Is Devin Booker A Foundational Piece For The Phoenix Suns?
The Future
Outside of Booker, T.J. Warren and Alex Len, a look at the rest of the Suns roster doesn’t provide an exceeding amount of hope for the future.
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Bledsoe is easily the team’s best player, but he’ll be coming off his second torn meniscus when he returns next season. Brandon Knight looks fantastic on the nights when he’s on, but he’s shown little chemistry with Bledsoe, he’s been a woeful defender and the Suns have gone 23-43 since they traded for him.
Tyson Chandler has recently shown signs of life and has value as a mentor to Alex Len, but he’s come nowhere near living up to his four-year, $52 million contract. Markieff Morris has been as problematic on the court as he has been off the court and could be on the way out via trade.
P.J. Tucker is a fan favorite for his hustle and defense, but he’s not a long-term piece at age 30. Mirza Teletovic and Jon Leuer are free agents this summer, Archie Goodwin is on the end of the bench and could be included in a Keef trade, while Ronnie Price and Sonny Weems are older veterans.
Other than the prospect of a top-five pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, is it any wonder Booker is one of the lone bright spots for Phoenix right now?
The Suns currently have sixth worst record in the NBA, and though they’re still only 3.5 games out of the eighth playoff spot in the West, they’d be better off calling this lost season what it is and enjoying the fruits of a top-five draft pick.
Doing so would not only give the organization with the chance at a true star player to build around, but it’d also provide ample developmental minutes for Booker, Warren and Len, who represent the most stable building blocks of the franchise for the time being.
Len will be a serviceable starting center one day, and Warren has tons of potential as a go-to scorer and a vastly improved three-point shooter. But Booker possesses the charisma, maturity, intelligence, all-around talent and likability that could make him the biggest foundational piece the Suns have going for them right now.
Is he a superstar in the making? Maybe, maybe not. Most likely, it’s far too early to tell. But even if he doesn’t have as bright a future as Phoenix’s potential top-10 pick might, the Suns undoubtedly scored in last year’s draft with a player they’ll want to keep around for years to come.
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“For a young kid like that, when you look at some of these guys who were great players in the league, their first couple years, it’s some up some down,” Hornacek said after the Hornets win. “But with Book, he’s mostly been up. He’ll learn things as time goes on, but he’s going to have a great career.”