Suns’ Babby encouraged by team’s start

The Phoenix Suns are integrating nine new players into the rotation this season, so it would stand to reason perhaps they’d have some early struggles.

So to be where the team is at through eight games is, well, not bad, according to President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby.

“To have all the changes we’ve made and be 4-4 at this point is not bad,” he told Arizona Sports 620’s Doug and Wolf Wednesday. “There are a couple games I felt we should have won that we didn’t win, but maybe there are a couple we won that we didn’t expect to win.”

Babby said he’s not necessarily happy with the record, but is encouraged by what he’s seen from the team.

That said, Babby knows the team needs to improve, and says he’s seen it do just that, specifically with rebounding and ball security.

“So I think there’s a bit of a flow offensively and that’s improving,” he said. “So I think in those areas we’re making progress but it’s still so early and we still have so much, so much work to do.”

Babby admitted that he’s still learning a lot about his team, which makes sense since it’s played just a handful of games together.

“One of the things [head coach Alvin Gentry] will do as time goes on, and we saw it last year, is he’ll be more precise in his definition of roles for players, and that takes time,” Babby said. “You just can’t rush that.

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