As the Arizona Cardinals pass rushing attack has been plagued with injuries in 2024, a latest mock draft by ESPN has the team addressing it in the 2025 NFL Draft.

ESPN’s Jordan Reid projects the Cardinals to take Georgia defensive lineman Mykel Williams in the first round with the 13th pick after trading down from the 10th pick with the Miami Dolphins.

Williams began the season as my top-ranked prospect, but he missed some time with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain. He’s back on the field, but he is still sackless over four games this season. Scouts are hoping that he can return to form during the second half of the season, starting with a big matchup against Texas. He has fantastic length, burst and closing speed, and the upside is real. Considering the Cardinals are last in pass rush win rate (27.6%), this fit makes sense.

Adding pass rush help would address a need for the Cardinals, who didn’t sack Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love in a 34-14 loss on Sunday. Love threw for 258 yards and four touchdowns as the Packers offense racked up 437 yards.

Through six games, the Cardinals are ranked 24th in the league with 11 sacks. Linebacker Dennis Gardeck leads the team with three sacks, all of which came in the team’s Week 2 win against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 15.

Williams’ 2024 season has been limited after missing three games with an ankle injury. Williams has three tackles on the season and has yet to register a sack.

Through three seasons at Georgia, the 6-foot-5 265 pound lineman has 47 tackles and nine sacks.

The Cardinals signed defensive tackles Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols to multi-year deals to help improve the defensive line. However, Jones (triceps) and Nichols (neck) were placed on the injured reserve after sustaining injuries in Week 3 and 6, respectively.

Rookie defensive end Darius Robinson has yet to make his NFL debut following his calf injury sustained during a team practice on Aug. 22. The Cardinals designated Robinson to return off the IR on Oct. 9 but his return date is to be determined.

Second-year edge rusher BJ Ojulari looked to be a big part of the defense in 2024 but suffered a season-ending knee injury during training camp.

Arizona Wildcats’ Tetairoa McMillan to the New Orleans Saints

Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan was also named in Reid’s mock draft, going to the New Orleans Saints with the 12th pick in the draft. McMillan is one of three Wildcats projected to be drafted in the first round.

The Saints could go defense here, as more youth is needed on the front. But they also covet receiver help, and the highest-ranked prospect at the position (again, I have Travis Hunter at CB) is McMillan. He is a big-body target who would be an instant complementary option alongside Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed. McMillan currently ranks third in the FBS in yards per game (123.7), and he can go up and get it, with terrific skill on 50-50 balls. He also has the flexibility to play in the slot or on the outside.

Through five games in 2024, McMillan has caught 42 passes for 742 receiving yards and four touchdowns, averaging a 17.7 yards.

McMillan set a new school record with 304 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 10 catches during the Wildcats’ 61-39 win over New Mexico on Aug. 31.

Through three seasons, McMillan has caught 171 passes for 2,846 yards and has scored 22 touchdowns. During his sophomore year in 2023, McMillan had a good season, catching 90 passes for 1,402 yards and ten touchdowns. For his efforts, he was named to the second-team All-Pac-12.

Jonah Savaiinaea to the Chicago Bears 

Wildcats offensive lineman Jonah Savaiinaea was the second Wildcat to be named by Reid, going to the Chicago Bears at No. 18.

Savaiinaea — who reminds me of Jordan Morgan, a 2024 first-rounder from Arizona — is a physical blocker with experience at multiple spots up front. He plays with a strong base and quick-enough feet in pass protection, and is developing into a dependable right tackle. But I have Savaiinaea projected as a guard with tackle flexibility at the next level. He’d give the Bears a plug-and-play option along the interior and help build a wall in front of Caleb Williams.

The 6-foot-55, 336 pound lineman has been a starter since his freshman season in 2022 and has started 31 games for the Wildcats over the course of three seasons.

Tacario Davis to the Green Bay Packers

Wildcat cornerback Tacario Davis was the third and final player to be taken in the first round, going to the Green Bay Packers at No. 24.

