Jae Crowder immediately helps Suns’ flow; arena renovations are ‘lavish’

“He just knows how to play. Wasn’t just his shot-making tonight, but his defense, knowing where to be on offense — that stuff is going to help us going forward.”

That’s what Monty Williams had to say after Jae Crowder’s first appearance in the preseason as a member of the Phoenix Suns. The loss Wednesday night to the Los Angeles Lakers was the Suns’ first moment in three games where they looked to have some real flow as a group, and it was no coincidence that Crowder was on the floor for a lot of it.

“You can tell that dude’s been in the NBA Finals … the shots, and the way how focused and locked in he was talking,” Deandre Ayton said Wednesday after the game.

Crowder isn’t going to make an All-Defense team but he’s a good defender. His great contribution is more about the multiple efforts overall as a team defender, something that showed against the Lakers.

Great team defense from Jae Crowder pic.twitter.com/rS9Y97P0RX

— Kellan Olson (@KellanOlson) December 18, 2020

According to Ayton, Crowder was calling out all of the Lakers’ personnel and offensive sets, a group the veteran wing had just faced in the Finals two months ago.

The presence of Chris Paul’s and Crowder’s leadership has clearly benefitted Ayton already.

“I feel comfortable on the court,” Ayton said. “I’ve just never felt so comfortable.”

Crowder has clicked instantaneously with the identity Williams built for the team in the bubble.

“I can’t really describe it. It’s like the energy when you walk into the practice gym — it’s full of life,” he said postgame Wednesday. “It’s full of just good energy. I’m an energy-type guy. So maybe I’m tripping or maybe I’m weird but I felt it and I feel it every day and it’s just good to be a part of.”

NEW DIGS

Devin Booker has always been a fan of theater lighting in arenas, and at a certain point early on in his career, the numbers supported that. He was scoring more in places like Madison Square Garden that had it, so when the Suns were getting feedback on the $150 million renovations to its arena, he threw it out there.

The Suns listened, and it was absolutely the right call, both in giving the face of the franchise what he likes to play under and for how aesthetically pleasing it is.

Home sweet home pic.twitter.com/djN62G8opQ

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) December 17, 2020

“It looked good in there,” Booker said Thursday. “Can’t wait to get that place jam-packed and let everybody see what’s going on. It looks really good … the court’s really nice. Seeing it all for the first time yesterday — it just feels like you’re in a whole different arena, which you are. It’s lavish.”

Ayton was giddy talking about it after the game from the arena.

“I told Book, I was like ‘You see your new crib, bro? You see us in your new house?'” he said.

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