that have hung over them are still there, especially the search for a true point guard to complement Devin Booker. Houston solved that problem with VanVleet, and the difference is showing up in the standings and in the way the two teams are being discussed this early in the season. Phoenix still has time to steady itself, but the gap between what the Rockets have built and what the Suns are missing is already hard to ignore. [Read more 🡒]