Jaire Alexander has battled some injuries, and Eric Stokes is in the final year of his rookie deal. That makes cornerback a question mark in Green Bay beyond this season. The best one still available on the board is Davis, who also happens to be one of the longest corners in this class. He has fluid movement traits and solid ball skills, as he has 19 pass breakups over the past two seasons.

Through six games, Davis has 19 tackles and five defended passes. Davis’ sophomore season was a good one as well, registering 25 tackles with 15 defended passes and an interception. Like McMillan, Davis was named to the second-team All-Pac-12.

This would be the second year in a row that the Packers take a Wildcat in the first round. Offensive tackle Jordan Morgan was drafted by Green Bay with the 25th pick in the 2024 draft.

TEMPE — The Arizona Cardinals’ offense has not lived up to elevated preseason expectations six weeks into 2024, and play-caller Drew Petzing acknowledged on Tuesday his own performance requires introspection.

“I’m always going to say my play calling is how we roll as an offense,” Petzing said. “So when we’re rolling, I take a lot of pride in that. I also think I got to give a lot of that credit to the players and their execution. And when we’re not, I got to look at myself and say, ‘What can I do better?’

“So I think, as you look throughout our first six games now, I think we got to clean up the inconsistency and that starts with me as a play caller.”

This is year 2 of Petzing being an NFL play-caller, and the season started off promisingly after he turned heads last year.

Rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. put a quiet debut behind him for 130 yards in one quarter of Week 2 and Arizona scored 69 points through two games. There appeared to be momentum for Petzing and for an offense many anticipated would be a bright spot illuminant enough to keep the Cardinals competitive.

The past four weeks have not produced the same boom consistently, leading to self-evaluation questions Petzing faced after a 34-13 loss in Green Bay. Arizona has not eclipsed 14 points in three of the last four games, while the Harrison-Kyler Murray tandem has not yet gotten rolling.

“I’d like every play to work. That’s certainly one of my goals,” Petzing said. “But, I think at the end of the day, I think there’s definitely areas where I feel I could be a little bit better here, a little bit more consistent there.”

Cardinals OC says Marvin Harrison Jr. in position to make plays

Harrison has two grabs over his last two games, although he suffered a concussion in the second quarter on Sunday. He is up to 17 receptions on 36 targets, the third lowest reception percentage in the NFL among 58 players with at least 30 targets. He has gained 149 yards this season outside his Week 2 outburst.

Petzing said he did not particularly agree with the notion Harrison’s targets are low percentage and the offense needed to find ways of getting him higher-percentage looks.

“I think he’s put himself in position to make plays,” Petzing said. “I think I got to do a better job of giving him that opportunity more throughout the game. When you play 11 plays in a game, you’re not necessarily going to have the opportunity the way it was designed for, but pleased with where he’s at.”

On the growing number of instances where Harrison and Murray are not on the same page, Petzing added, “you certainly want to eliminate those as much as possible, but they certainly are going to happen.”

Murray has completed 59 throws to tight ends and running backs with only 57 to wide receivers this season. Tight end Trey McBride has been his top weapon like in 2023. The wide receiver room is getting Zay Jones off suspension, although Harrison is in the concussion protocol and the Cardinals run a heavier scheme, anyway.

Petzing gave Murray credit to staying even keel through a season in which the Cardinals are still looking for answers.

“I think that’s really the key for all the guys and for coaches included,” Petzing said. “Look, we can’t change anything that’s happened. We can’t worry about anything that’s about to happen 10 minutes from now. I think they’ve done a nice job of trying to stay in the moment, go out and execute at a high level. I think that that he speaks to that as much to anyone.”

Murray ranks eighth in the NFL in EPA (expected points added) per play and 11th in passer rating despite a lack of production from wide receivers. He told ESPN’s Kevin Clark this season is the best he’s felt with the game slowing down, and kept a sense of optimism for the unit going forward.

The Cardinals will face a Los Angeles Chargers team on Monday that paces the NFL with 13.2 points per game allowed.

