With full empowerment to lay out a strategy, Suns' "defensive coordinator" Elston Turner has some film to study. But it is clear the annual goal to improve the defense has teeth this time, with a commitment to 40-minute defensive sessions to be run by Turner during each practice.

"The emphasis is going to have a tremendous increase," Turner said. "It's something that is going to be constant, and we're going to get better."

Turner, a 14-year NBA assistant, held similar responsibility for Rick Adelman's teams in Sacramento and Houston for 10 years. Houston was not far ahead of Phoenix last season in opponent field-goal percentage (22nd) but finished second and fifth in 2007-08 and 2008-09, when it had Yao Ming playing (with Dikembe Mutombo behind him), Shane Battier and Ron Artest.
On offense, Turner said Houston had one main plan against the Suns.

"We would always attack them and attack the rim," Turner said. "We didn't think there was a great rim presence there. Stay aggressive. Crash the boards. When you flip that, we need better rim protection and rebounding. Those are blanket categories that must improve and are going to improve."