Wednesday night's - loss to the Portland Trail Blazers was less-than-ideal for the Phoenix Suns - particularly in selling to the fanbase that the moves made during the offseason were net positives.

There's simply no sugarcoating this loss. On the same day that hail storms hit the Phoenix area, it certainly felt as if hail was pelting the Suns all night in their own right.

While Devin Booker caught heat in the third quarter of action and Koa Peat saw his first NBA action, there's far more to hold concern on heading into the second game of the season.

Khaman Maluach got the start at center in a somewhat surprising decision. The second-year center is positioning himself to experience a major breakout, but this statement didn't come on Wednesday. 

The Duke product was seemingly overmatched in the linear assignment of Donovan Clingan, and made several errors on the offensive side of the ball that led to the tepid start.

Reserve center Oso Ighodaro came in the game and gave the Suns some silver lining, but left late in the first half with a right hip injury. The extent of the severity here is unknown, but missing any time at all is a negative omen for Phoenix, who would then have to turn to two-way players Duop Reath and Drew Timme.

A great deal of variable would've had to go wrong on Wednesday to back up a claim as bold as the one above. 

It came to pass, unfortunately. 

The box score is all that needs to be seen to back this up. The Trail Blazers shot 19-47 from three-point range, came down with 16 offensive rebounds, and dished out 32 assists over the course of the game. Six players scored in double figures. Reserve Jrue Holiday (16 PPG last season) only scored eight on Wednesday, but still made an impact regardless. 

As far as the eye test goes, the Suns were playing very sloppy all-around. Messy rotations, poor rebounding, and less-than-desirable efforts on closeouts. This was a team-wide effort, and Jordan Ott must go back to the drawing board ahead of a game against the Golden State Warriors.

The losses of Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale were not ideal. Each sharpshooter was paving the way for the Suns to have an above-average three-point attack a season ago. 

While guard Collin Gillespie won't go 0-8 from three-point range very often, his showing will be put on a microscope.

Jalen Green (2-6) was the most encouraging shooter in the loss, which doesn't inspire much confidence at the moment. The team possesses enough shotmaking talent to smooth over some of the rough edges, but a shooting leap from a player such as Miles Bridges may be asking too much.