NBA Draft 2016: 3 Best Landing Spots For Marquese Chriss
1. Phoenix Suns
The Suns did not have fun last season. They had their fair share of injury issues as Eric Bledsoe suffered a season-ending injury early on, but Phoenix was on the wrong path even before he went down. Bledsoe was injured on Dec. 26, at which point the team was already 12-19.
Brandon Knight also suffered an injury, but it wasn’t until April 1, when the season was essentially over.
Unless they make a big splash in free agency, the Suns are unlikely to be competing for a playoff spot this season, meaning a player like Marquese Chriss could be a perfect fit if available at No. 4.
More from NBA Draft
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Grading every NBA team’s highest draft pick in the last five years
- Meet Matas Buzelis, the NBA’s next great point-forward
- Predicting the top 5 rookies heading into the 2023–24 NBA season
- NBA Draft: Grading every first-round pick after rookie year
Thanks to both the unlikelihood that the Suns will compete this year and their lack of depth at the power forward position, they can start Marquese Chriss and give him big minutes with no reservations.
It would be trial by fire but that can sometimes be the best thing for developing stars.
Further, I mentioned that one of Chriss’ biggest issues is his poor rebounding. This likely stems from him only having five years of experience playing basketball and yes, you read that right.
So rebounding is definitely something he’ll work on once he hits the NBA, and who better to learn from than Tyson Chandler? Chandler averaged 8.7 rebounds per game last season in just 24.5 minutes.
As a veteran and a historically fantastic rebounder, he could be the perfect mentor for a developing Marquese Chriss.
Next: New Orleans Pelicans