Who starts for Phoenix Suns with Booker, Durant, Beal and Ayton? Here's what coach Frank Vogel says

Four of the Phoenix Suns' five starters going into the 2023-24 season are obvious with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Deandre Ayton.

The fifth starter is the unknown.

New head coach Frank Vogel isn’t so sure who that guy will be, either, but he has options.

Maybe Josh Okogie.

The 6-4 athletic wing started with Chris Paul, Booker, Durant and Ayton in the eight regular-season games Phoenix all won with Durant in the lineup.

Keita Bates-Diop perhaps.

At 6-8, has good size, is physical and shot a career-high 39.4% from 3 with San Antonio last season.

How about Yuta Watanabe?

He’s also 6-8, made a career-best 44.4% of his 3s last season and played with Durant in Brooklyn.

Vogel addressed what he’s looking for when it comes to a fifth starter in Part 2 of his Q&A with The Republic as well the team’s offensive philosophy and more.

How much are you and associate head coach Kevin Young collaborating on what the offensive strategy, philosophy will be?

“We’ve had some conversations about it. We’ll continue to have conversations. My job is to recognize the talent that we have on the team and bring a plan to the table and then coordinate with our leaders to see what they like and don’t like and ways we can work together to form a group intelligence on what we’re doing. That stuff has all begun and will continue not only in September, but throughout training camp and throughout the year.”

Part 1: Frank Vogel talks chemistry building, Deandre Ayton and Eric Gordon balling for Bahamas, Yuta Watanabe's health

With three dynamic scorers and a big who can score, but without a traditional point guard who sets people up, what’s the general offensive philosophy when you take all those factors into consideration?

“We want most of our possessions to happen with pace. Get the ball into the nearest guy, get it up the floor with the pass. Quick pins (pindowns) or quick drags. The less half-court offense we can run, the better with our group. Throughout my career, I’ve had sort of a point guard-led attack, but the game has changed over the five, seven, eight years where there is more multiple ball-handler approaches. That’s what we’re going to incorporate into our team.”

With what you have in Devin, Kevin, Bradley and Deandre, what are you looking for in that fifth starter?

“I think the one that is going to fit the best, really. We’ll have a lot of guys that have an opportunity to be that fifth guy. The versatility of maybe being able to guard multiple positions or maybe it’s an elite shooter. Maybe it’s just another playmaker. I think we have a lot of guys with a lot of different skill sets and we’ll put a lot of different combinations throughout the year, but I think all of those skill sets would fit the four guys you mentioned. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Some coaches say they’ll match up to the opponent. Others say teams must match up against them. Will the lineup be more matchup based or go with this five no matter what and make the opponent adjust?

“When you’re a brand new team like this, the opening day starting lineup doesn’t have to be that lineup all 82 games. There’s an element of trial and error. Giving certain guys opportunities with certain groups and not because one is succeeding or failing, but just because throughout an 82-game season, you want to explore what possibilities you have on your roster so you’re best equipped come playoff time. I do think there will be several guys that get those opportunities.”

Last question. What rule change do you think will have the bigger impact? In-game flopping or the coach’s challenge?

“I think the coach’s challenge. I think the flopping rule will be really interesting to see how that’s incorporated and implemented, but I think the coach’s challenge, giving more coaches more confidence and flexibility to be aggressive early in the game without feeling the need to hold that for that one close game, late game moment. A lot of times you pass on challenges on something you know you’d win because you want to hold it for late in the game, but I think having the ability to keep it if you win will have coaches use it a lot more. Unfortunately, it may slow the game down a little bit more, but hopefully, they get those challenges done quickly.”

In July, the NBA Board of Governors approved an “in-game” flopping penalty and an “expanded” use of the coach’s challenge for the 2023-24 season.

When a player is called for a flop, he’ll be charged with a non-unsportsmanlike technical foul and the opposing team will get a free throw that can be attempted by any player in the when the foul was called.

A player will not be ejected for flopping, but a referee can call a foul and flop on the same play.

Referees aren’t required to stop play on a flop call. They can wait until the next “neutral” or stoppage in play to call it. They can also be assessed after the game as the fines start at $2,000 like a technical foul and increase “incrementally” for those who are called for multiple flops.

As for the coach’s challenge, a coach is awarded a second challenge if the first one is successful. In the past, a team only had one challenge.

A coach still has to use a timeout to “trigger” a challenge, meaning a team must still have a timeout to issue a first and second challenge. A team will keep the timeout on the first challenge if the challenge is successful, but it won’t retain a timeout on the second challenge even if the second challenge is successful.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Frank Vogel needs fifth starter for Phoenix Suns with Booker, Durant, Beal, Ayton