Inside the Suns – Topics: Devin Booker, Jusuf Nurkic, ‘Tall ball’

Welcome to ‘Inside the Suns’, your weekly deep down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.

Each week the Fantable – a round table of Bright Siders – give their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.

Fantable Questions of the Week

Author’s Note: All questions were submitted to the Fantable members before the Suns/Bucks game Tuesday Night.

Q1 – For a short while in the Washington game we saw a lineup featuring a KD, Bol and Nurk frontline. Your thoughts on playing those three together (especially with Book and Beal in the backcourt)?

GuarGuar: I think it could be a dangerous defensive lineup to use in spurts. That is a really really long lineup and I can see the potential firepower in it. Bol has been a pleasant surprise so far this year and I’m hoping he can continue his solid play.

OldAz: We saw even more of it against the Bucks, with both Nurk and Eubanks at center with KD and Bol on the floor. I have been calling all year for lineups that move KD to the 3 and really add size to the Suns lineups. I love this because the long arms make for much better defensive rotations and far better rebounding. The version with Nurk gives them 3 scoring threats with size and you know the 2 guards on the floor are also threats because it is two of Book, Beal, Gordon or Allen.

I wish they would do this more and either add a bigger wing at the deadline/buyout market or simply give Metu more run as he also has length and has shown some ability to shoot. The few times when the KD/Beal minutes have actually looked good with Book on the bench (like starting the 4th against the Bucks) seem to me to involve a bigger lineup around them.

Brrrberry: I was thrilled to see the 3 7 footers with Book and Beal! That group is a lineup I mentioned wanting to see before the season started and I want to see more of it for a number of different reasons. Mainly for those games/moments where we’re getting killed on the glass. We’ve lost a few games this year to teams we flat out should’ve beat because they just destroyed us rebounding the ball and for the majority of both those games as I was watching it play out I had this unnerving feeling of “this is going to cost us the game”.

I’d like to see Vogel employ that lineup when it’s apparent early on that the other team is getting too many extra shot attempts/possessions with the hope they can turn the tide because it seems like most the games where we get wiped out on the boards it’s something that lasts the entire game and allows the other team shooting with much less efficiency to stay in the game.

Rod: Bol may still not be ready for prime time (starting/heavy rotation minutes) but I believe this lineup adds a whole new dimension to this team. If you hate small-ball, I think you might love tall-ball. Having three 7-footers on the court at once – all of which can shoot and block shots as well as rebound – could work out very well when the Suns are facing bigger teams as well as…