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This season, Hornacek wants to go even faster. The Suns were eighth in the league in pace last year; he wants to be in the top three. Markieff Morris, generously listed at 6-foot-10, has already been told he’ll be spending a good deal of time at center when the Suns “need to speed it up.” A Suns team deploying an undersize center? You don’t say.

Familiarity played a role in the joy surrounding this new Suns era, last year. Using vestiges of the Seven Seconds or Less days (Dragic, Channing Frye) as anchors, Hornacek was able to recreate the style of his own heyday and mold a team not only in his image, but also in the image longtime Suns fan have grown accustomed to. The team was stocked with long-range threats, athletes capable of making plays on either end of the court, and players capable of pushing tempo — the designation of “lead guard” befalling whichever of the two players happened to be speeding upcourt with the ball at that moment.

Most satisfying was the notion that we were finally seeing these players, most of whom had come from less gratifying situations on other teams, at their best.

The Suns obviously took more 3s when Frye was on the court, but they also made a significantly higher percentage of them. When Frye was on the court, the Suns made 39.3 percent of their 3-point attempts, per NBAwowy, a percentage that would put them right there with the Spurs, at the top. With Frye off the court, that percentage plummeted to 33.7 percent, a bottom-five figure. Take away Frye, and you’re left with a bunch of stray lightning bolts, without a rod to cull them.

There is no one-to-one replacement for Frye. The Suns signed Anthony Tolliver, in hopes that he might be able to approximate the role, especially after shooting a career-best 41.3 percent from 3 last season with the Bobcats. But at 6-foot-8, Tolliver’s not a threat to draw attention from defenders, nor is he a formidable presence on defense. Perhaps they’ll see how the ever-improving Markieff Morris might work as a Frye stand-in, but he’s never been much more than a league-average shooter from distance, and, as Zach Lowe outlined a few weeks back, there are other things the Suns need him to do.

Frye’s departure also robbed the Suns of their most productive duo. Of the 22 tandems that played at least 750 minutes last season, Markieff Morris and Frye were by far the best. When the two were on the floor together, the Suns were scoring 115.4 points per 100 possessions, with a net rating of 11.6 — easily the best numbers of the lot. Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe came in second with 11.0. So yeah, Channing Frye is kind of like The Book of Eli, except massively important.

This isn’t so much about a window of opportunity closing immediately as it is about a cautious tempering of expectations. It won’t be easy to pick up where last season left off, because a very central element of the team’s identity has been compromised. Perhaps some of the pressure will be heaped upon the shoulders of second-year center Alex Len, who studied Pau Gasol during the FIBA World Cup and hopes to flash more of Gasol’s midrange game. The Suns still have the talent and flexibility to be very, very good, but it might take months of experimentation to figure out how to work in new solutions to fill the Frye void.

A season-opening one-game suspension permanently cost Markieff Morris his starting job last season. The Suns won without Morris, prompting coach Jeff Hornacek to press ahead with what had worked — Channing Frye starting in Morris' place.

Tucker said the possibility of losing his starting small forward job by competition or suspension does not affect him, even after becoming an every-game starter for the first time last season. He missed one game when he was suspended for elbowing Blake Griffin.

"I'm different," Tucker said. "I do what I do. It doesn't matter if I come off the bench or if I start. You get the same quality, the same stuff. No difference. I don't even think about that stuff."

Len, who never really got his rookie season in gear after undergoing ankle surgery, has worked in the weight room to get stronger and is moving much better.

"He's a big body. He takes up a lot of space in there, and he's skilled," Hornacek said. "Last year with all the injuries he had he could never get going, so it was tough on him in there. But when he's healthy, he's a 7-foot guy that can run. He's got good, quick feet and we think he can be a good contributor this year."

The Suns could be a better team this year, and still miss the playoffs, as they did last year despite their 48 victories.

Hornacek said New Orleans and Denver, both non-playoff teams, are talented squads that were hurt by injuries a year ago. Both could be playoff contenders this season in the already tough Western Conference.

The Suns have learned, Dragic said, that to getting to the postseason takes more than wins over the good teams.

"Our main problem is we beat all those teams, but we lost to some teams we shouldn't have," he said, "against Utah, against the Lakers. We lost those games that good teams that make the playoffs win. Against those teams that we are better than on paper, we need to get those."

aIvin adams wrote:

A season-opening one-game suspension permanently cost Markieff Morris his starting job last season. The Suns won without Morris, prompting coach Jeff Hornacek to press ahead with what had worked — Channing Frye starting in Morris' place.

Tucker said the possibility of losing his starting small forward job by competition or suspension does not affect him, even after becoming an every-game starter for the first time last season. He missed one game when he was suspended for elbowing Blake Griffin.

"I'm different," Tucker said. "I do what I do. It doesn't matter if I come off the bench or if I start. You get the same quality, the same stuff. No difference. I don't even think about that stuff."

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/n ... /16559811/

Some other platitudes in there about moving on from bad decisions, and about how Tucker is staying after practice to run sprints in the high altitude. Burn off some of those drinking calories, Tucker! TJ coming after PJ's minutes..