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If you thought the Arizona Cardinals’ 2-4 start that includes two embarrassing blowouts is surprising, you had your head buried in the moist sand alongside Kool-Aid beach.

Lots of people tried to warn us.

Not that a few aggregated stories from specific authors should morph your perspective, but ESPN’s Michael Clay did a position-by-position breakdown of every NFL team this preseason. Added up, he ranked Arizona with the 31st-best roster in the NFL.

His ESPN colleagues, including a seasoned NFL reporter (Dan Graziano), former player (Louis Riddick) and analytics guru (Aaron Schatz), graded out Arizona in the bottom-six of non-quarterback roster talent. They didn’t rank the quarterback, coaches and front office in the top-20 of the league either.

You can see similar evaluations from Pro Football Focus and others.

This was a four-win team for the most part running it back, with the most notable upgrade being its healthy starting quarterback. We can argue about Kyler Murray all we like. But this goes a lot deeper.

The Cardinals either sold us — or really believe — they equipped Murray to succeed. That is categorically false.

With the exception of second-year pro Michael Wilson, the receivers are in roles they haven’t held before.

Arizona is riding its identity on James Conner, who is undervalued as a leader but overvalued as a No. 1 back. Relatedly, its passing attack can’t find an ounce of rhythm without Conner getting going, and that seems less and less possible with depth problems along the right side of the offensive line.

The same goes for the defensive trenches, where the two reasonable defensive line additions from free agency — Justin Jones and Bilal Nichols — are already out injured, as are the two most likely pass rush contributors drafted by general manager Monti Ossenfort’s group. Darius Robinson’s return could provide an inkling of hope that better days are ahead, but BJ Ojulari’s two years of little production at edge loom over the drafting decisions made by this Cardinals regime.

I get it, things take time. Bad luck strikes.

Head coach Jonathan Gannon and Ossenfort have to prove they can keep the attention of an undertalented team. In how they’ve operated, they also have to either nail ready-to-go talent deep into the draft or, more realistically, prove they can develop that more raw talent. They have failed at the former, so it’s on to hoping Harrison, Robinson, Wilson, cornerback Max Melton and more can keep taking steps forward.

Or Arizona can flip into spending mode by trading draft picks and players to add more proven NFL producers to deploy their schemes.

Spending money to point this current trajectory further upward also means they must get extensions done with one or a few of Budda Baker, Conner and Kyzir White. All remain valuable to the locker room, and all remain productive at their positions despite their age.

All three are free agents after this season.

Those players are three of the team’s four captains. Including the quarterback in this discussion and we’re still unsure about the future of this current core six games through the 2024 season. Like, whether they will be on the team next year type of unsure.

The Nov. 5 trade deadline will tip us off about how the Cardinals’ front office feels about that group. Bolstering the roster around the core four captains would bring fans back into the fold by showing them incremental improvements are still happening.

The disappointing thing is if Arizona gives a Joaquin Phoenix from Gladiator thumbs down to this leadership group, the only next step is blowing this up even further.

And then we’d all ask: Why did the Cardinals spend time doing what they did for the past two seasons?

At this moment, that seems unlikely. Arizona just hasn’t shot that possibility down yet.

The ask from Cardinals fans seems to be something like this: They just want the Cardinals to show a little admission, any bit of acknowledgment, that this roster even when healthy still isn’t good enough to field a winning team. Or to be proven wrong in a lighter backend of the schedule.

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ASU football coach Kenny Dillingham said Monday he’s the harshest critic of running back Cam Skattebo, and he doesn’t let him hear all the good things being said about him.

But the accolades keep coming for Skattebo, who picked up Doak Walker Award Player of the Week honors for the second time this season following a Herculean effort against Utah to give ASU the 27-19 win last Friday.

He was also named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in six games, as he had two second-half touchdowns and a critical third-down conversion to set up the game-sealer.

With 158 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, it marked the third time this season he had rushed for at least 150 yards. The third-down reception gave him half of his 41 yards through the air, his second-best mark of the year.

