A new identity: Buzzwords to describe Earl Watson’s Suns

PHOENIX — As an interim coach leading the Phoenix Suns in 2015-16, Earl Watson didn’t win much.

He did establish a rapport with his players and laid out the fundamentals to begin improving the defense. How much did that tell us about what Phoenix will look like under his permanent head coaching tenure?

Probably not much.

Injuries and coaching staff turnover make it hard to predict what the 2016-17 Suns look like on the court.

Several buzzwords repeatedly popped up during media day on Monday that tell us about the image Watson hopes to mold his roster into as training camp begins.

Healthy

For now, the Suns feel they’re healthy.

With the exception of P.J. Tucker, who said he will try to speed up the minimum six-week recovery from a back surgery, Phoenix will try once again to form a dynamic duo with Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight coming off season-ending injuries.

Bledsoe has a history of returning strong from major knee problems, but general manager Ryan McDonough admitted that Knight hasn’t been healthy since the Suns first acquired him.

The point guard played 10 games as a Sun before injuring his ankle in 2014-15. That required surgery heading into last season, which Knight began not at 100 percent. He played 52 games as an injured groin derailed another season.

“I think finally feeling good after the ankle surgery and the surgery for the sports hernia gave him a chance to kind of reset his body and build it all up the right way,” McDonough said, adding he’s seen a different Knight on the defensive end in pre-camp pickup games.

“The player I saw physically in person here was not the same player I saw on film, in Milwaukee,” the general manager added. “He looks more like that guy. I think a lot of it hasn’t manifested itself in his game offensively last year; I think he settled for jab stepbacks and things like that because he felt like he didn’t have the burst to get to the paint, get to the free throw line, absorb contract and be able to take a hit and get back up.”

Additionally, Tyson Chandler should be in a better place after nagging dings limited his a year ago while forward T.J. Warren is back from a foot injury.

Transition defense

It first seemed like an effort issue.

The Suns, as Watson and McDonough both admitted, were one of the worst teams in transition defense last season. Even after Watson took over, it was hard to stop the bleeding because of the historic turnover problems that allowed opponents to score 20.2 points off turnovers, the seventh-worst rate dating back to 1996-97.

“Transition defense is first and foremost in building a wall,” Watson said. “We know we struggled with that.”

To that end, McDonough suggested the Suns will be less aggressive on the offensive glass.

Meanwhile, his coach wants Phoenix to become a top-10 opponent field goal defense.

There were signs the young Suns were improving on defense at the end of 2015-16. Phoenix was 16th in the league by allowing opponents to shoot 45.4 percent from the field in the final 24 games and actually ranked 12th at 45 percent in the same statistic over the last 16 games. The latter came out to allowing 102.9 points per 100 possessions, which ranked ninth in the league.

“The ultimate goal is to become a defensive team and have grit and be nasty, play with purpose,” Watson said. “We have great, unique players who can guard more than one position.”

Width

Watson’s successor and former boss Jeff Hornacek used to say it often: His offense was to run a pick-and-roll and, if nothing was there, swing the ball to the other side of the floor to make the defense move.

But the ball rarely left the pick-and-roll.

Watson’s offense may not start with it.

The Suns want to better utilize the width of the court and could take a page out of Portland’s book, where Triano coached another guard-heavy team in a more motion-heavy offense under head coach Terry Stotts.

“I think you’ll see less Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight dribbling the ball at the top of the court and having most of the offense initiated that way,” McDonough said.

Instead, look for more wing-entry, corner-entry or dribble-handoff plays to get the players moving and the defense in vulnerable positions to lose Suns on cuts off the ball.

Family

You won’t stop hearing this one.

The word is the Suns’ answer to yet another overcrowded guard rotation, but it goes deeper than that.

On media day, McDonough said he was happy none of the guards have a looming contract negotiation, like Bledsoe and then Goran Dragic did heading into the last two summers. The distraction of Markieff Morris’ trade demands after Phoenix traded his brother Marcus began the last offseason and went until the trade deadline.

Newcomer Jared Dudley said part of his job was rooting out cliques formed in the locker room, while Tyson Chandler admitted the “foundation kind of broke” last year.

What’s new this year?

Watson has brought his coaches and players to yoga and spin classes, while Bledsoe and Knight paid for some of their teammates to bond on a trip to San Diego in the offseason.

“We’re going to go about this thing as a family,” Chandler said. “We hit some rough patches last year where the foundation kind of broke. I think this team realistically a playoff team. Now, some things have to happen in order for you to accomplish that goal — it’s tough with youth. It’s definitely something we can accomplish.”

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