Phoenix Suns: Best Move They Did And Didn’t Make
The Phoenix Suns added talent young and old this offseason. What was the best move they made to build for the future? And what move did they leave undone?
NBA teams engage in balancing acts as they assemble their rosters. On one side they put in place a system, where they pick certain players with certain attributes — height, length, skill set.
On the other, they lock themselves into archetypes that result in overpaying or passing on valuable players. This is yet another tension among many for NBA franchises.
The Phoenix Suns have walked the line over the last few seasons, loading up their roster with ball-handling guards to run a certain kind of system. That roster imbalance sparked an exodus as Isaiah Thomas and Goran Dragic were shipped to other teams two seasons ago.
The Suns didn’t skip a beat, using the draft to add more guards the last two summers.
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Is this the right focus for the team, or are they developing tunnel vision and missing out on a complete roster? What was their best move of the offseason? And could they have made a move to bring things into alignment and give future teams the best chance for success?
Best Move: Bringing in Veteran Leadership
Sam Hinkie and his process in Philadelphia showed the league one thing: a team with absolutely no veteran presence has no example to follow.
The 76ers, perhaps by design, floundered with a roster full of rookie-contract players and development was slow and painful even in the team’s stars. A number of players, including last year’s first-round pick Jahlil Okafor, got into trouble on and off the court.
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Phoenix experienced a version of that over the last two seasons. Head coach Jeff Hornacek lost control of the locker room, and a young team fractured as veterans forced themselves out of town.
The loss of control cost the team valuable players and Hornacek his job.
As the team got even younger this offseason and the Suns put into place a relatively young coach, the front office wisely determined they need a strong veteran presence in the locker room.
Not only to stay the chaos and dysfunction of the previous regime, but to encourage the development of their young core.
Minnesota has the hottest young core in the league, and part of that could be attributed to the veteran leadership the Timberwolves put into place last season.
Kevin Garnett, Andre Miller, and Tayshaun Prince all played significant roles, at least early in the year, and modeled on and off the court how a man in the NBA conducts himself. Karl-Anthony Towns blossomed in Garnett’s shadow, and the team’s timetable accelerated because of it.
Back in Phoenix, the front office took lessons from the teams around them and brought in vocal, mature veteran players to be in the locker room with the team.
Jared Dudley and Leandro Barbosa both presided over major leaps from young talent at their previous stops in Milwaukee and Golden State respectively.
Jared Dudley is well respected across the league, a vocal defender who isn’t afraid to call out his teammates. Without the pure athletic skills many players have, Dudley instead plays a crafty game that relies on intelligence and a knowledge of the game.
Every play Dudley is on the court he gives 100 percent; in short he bears the characteristics that the Phoenix coaching staff wants their young players to emulate.
Leandro Barbosa is the consummate professional, coming to work season after season despite inconsistent playing time. He keeps things light in the locker room, a known prankster, and on the court with his lightning fast playing style.
Even after 18 seasons of professional basketball he was flashing to the basket and leaking out in transition last season for the 73-win Warriors.
Neither Dudley nor Barbosa represent the talent infusion this team needs to contend. Optimistic members of the organization hope those players are elsewhere on the roster, players on rookie contracts ready to grow into stars.
Having Dudley and Barbosa present is a step in the right direction to turn good young players into great ones.
Best Move They Didn’t Make: Breaking Up The Kentucky Logjam
Phoenix has put an emphasis on athletic ball-handling guards, often starting two nominal point guards. For a brief stretch in the 2015 season they trotted out three point guards, a short-lived plan but one that shows the organization’s value for playmaking from every position.
The Suns’ desire for athletic guards has seen them draw repeatedly from the same well, a well supplied by John Calipari and the Kentucky Wildcats. Five of the Suns’ guards played college ball in Lexington, from veteran guard Eric Bledsoe to rookie second-rounder Tyler Ulis.
On the surface this isn’t a problem, as long as Phoenix isn’t purposefully limiting themselves as they add players. Regardless of where these players took classes, the reality is that the Suns have six guards — including Leandro Barbosa — that deserve playing time.
With Devin Booker looking like a future All-Star level player, his spot in the rotation – if not the starting lineup – seems secure.
But giving Barbosa spot minutes behind Booker and Brandon Knight a significant role behind Eric Bledsoe leaves no room for Archie Goodwin or Tyler Ulis to see the court.
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Phoenix needs to find a trade partner for either Knight or Bledsoe, freeing up time in the rotation for young players to develop. With Bledsoe recovering from his third knee surgery, his value is lower than it will be once he returns to the court.
While a team may see the potential value and attempt to buy-low, it’s unlikely the Suns get enough of a return to justify the move.
That leaves Brandon Knight, most famous for attempting to deny DeAndre Jordan the basket and getting onto a poster for his troubles.
Knight is an elite shooter and can make plays with the ball, but he’s also a turnstile on defense and struggles with minor injuries. Phoenix likes Knight’s game — that’s why they brought him in — but with the explosion of Booker he is mostly superfluous.
Phoenix may choose to wait, showcasing Knight and Bledsoe once the latter returns. A move around the trade deadline still gives the season’s home stretch and beyond to allow the young players to stretch their wings.
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But with this season simply one of evaluation and development, the Suns may have been best served pulling the trigger and allowing the youth movement to blossom.
Keeping Knight and Bledsoe sticks Phoenix in between, a place the Suns need to depart and allow the next great Suns team to emerge.