“People are fired up about him, obviously how hard he plays and the plays that he’s making, specifically in the fourth quarters,” Dillingham said during a press conference. “People are saying a lot of good things, and it’s a testament to him. I told people … before the season started how much work he’s put in to put his body in a position to go do what he’s doing.

“So people who think he’s flipping the switch right now and going out and playing well, you didn’t see the work that he put in and the time and the commitment that he made to not only change his body, change his physical ability, but also change his mindset.”

Dillingham pointed out the explosive runs rattled off by Skattebo wouldn’t have happened if he didn’t drop 10-15 pounds over the offseason to open up his breakaway speed.

The head coach said Skattebo clocked a 21.8 mph speed during the game, whereas last year reaching 20 mph would’ve been “awesome,” and he was more frequently below that.

Dillingham said the breakaways were also a result of the offensive line for blocking more aggressively since the staff simplified their roles during the bye week between the Texas Tech and Kansas games.

ASU (5-1) takes one of the longest trips in the Big 12 this week when it matches up with Cincinnati (4-2) at 9 a.m. AZT on Saturday. Follow the action on the Arizona Sports app, 98.7 or online.

TEMPE — Phoenix Suns legend Steve Nash paid a visit to an ASU football meeting on Monday morning as a walking, talking example of success.

Process over outcome ?️

Big thanks to @SteveNash for coming out this morning and speaking to our guys! #ForksUp /// #ActivateTheValley pic.twitter.com/w7VEIHpc82

— Sun Devil Football (@ASUFootball) October 14, 2024

Nash offered a message to the Sun Devils (5-1) about the approach to as well as how to handle winning, emphasizing that it’s not about the “winning” aspect at all.

He said players’ focuses should instead be on what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis to maximize each chance.

“Success is boring as (expletive),” Nash told the players. “It’s doing the same things over and over with consistency and intensity. That’s it.”

He said success is measured by happiness and fulfillment, and that striving toward a goal and getting better everyday is what leads to happiness.

While Arizona State has tasted success this season, head coach Kenny Dillingham said what it has achieved doesn’t compare to Nash’s resume as a two-time MVP who played 18 years in the NBA.

“Humble yourself. Let’s get back to work boys,” Dillingham said. “You got a long way to go, because success is relative. And even though you think you’re successful, because you’re not even a pimple compared to what some people’s success is.”

Nash hit a shot on a basket the team keeps in the meeting room on his way out, which was shared on Instagram by tight end and former prep basketball star Chamon Metayer.

Steve Nash shooting hoops for @ASUFootball this morning ?? Still has it! pic.twitter.com/zGTvUv1jLg

— Brady? (@brady_k11) October 14, 2024

“It was perfect. I think it’s perfect timing, I think his message was perfect,” Dillingham said. “That was, I think, really cool for our guys.”

The Phoenix Suns on Monday waived forwards Mamadi Diakite and Moses Wood ahead of their preseason finale on Thursday.

The moves leave the roster with 18 players, three of whom are on two-way contracts and do not count toward the 15-player roster maximum.

Diakite and Wood were on exhibit-10 contracts that allowed their training camp deals to convert into standard contracts for the regular season, and big man Frank Kaminsky remains the only other player with that type of deal.

Barring outside signings or trades before the season begins next Wednesday, an open roster spot could be Kaminsky’s to lose.

Diakite and Wood could be options to land on the Valley Suns’ G League roster. The Valley Suns acquired Diakite’s rights in a trade with the Westchester Knicks before the NBA club signed him to an exhibit-10 deal.

Diakite has played four NBA seasons, appearing in 55 games for five teams after going undrafted in 2020.

He was a member of the 2020-21 Milwaukee Bucks team coached by new Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer.

Wood played for the Atlanta Hawks during this offseason’s NBA Summer League. He played in college at Washington, Portland, UNLV and Tulane, averaging 10.5 points on 44.1% shooting.

