Phoenix Suns have position battle brewing at small forward spot

The Phoenix Suns are a little more than a week away from their 2012-13 season opener against the Portland Trailblazers.

First-year head coach Jeff Hornacek is still tinkering with his roster and player rotations, but says there’s a pretty good position battle brewing.

“Probably the three spot, I’d say,” Hornacek told Doug and Wolf on Arizona Sports 620 Tuesday. “Marcus (Morris), P.J. (Tucker) and Gerald Green all lend different things.

“Obviously, P.J. is great defensively, he’s a guy that gets physical with other teams and really pulls up the defensive energy on our team. Then you have Gerald Green, who can really light it up offensively — I think we saw that in the San Antonio preseason game. And then Marcus is kind of a combination of both guys, he can score some, he’s working on his defense at the three spot.”

Morris, acquired in a trade with Houston midway through last season, is averaging 7.0 points per game and shooting 50 percent (7-of-14) from three-point range during the preseason.

Green, who came over in an offseason trade with Indiana, has been a pleasant surprise in the preseason, averaging 8.0 points in just 13.0 minutes per game.

And Tucker, a holdover from 2012-13 who played the fourth-most minutes on the team, is posting 6.8 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest.

For Hornacek, the versatility at the small forward spot is nice to have.

“We have different options to go to there, so that’s probably the biggest battle,” Hornacek said.

The Suns will host Oklahoma City at US Airways Center Tuesday night before traveling to Denver to conclude their preseason slate Wednesday night against the Nuggets.

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