Phoenix Suns: 2016 NBA Draft Grades

No. 8 — Marquese Chriss (via trade)

If Dragan Bender was the international man of mystery, Marquese Chriss represented the biggest domestic swing-for-the-fences pick. Some of the fan base questioned the Bender pick at No. 4, if only because Chriss’ immense upside was still available at that point.

Luckily, McDonough was able to orchestrate one of the best trades of draft day, sending the No. 13 pick, the No. 28 pick, Bogdan Bogdanovic and a 2020 second round pick to the Sacramento Kings for the No. 8 pick, which was promptly used on Chriss.

Unlike the Boston Celtics, who saw their myriad of assets put to use on ill-fated selections, draft-and-stash prospects and not the superstar trade everyone was waiting on, the Suns were able to package their second and third picks of the draft into another mid-lottery selection to snag their other favorite player.

Chriss will turn 19 years old on July 2, making him the fifth youngest player in this year’s draft class. As another boom-or-bust prospect, Chriss has the raw makings of a future franchise player with one of the highest ceilings in this draft, but he also has very clear areas for improvement.

At 6’10”, 233 pounds with a 7’0″ wingspan, Chriss possesses the rare kind of athleticism that would help someone reach the NBA despite playing the sport for the first time at age 14, when he was nearly cut from his high school’s freshman team.

Chriss has terrific speed, length, leaping ability and a developing jump shot. He set a school record at Washington for blocks in a single season for a freshman, he displayed plenty of skill finishing around the basket as the roll man and in the future, he’ll have NBA three-point range.

With so much bounce in his step, Chriss also brings some positional versatility to the table, and may even be able to play the 3 or the 5 in the future.

A player with this much upside is a steal at No. 8, especially since all the Suns had to give up was the 13th pick (Georgios Papagiannis), 28th pick (Skal Labissiere), the rights to a promising Serbian shooter who won’t come over until next season, and a future second-rounder.

Yes, the Suns got those picks by trading Markieff Morris, Isaiah Thomas and Marcus Morris, respectively, but the Morrii burned out quickly in Phoenix and even letting go of an All-Star like I.T. will be worth it if Chriss can reach his potential and be a vital part of this young core.

That being said, there’s a reason Chriss was such a polarizing prospect entering the draft: the disparity between his sky high ceiling and alarmingly low floor.

Averaging 13.7 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game last season for the Huskies, Chriss’ exceedingly low rebounding numbers are worrisome. In fact, he finished with the worst defensive rebounding percentage among all big men in this year’s draft class.

Chriss can switch well on screens because of his foot speed, but his basic defensive principles need work as well. As expected from any 18-year-old rookie, he’ll need to get stronger, but he’ll also really need to cut down on his fouling problem, since he committed 4.1 per game last season.

The good news, even for a guy with an awful 26-69 assist-to-turnover ratio, is that he got better as the season went on. Chris has barely been playing basketball for five years, and as The Ringer’s Jonathan Tjarks laid out in full detail, he got better as his first collegiate season went on.

We won’t know how great a draft-day trade this was until 2-5 years down the line, but between Bender and Chriss, the Suns now have two versatile, promising stretch-4s to couple with Devin Booker as the franchise’s new building blocks.

Grade: A-

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