Phoenix Suns roster

Grayson Allen

Bradley Beal

Bol Bol

Devin Booker

Jalen Bridges (two-way)

Ryan Dunn

Kevin Durant

Collin Gillespie (two-way)

Oso Ighodaro

Tyus Jones

Frank Kaminsky

Damion Lee

Monte Morris

Jusuf Nurkic

Josh Okogie

Royce O’Neale

Mason Plumlee

TyTy Washington Jr. (two-way)

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We are 4-for-4 in Phoenix Suns preseason games where rookie Ryan Dunn is the story, with Sunday’s 118-114 win against the Denver Nuggets serving as the latest rendition.

Dunn was 6-for-11 from 3-point range, nearly matching his total of makes from a 7-for-35 mark last year at Virginia. He’s now 12-for-27 (44.4%) in the preseason after a 12-of-51 (23.5%) collegiate career across 65 games.

Ryan Dunn made 6 threes tonight in the Suns preseason game against the Nuggets.

Dunn only made 7 threes TOTAL in 34 games for Virginia last season. pic.twitter.com/EEgBbi8uon

— Dan Olinger (@dan_olinger) October 14, 2024

The aggression and willingness to shoot stands out just as much if not more than the ball going through the net, as that was the biggest problem with his role in college and forecasting him as a modern wing in the NBA. Thus, the reason he slipped to 28th in the 2024 NBA Draft and why lots of teams didn’t have a first-round grade on him. Those heebie-jeebies reared their head at summer league, but for whatever reason, the work he put in over the last dozen weeks has (for the moment) buried them just as much as he is burying these 3s.

Dunn’s defense has been as advertised. He was everywhere on Sunday, adding two steals and three blocks to his 20 points (which would have been his career high in college), four rebounds and four assists to his box score on the night. Dunn is big, long and strong enough to match up on every wing and his quickness laterally is incredible enough to keep up with some guards. He’s got fantastic instincts off the ball too.

Dunn is a top-three defender on the roster right now and a plus on that end immediately, the core reason behind this big push from the coaching staff to get him extended looks over these fixtures. And, you know, the fact that they’ve been seeing this behind the scenes.

Like Dunn’s fellow rookie Oso Ighodaro, the extra space the NBA game provides is helping out his decision-making off the bounce, another offensive weakness of Dunn’s that has looked much improved this preseason. He’s got six assists and three turnovers in four games after 35 assists and 42 turnovers over two years in college.

With a definitive disclaimer that this isn’t the real thing yet and time will tell in the regular season, Dunn doesn’t even look like just a lottery pick. He looks like a top-five pick.

If this proves to be somewhat legitimate and Dunn is a plug-and-play wing from the jump, the Suns really haven’t had anything like this in decades. You have to go back to Richard Dumas’ emergence as a second-rounder in 1991 serving as a key cog in the 1993 Finals run to find a young player coming out of nowhere to impress to this degree.

Expectations need to be tempered. If anything, Dunn has found some minutes on opening night behind Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale off the bench on the wing pecking order. But if he keeps this up, he will start eating away at the minutes going to that duo. And if he really keeps this up, he will begin earning serious consideration to start.

Rest on rest in Suns’ win over Nuggets

Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant and Tyus Jones were all sitting for rest, while Devin Booker (right ankle soreness), Jusuf Nurkic (left middle finger), Grayson Allen (Achilles soreness) and Josh Okogie (hamstring) also did not play because of injuries. Allen, Booker and Nurkic all seem to be on injuries that shouldn’t interfere with their chances to play in the season opener on Oct. 23, and presumably have a shot to play in the preseason finale on Thursday. The status of Okogie’s injury is less certain.

Even with the Nuggets playing all their guys, this game quickly dissolved into lackadaisical energy and flow on the court. It reached summer league levels at times.

The starting lineup of Dunn, Monte Morris, O’Neale, Bol Bol and Mason Plumlee played good minutes throughout.

Morris produced 20 points (7-for-12), two rebounds, seven assists and two steals in 20 minutes while O’Neale added 17 points (6-for-8), four rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block. Bol ended up at 14 points on 5-for-10 shooting (4-of-5 on 3s) with eight rebounds after he had generally struggled the last week, shooting 2-for-9 (1-of-5 from 3) coming into the night. That trio plus Dunn combined for 17 3s and the Suns through the malaise of this game’s action jacked up a total of 51 3-point attempts.

