Phoenix Suns: 2016 Offseason Grades

The Phoenix Suns may not be a playoff team in 2016-17, but they spent their summer building for a brighter future. Here are their complete 2016 offseason grades.

Mired in a franchise-record six-year playoff drought, the Phoenix Suns entered the 2016 offseason searching for answers. Was their 2015-16 campaign simply derailed by injuries, or was the team’s core just too incompatible to be in the playoff picture?

When general manager Ryan McDonough first took the job in 2013, he tried to set the Suns on the path to rebuilding through the draft, but the surprising success of his first team — 48 wins, just shy of a playoff berth — set the franchise on the unfortunate path of rebuilding through the middle ever since.

With four picks in the 2016 NBA Draft and little to no chance of wooing the summer’s marquee free agents, McDonough’s quiet but efficient summer represents the positive change and long-term planning this organization needs to get back on the path to prominence.

Featuring an active draft night and a few subtle, nostalgic free agency signings, McDonough’s summer has given Phoenix’s fanbase reason to have faith in this team’s future once more. Here’s a look at the Phoenix Suns’ complete offseason grades for every move they made.

Next: Draft Pick No. 1