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#SunsVsKings: Hornacek to Experiment, Players to Impress

Devin Booker is no stranger to preseason competition. His talent, which prompted the Suns to make him a lottery pick in this summer’s draft, was assigned to a sixth man’s role on a loaded Kentucky team that went undefeated in the regular season.

His effort is no different now that he has jumped from the NCAA to the NBA. He was the last Sun to leave Tuesday’s practice court after spending extra time on the jump shot that is his best ticket to playing time.

For now, however, Booker’s focus is on what he can learn. If the opportunity to produce happens to present itself along the way, he will take advantage within the team’s scheme.

Hornacek, Booker On Preseason Approach

“I’m just trying to find my niche on the team and learn from the older guys but at the same time implementing my own style,” Booker said. “At the end of the day I’m here to learn from the veterans. There are a lot of great veterans on this team that are here to help me every step of the way.”

Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek is banking on all of his players playing with a team-first attitude. He enters his third season sporting renewed and well-distributed depth across the roster. The preseason affords him the opportunity to experiment with it, and eventually mold it into a consistent rotation.

“We’ve got a lot of guys that are competing for some minutes,” Hornacek said. “We’ve got to try to get them all an opportunity somehow.”

Clues as to what that might work have already surfaced in practice and scrimmages. Some are obvious. Eric Bledsoe and Tyson Chandler have already shown an instinctual flair in the pick-and-roll game. Others – such as the on-court chemistry between Bledsoe and reserve forward Jon Leuer – will make Hornacek think long and hard about which non-starting groups will perform best as a unit.

“We’ve emphasized that we couldn’t care less about points,” he said. “We want to see who’s going to help us win. If it’s doing the little things, then you’ll be out there if that’s what we need. If it’s shooting the ball, then you’ll be out there if that’s what’s we need. We’ve stressed to these guys the whole time that it’s a team game. We don’t care about the individual stats. We want to win.”

“[Hornacek] just says approach it like it’s a season. Go in there with the same mentality that we’re trying to get that playoff spot. We know that Sacramento is one of those teams that’s trying to get that same spot, so we’re going to play hard.”

— Devin Bookerk

In an effort to promote rest and decrease wear on tear on players, the NBA cut down on the number of preseason games this year. The Suns will play just six, compared to the eight they logged before the 2014-15 campaign.

Hornacek still thinks it’s more than enough opportunity to mix and match lineups, especially early on. He said it’s unlikely any player, starter or not, logs more than 24 minutes in Wednesday’s home preseason opener against Sacramento.

“You start to get an idea through practices of guys that work well together,” Hornacek said. “Maybe things change as the season goes on, but I think six games should be enough to do some experimenting and then jump into it.”

“He just says approach it like it’s a season,” Booker added. “Go in there with the same mentality that we’re trying to get that playoff spot. We know that Sacramento is one of those teams that’s trying to get that same spot, so we’re going to play hard.”