Before they were decimated by injuries, the Phoenix Suns looked like a playoff team thanks to the play of the veterans on their roster.
This meant that the trio of rookies added during the offseason were used sparingly, and now that they are in the rotation out of necessity, it has become clear why that was the case.
Suns can’t win games and make the playoffs if rookies are playing big minutes
Head coach Jordan Ott got it right by sending Khaman Maluach, Rasheer Fleming and Koby Brea to the G League to get some reps.
Some fans were unhappy with this lack of youth movement in The Valley, the Suns would still lose a lot of games and rework their roster around younger players.
But now that this is happening thanks to the unfortunate injuries they’ve suffered, can those same fans honestly say they’re having a good time?
This is a great matchup for Rasheer Fleming to get valuable defensive reps.
Watch him here, in the gap as Pritchard drives, and then his quick recovery as Walsh attacks his right foot during the aggressive closeout. Rook has the defensive tools to be great pic.twitter.com/AhEPBClZNl
— Shane Young (@YoungNBA) February 25, 2026
Coach Ott was right to approach Grayson Allen, Collin Gillespie and even the quietly consistent Royce O’Neale, veterans who know what it takes to win basketball games.
Compare that to Tuesday’s ugly 97-81 home loss to the Boston Celtics, which should have been an inspiration thanks to the star players they’re missing, but hasn’t slowed them down.
Fleming played 21 minutes, while Brea and Maluach scored six each, all coming off the bench, and they looked and played exactly as you would expect them to.
Obviously Fleming fills the biggest gap in terms of playing style and body type while leaving out Dillon Brooks, but veteran Derrick White had a field day against them worth 22 points.
With the Suns running out of bodies, these guys will get more runs, and perhaps the only mistake coach Ott made here was not introducing them at the back of the rotation earlier in the campaign.
Now they’re thrown in at the deep end, at a time when Phoenix is still pushing for the playoffs. Based on what we’ve seen since the All-Star break, they’re not going to make it.
But you can’t blame a first-year head coach in Ott for going along with the older heads to start his time with the franchise, and it probably gave him a longer runway to figure things out.
You can’t win right away with kids, and the Suns are finding that out the hard way as they work to get their best players back on the field.
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