Phoenix Suns coach Frank Vogel is a defensive-minded coach. But with his new position, he has three of the best offensive players in the NBA.

The Suns will look to win their first-ever championship in franchise history and will be led by Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. Phoenix has 10 players on its roster who shot at least 35 percent from three last year and could get up a lot of shots.

“I do think we're more offensively talented than defensively talented,” Vogel said.

But in order for the Suns to win a championship, they will have to get stops.

Vogel has three times led teams to the top defensive rating in the NBA since 2011, which is the most in that span. His Los Angeles Lakers teams ranked third and first, respectively, in his first two years as coach.

Vogel has coached all-defensive players Paul George, Roy Hibbert and Anthony Davis. He also got a lot out of LeBron James, who has not put in the same defensive assertion as earlier in his career, and revived a role for former Lakers center Dwight Howard.

It starts with the big fella

Vogel said in his introductory press conference with the Suns his scheme is centered around the big man. Phoenix traded former starting center Deandre Ayton for Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic, who will serve as the de-facto anchor in Vogel's scheme.

“He's one of the guys on our team that should, most nights, be able to dominate his matchup with physicality,” Vogel said.

Vogel is not as talented as Ayton, who is more athletically gifted. But Nurkic is a big body at a listed 7-feet and 290 pounds and will be a wall when boxing out.

Nurkic is 29 years old and in 2022-23, averaged 13.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. He averaged a career-best 11.1 rebounds per game in 2021-22, which would have ranked No. 8 in the NBA but he did not play 58 games to qualify for league leaders.

Nukic in 2018-19 suffered a gruesome left leg injury. His defensive rating has fallen since, and he won't be as capable guarding the perimeter as he can in the paint.

Nurkic told reporters the leg injury has not bothered him, but his advanced metrics say otherwise. According to Cleaning the Glass, Nurkic ranked toward the bottom half of the NBA (52 percentile and 24 percentile, respectively) in block percentage at his position (center) the last two years. In his second year in the league, he ranked in the 97th percentile in block percentage.

He still ranks above the 75th percentile in steal percentage, which is indicative of the strength he has in the paint. His defensive rebounding percentage has been above the 94th percentile in each of the last three seasons.

Physicality

Behind Nurkic, the Suns are likely to play Drew Eubanks and Chimezie Metu, who are more sized to be power forwards than centers.

Vogel said Phoenix is not the “biggest, strongest” team so it will have to rely on its speed and length at forward to win defensive matchups.

“Really heavy emphasis on the boards,” Vogel said.

The Suns will be at a disadvantage on the glass against the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and Milwaukee Bucks, for example. All of those teams are bigger and have some of the best players in the NBA at power forward and center.

Here is what Vogel said about his mindset during 5-on-5 work in practice.

“I'm watching the system more than anything, and just trying to give real-time accountability to the habits that we're trying to build,” Vogel said.

Tone-setters

Beal, Booker and Durant are the Suns' stars and will have to play effective defense to win a championship.

Booker led all playoff players in stocks (steals and blocks) for a good portion of last year's playoffs. According to Cleaning the Glass, Booker ranked in the 78th and 85th percentile, respectively, in block and steal percentage last season including playoff games. He also ranked in the 93rd percentile in offensive rebounding, showing his urgency at all times.

In the last two seasons, Booker has ranked above the 65th percentile in limiting opponent field goal percentage, according to Cleaning the Glass. That is a much-improved difference from earlier in his career, when he ranked at best in the 69th percentile one time.

Vogel said Thursday Booker and Durant were his best defensive players in practice. Booker clapped back at what critics say about his defense.

“If you don't know that by now (that he competes on defense), you're late,” Booker said.

Beal had one of his better seasons defensively in 2021-22, when he ranked in the 88th percentile at his position in opponent points per possession and 86th percentile in opponent effective field-goal percentage, according to Cleaning the Glass.

“We know we can score,” Beal said. “We want to be an elite defensive team and showcase we can do that.”

Durant has not been made available to media, but his defense has been productive in his career. He has ranked above the 90th percentile at his position in blocks in six of his NBA seasons and most recently as 2020-21, by Cleaning the Glass. In his time with the Suns this past season, he ranked in the 98th percentile in opponent points per possession (-9.7) and opponent effective field-goal percentage (-4.6).

Potential

Vogel said on-court culture for the Suns will be to prepare them for as many situations as possible. Phoenix's lack of adjustments hurt it in its last three playoff runs, and Vogel is an upgrade over previous coach Monty Williams there.

The Suns might not have many lock-down players other than Josh Okogie, for example. But forwards Keita Bates-Diop — who has a 7-foot-3 wingspan — Yuta Watanabe, Eubanks and guard Eric Gordon are expected to compete at a high level.

“I think that we have the potential to be great on the defensive end,” Vogel said.

“We have guys that really compete and are winners. We're going to be a group that has a great scheme, a very intelligent defensive scheme that our guys will be very well-prepared for game to game. So I think our ceiling is very high for what we can be on the defensive side of the ball.”

Here is what Vogel said the Suns have prioritized in defensive installs.

“Obviously, it starts with transition defense and finishing possessions,” Vogel said. “Get the defense back and get it set.

“…Two-on-two coverages that try to keep us out of rotation will be a really big point of emphasis. We're going to have a multiple-layered defensive attack, and we're going to have a lot of things in our bag to throw at opponents throughout the course of an 82-game season that will help prepare us for the playoffs.”