Shorthanded Suns move Kaminsky in, Johnson out of starting 5

The Phoenix Suns were either going to be shorthanded on the wing Friday against the Detroit Pistons or do something a little funky.

Monty Williams is doing something a little funky.

The Suns will start two centers, with Frank Kaminsky taking the place of forward Cam Johnson.

Johnson has started nine games this season, moving in for Jae Crowder after the Suns’ break with postponed games in mid-January. Kaminsky will make his first start of the season.

Johnson is averaging 11.2 points per game in 26.4 minutes a night while Kaminsky is putting up 5.7 points per game in 12.9 minutes a night.

Without Jae Crowder (right foot soreness), the Suns weren’t going to have much relief behind Johnson and Mikal Bridges off the bench outside of Abdel Nader.

The matchup also certainly factors in, as Detroit’s size around Mason Plumlee, Blake Griffin and Jerami Grant gave the Suns problems in their loss to the Pistons earlier this year.

But while Kaminsky has had his moments this season, the move isn’t without its own issues.

Kaminsky is far more of a center than a power forward, and even then, Kaminsky’s lateral movement is routinely exposed on the defensive end. He will be a bigger body to place on Griffin, but Griffin isn’t going to have a problem scoring on Kaminsky, and the defensive job for Griffin is easier on Kaminsky than chasing Johnson around off-ball movement. The team opened the game with Deandre Ayton on Griffin.

The Suns have to win the rebounding battle with the trade-off, and also need Kaminsky to make shots.

Johnson, to be fair, has struggled lately, shooting 38.5% from the field in his last five games. The move, though, likely doesn’t have much to do with that and is more matching up with Detroit.

With Damian Jones back in the fold after spending some time out on the health and safety protocols list, he should see some time backing up Ayton. Dario Saric is now sidelined because of a left ankle sprain, so it’ll be either Jones or rookie Jalen Smith. Smith has been used as more of a power forward and Williams has been reluctant to give the No. 10 overall pick a role in the rotation yet. He could play behind Kaminsky on Friday.

The move overall gives the Suns more balance in terms of rotations and has Williams avoiding a need to play some three-guard looks, something he had to do at points last season.

Speaking of last season, Williams at one point started Aron Baynes alongside Ayton against a few big teams, so this type of philosophy has been implemented before.

Follow @KellanOlson