Monty Williams said that Cam Johnson will start at power forward for the Phoenix Suns this season.

Johnson averaged 12.5 points and 4.1 rebounds in 26 minutes last year.

Johnson's increased role comes at the expense of Jae Crowder, who is drawing trade interest from several teams. The Suns told Crowder that he would likely lose his starting spot prior to training camp. 

Williams added that he hopes Johnson and Mikal Bridges will take a larger role in facilitating the offense this season.

“The hope is he and Mikal can help out with offensive initiation. Those guys have the ability to facilitate and I just haven’t given them the chance. And we’ve talked about being comfortable with uncomfortable change. There’s going to be times where it doesn’t look great but I think that’s where they’re going to grow," said Williams.