Nikola Jokic curiously played 30 of the first 36 minutes in this game, an indication that Denver perhaps looked at this as a conditioning opportunity. Either that or head coach Mike Malone didn’t like the way his starters performed and wanted them to play through it.

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The Arizona Cardinals had a rough day against the Packers in Green Bay, where several injuries, an uncharacteristic amount of penalties and a few key fumbles were the difference in a 34-13 loss on Sunday.

Miscues started early, as Arizona went three-and-out on its first possession after a miscommunication between quarterback Kyler Murray and wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. on third and nine. Murray took the blame postgame for the slip-up.

Harrison would be ruled out with a concussion later in the first half, finishing with no receptions across two targets.

After coming into the game as the least penalized team in the NFL, Arizona had a season high of penalties before the half was over, including two offsides on the first two defensive possessions.

A third offsides came when Packers quarterback Jordan Love was hard-counting before the end of the first quarter. Arizona finished with 13 accepted penalties for 100 yards.

In the first half when rain was a factor, James Conner slipped on a screen that could’ve gone for a big gain before the punt coverage team slipped when it could’ve pinned the Packers deep in their own territory.

After the Cardinals put together a string of scores on three straight drives, the next three drives ended with fumbles. James Conner and Greg Dortch each coughed one up before Murray and Trey Benson mishandled a handoff in the backfield.

The Packers’ air attack was backbreaking for the Cardinals, as Love found five different Green Bay receivers for at least 25 receiving yards. Only three Cardinals did so. A 44-yard touchdown pass to Christian Watson in the second quarter gave Green Bay its biggest scoring play and quickest drive of the day.

Cornerback Sean Murphy-Bunting had a momentum-shifting interception late in the first half but was later ruled out with a neck injury.

Arizona has a longer week before the next game, with the Los Angeles Chargers coming into State Farm Stadium next week for Monday Night Football.

In a moment they dreamed about as kids, Arizona Cardinals cornerback Max Melton and Green Bay Packers wide receiver Bo Melton will take the field as NFL opponents for the first time on Sunday.

The Melton brothers will have a fan section of 20-plus when the Cardinals visit Lambeau Field.

“Ever since I could talk really, ever since we played football,” Max Melton said in a media scrum this week. “This is like the first time since college that I get to line up against him as a (defensive back) … I just hope the stars align so where I can line up against him.”

Bo Melton is three years older than his brother and third-year pro, while Max Melton is getting his feet wet as a rookie taken in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

They were teammates at Rutgers for two seasons in 2020-21 after growing up in New Jersey.

The Cardinals have relied on Melton more and more, as the rookie played a career-high 50% of his team’s defensive snaps last Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers. And he has shown positive signs early in his career, his coaches say.

“When his technique is on, he can be really good, but there’s certain plays we pointed out with him, and he’d be the first one to tell you he’s got to make sure that’s consistent,” head coach Jonathan Gannon said this week. “The toughness is there, the mental is there. He just needs to play.”

Bo Melton, a 2022 seventh-round draft pick, has played in all five games this year and has two catches on five targets for 40 yards.

Green Bay head coach Matt Lafleur, who earned a win over his brother and Los Angeles Rams offensive coordinator Mike Lafleur last week, was asked by reporters what his advice for Bo is.

“Kick his (expletive),” Lafleur said with a smile. “If Max Melton is anything like Bo Melton, which I think he is just evaluating him in the draft process, I know he’s going to be the ultimate competitor.”

With any luck, the two will get a chance to live out a boyhood dream by lining up against each other for the ultimate chance at bragging rights.

The Melton match at Lambeau Field will start at 10 a.m. on Sunday and can be heard on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app. 

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PHOENIX — Friday night’s 109-91 Phoenix Suns loss to the Detroit Pistons was not a preseason contest they can really build off, unlike their first two.

