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Phoenix Suns Open Preseason Vs. Denver Nuggets With Rotation Questions

The Phoenix Suns open a two-game preseason set with the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. The Nuggets will play in Phoenix on Thursday with the Suns starting the regular season on Monday, December 26.

No coach minds having too many talented players on his roster and Phoenix Suns head coach Alvin Gentry is no exception. Gentry talked about his rotations after the Suns wrapped up practice on Monday and before the team boarded the bus to begin their travel to Denver for their first of two preseason games.

"I would love it if everybody played so great that we had a problem figuring out who should be playing night in and night...I think that's kind of a problem that everyone would like to face," Gentry said.

The Suns coach said he has a pretty good idea about how his line ups and rotations will work to start the season but will use the two preseason games to take a look a  few different combinations and see how certain players respond to certain situations.

"We're still going to have to try and find what the best combination of players are and that might go into the regular season. We don't really have a choice, but we have to get to the point where we feel real comfortable about the rotation and the players that we're going to be playing night in and night out," he said.

As Gentry previously mentioned, one possibility remains playing Hakim Warrick at small forward and he could also look at playing both centers, Marcin Gortat and Robin Lopez, together. 

"Robin (Lopez) has played well and you can never have too many big guys. If you want me to throw out another cliche, you can never have too many bigs," Gentry said before adding for emphasis, "You cannot have too many big guys and the way Robin is playing, he can help our defense and also he's played well offensively and shot the ball well from the perimeter."

Preseason game plans

Gentry said he hasn't finalized his plans for the two preseason games. Some teams are using the games to play their regular rotation guys as almost a dress rehearsal for the fast-approaching season while other teams are wary of putting any additional court time on their veterans.

The Suns could fall in between that with Gentry suggesting he would play his starters and regular rotation players about half the game on Tuesday. Don't expect Steve Nash to play 30 minutes, though, "There's no chance of that happening."

Grant Hill is a bit banged up but did practice with the team today although he sat out of the scrimmage portion. Gentry said that Hill would not play Tuesday in Denver but Grant wasn't so sure and called himself a "game time" decision. 

In the past, Hill has talked his way into games he had been ruled out of so it remains an open question if he'll play.

Here's Steve Nash taking questions after practice on Monday:


 

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