PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns have not made a strong impression through the first three games of the 2026-27 season.

There's still time for the Suns to turn things around, as evidenced by their 1-4 start to their 45-37 season last year, but there have been hardly any positives in their 1-2 start this season.

Here are the three biggest takeaways from Phoenix's first three games:

1. Starting Lineup Needs Major Work

The Suns' struggles on both sides of the floor begin with their starting lineup, which has the worst net rating in the NBA at -35.5 in 37 total minutes among five-man lineups that have played at least 25 minutes.

The spacing and system around Devin Booker, who is coming off an extremely poor three-point performance, with Jalen Green, Dillon Brooks and Miles Bridges, who are all not good 3-point shooters or playmakers, has made it very difficult to find any sort of offensive rhythm.

The defense has been even worse, as the Suns are dead last in defensive rating (124.5), allowing the highest 3-point percentage (40.7%) and are really struggling to grab defensive rebounds.

As of right now, the fit does not look good for what are supposed to the Suns' top four players in Booker, Green, Brooks and Bridges. Coach Jordan Ott needs to find a way to get them all to work well together, which appears to be a tall task at this point.

Looking beyond these four, Khaman Maluach has not taken a big step forward yet and still looks lost on the floor at times, so Phoenix needs to find an answer at center as well with Mark Williams sidelined for a few months with a torn labrum.

The Suns could slide Oso Ighodaro in with the starting group when he returns from his oblique strain.

2. Defensive Rebounding Is And Will Continue to Be a Big Issue

It's hard to see the Suns fixing their defensive rebounding issues, as they are staggeringly allowing teams to grab 43.3% of their own misses on the offensive glass and are also letting up the most offensive rebounds per game (15.7) and second-chance points (23.0).

Ighodaro will bring more size when he returns, but he is not known as a strong rebounder, so the Suns need to find a way to work around this issue, which was also a problem they faced last year when they ranked 29th in defensive rebounding.

With the current makeup of the team and its lack of size, forcing turnovers and playing with speed are going to have to be two big keys if the Suns want to find success like last year and make up for the lack of rebounding.

3. Offseason Work, Connectivity Has Not Carried Over

Throughout training camp, the Suns harped on continuity from last season and how much they did together over the offseason to have them ready to go for the regular season.

Watching the Suns in these first three games, it's really hard to see this level of connectivity they said they had and even showed in the preseason.

The Suns need to find the same identity they had last season of giving effort and intensity every possession and work through their struggles as a team to overcome this slow start.