This defensive effort in the preseason will serve as the example of what they cannot do at any point this year. Detroit set a physical standard early and the Suns declined to match it.

It’s preseason. It’s fine. But we are also in the time of building habits in a new system. And this team especially will have absolutely zero margin for error to have disengaged moments.

Detroit scored 40 points in the first quarter and then was up to 81 points at the 6:16 mark of the third period. While the turnover number for the Suns wasn’t particularly high, the unforced errors sprouted up, which again is a credit to how the Pistons took on this rematch.

“Part of it was Detroit and I think defensively we gotta be a little bit better,” Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer said. “We got to find ways to make it a little bit harder, and some ways maybe be smarter.”

There is nothing worth doing beyond calling it for what it was and attributing that to these being exhibitions. Expect a motivated response on Sunday in Denver, much like what we saw from Detroit.

Devin Booker was out of the lineup due to right ankle soreness, an injury Budenholzer said was the type not worth pushing in the preseason. He expects Booker to be fine, but did not say if Booker will play on Sunday.

Interestingly enough, rookie Ryan Dunn got the nod in his spot. Grayson Allen (personal reasons) did not play as well, and Phoenix’s staff presumably wants Royce O’Neale to maintain a rhythm as a reserve, where his presence will be important as an interchangeable connector.

If a bet was made two weeks ago on if Dunn would have a rotation role from the jump, the smart money would have gone on “no.” Dunn, though, continues to be featured in the preseason alongside the Suns’ star players.

It’s not uncommon for first-year players to find their footing through all-bench lineups and even garbage time. That’s what Mikal Bridges did. Dunn, however, is getting those minutes all while still getting sprinkled into the first half with the likes of Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

“It’s huge,” Suns guard Tyus Jones said of Dunn getting the chance to start. “It’s a good opportunity for him. Even though it is a preseason game, it’s still a good opportunity. Experience. The most valuable thing is the reps and being out there on the court and getting the minutes and getting those live looks. I think it’s big for him, and again, we’re gonna continue to need him, and need him to play well and have those experiences.”

The belief in Dunn is paying off thus far. He’s showing tremendous growth in his confidence to shoot, going from a rather tentative spacer to a guy letting it fly whenever he has the chance. As expected, the defense is stellar, featuring fantastic agility to slide his feet and keep up with quick ball-handlers you’d assume on first glance would be able to get by him. Staying glued to someone through screens the way he does is impressive, and the Suns have not had many players with that skill set over their lengthy history.

Dunn showed out defending Pistons star Cade Cunningham on Tuesday and then stifled him again on Friday.

The recovery is crazy for Ryan Dunn. Even when he’s beat, he’s not. pic.twitter.com/RXiKqwteA1

— Mike Vigil (@protectedpick) October 12, 2024

Cunningham got nowhere in the first couple minutes, and once Dunn sat for a rest, he made his next four shots.

Bumps in the road will come for Dunn. His lack of aggression and some shooting slumps will inevitably flare up during rookie hurdles that arrive at everyone’s doorstep. This was slightly on display Friday, when he was 1-of-5 from 3 and got lost offensively a few times, but he stuck with it through that.

“Just keep competing,” Dunn said. “Like you said, my shot wasn’t falling today but that’s kind of the mentality where I keep letting it fly regardless. Make it up on the other end.”

What Phoenix chooses to do when those stumbles come up will be worth monitoring, as this is a deep team with capable options elsewhere. Riding with it is the best bet given the dire need for what Dunn thrives at, which is exactly why he’s already getting these opportunities.

Durant had a team-high 18 points and Beal added 17. Both played 24 minutes, while Detroit extended its run for key players like Cade Cunningham, who played 31 minutes and ended up with 25 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists on 10-for-16 shooting. Jaden Ivey scored 16 and looked solid again, with a bounce-back year on tap for the former top-five pick after an uneven Year 2 last season.

On 3-point-attempt watch, the Suns took 44, a split of 22 in each half. The assists dropped to 22 after 33 and 30 in the first two games of preseason.

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