Weems, Goodwin see minutes at backup point guard for Phoenix Suns
Oct 19, 2015, 3:57 PM | Updated: 4:04 pm
Phoenix Suns guard Archie Goodwin, front, reaches back to steal a pass intended for Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, center, as Suns forward Mirza Teletovic watches during the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Oct. 16, 2015, in Denver. The Nuggets won 106-81. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
PHOENIX – Backup shooting guard.
Backup power forward.
And now, backup point guard.
Those are the three remaining questions facing the Phoenix Suns here in the last week of preseason practice, which includes final dress rehearsals at San Antonio and at Dallas.
Who runs the offense when neither starter Eric Bledsoe nor Brandon Knight is on the floor has only recently been added to the list of concerns prior to the season opener.
The answer was supposed to be Ronnie Price — and it may still be — but his absence from the team extended to a sixth straight day on Monday.
All the Suns are saying is that Price is dealing with an unspecified illness. The nature of which, however, would appear to be somewhat serious to keep the 10-year veteran away from the team since Oct. 13.
Without Price, the Suns have experimented with both Sonny Weems and Archie Goodwin at point guard.
It was Weems who had the ball mainly in his hand against Denver last week.
Called upon to replace Knight halfway through the first quarter, Weems had two assists in the first five possessions he was on the floor; first setting up Devin Booker for a three-pointer and then finding an open Markieff Morris for a 13-foot jump shot.
Weems added a third assist in the second quarter plus four more in the fourth quarter to finish with a team-high eight with no turnovers in 28 minutes.
“I was running the point guard (spot) in Europe most of my career, so it just came kind of natural to me,” he said, before adding with a chuckle, “all you got to do is know how to handle the ball, really,”
Weems played professionally for four seasons with clubs in Lithuania and Russia before re-joining the NBA when the Suns called in July.
He and Goodwin combined for five assists during a 14-4 Suns run to open the fourth quarter.
Goodwin finished with two assists and has nine over four preseason games.
“For a minute here or there, we’re all right,” head coach Jeff Hornacek said. “Again, we feel we’ll have enough point guards once Ronnie gets back.”
Price, signed to a free-agent contract in the summer, has missed the Suns’ past four practices, and he did not travel with the team to Texas for its back-to-back set to close out the preseason.
Price skipped the trip to Denver, as well; so he will have played in only half of the Suns six preseason games.
The regular season opens Oct. 28.
“Ronnie is going to play hard no matter what, so you don’t worry about him at all,” Hornacek said. “He knows how to play, he knows what his role is and it’s not a big deal. There’s a couple of plays that we put in that he’ll have to be reminded of, but they’re not complicated. He’ll pick them up fast.”
