Suns Points: Injuries, too many turnovers and Booker goes off

A compilation of notes, stats and thoughts from after Suns practice on Wednesday…

Injury Update: The Suns only had nine available players for practice and assistant coach Jason Frasor had to fill in as an extra body. Head coach Jeff Hornacek said Markieff Morris’ shoulder felt better and he did expect him to play on Thursday against the Spurs. The status of Jon Leuer (back spasms) and Mirza Teletovic (sprained ankle) is unknown. T.J. Warren did not practice with general knee soreness. It did not sound like anything serious.

Benching: Speaking of Warren, he was benched for not hustling down a loose ball during the loss to the Pacers on Tuesday. He only played three minutes, the first time this season he didn’t reach double digits in playing time.

“I think we made the point,” said Hornacek in regards to Warren’s minutes Tuesday night. “These guys that come off the bench they got to come out there ready to go. It’s not like we’ve won the last 25 games and we can cruise and then turn it on. Any time you step on the court you got to be ready to go. If you’re not we’ll find someone that is. Maybe that will wake up T.J. He’s been good throughout the year, just recently in the last four, five games he’s been a little like that. Maybe this will snap him out of it.”

Brandon Knight’s Turnovers: In the last two games, Knight has 14 turnovers to only five assists. Taking care of the ball has been an issue that has plagued him early in his young career and the issue is being exacerbated again with Eric Bledsoe out.

In 809 minutes with Bledsoe on the court, Knight averaged 3.0 turnovers per 36 minutes. In 714 minutes without that number jumps to 3.9 as he is forced into a bigger playmaking role.

“I think he’s trying to make passes,” said Hornacek. “I think it’s a case of, we talked about today, he sees that these guys are breaking open, but he’s not taking a look at who the help defender is going to be and coming over and getting in the way. That’s how he’s getting some of these turnovers, they’re getting their hands on the balls. He’s just gotta take better care of it, and just read it a little better in terms of who is coming to help.”

Booker’s Big Night: Let’s finish this off on a positive note.

Devin Booker (19 yrs, 81 days) is the 3rd-youngest player ever to have a 30-point game. He joins LeBron James & Kevin Durant. #SunsVsPacers

— Paul Coro (@paulcoro) January 20, 2016

“It’s really good company,” said Booker. “I don’t usually retweet a lot of things, but that’s one moment where I’ve actually been proud of myself. Two of the top three best players in the NBA right now. That’s an unbelievable feeling to just have my name listed with them and show that I’m kinda of on the same path as them, but obviously I have a long way to go.”