Phoenix Suns And The Ryan McDonough Era

Front Office Failures

The point guard experiment was just the beginning of the McDonough experience for the Suns franchise. The first example comes back to McDonough’s first major draft pick as the Suns’ general manager. With the fourth overall pick, McDonough selected center Alex Len.

Now in his fourth season, Len has exhibited glimpses of his potential. But nonetheless, Len has yet to average greater than 22.3 minutes per game for a season.

It was the acquisition of veteran free-agent center Tyson Chandler in the summer of 2015 that has been primarily responsible for the stunt in Len’s growth as a player.

Phoenix Suns

The reasoning for Chandler’s signing was that it would increase the Suns’ chances of acquiring of then free-agent All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge.

With McDonough being aware that Aldridge was seeking a new home where he could play primarily at the 4 spot, securing Chandler’s signature was a tool that McDonough could use a selling point when meeting with Aldridge.

But it was to no avail, as Aldridge elected to sign with the San Antonio Spurs.

Therefore, McDonough had now signed an ageing veteran on a  superfluous four-year deal . Also, Chandler’s expected playing time was only going to eat into the development of a fellow center in Len.

As a result, Len has now started in just 103 out of 234 career games, which includes just 10 starts this current season.

Furthermore, the Chandler signing had a cumulative effect. In order to clear salary cap space, McDonough shipped off forward Marcus Morris to the Detroit Pistons. As a result of this move, his brother Markieff became completely disenfranchised with the Suns for moving on his twin sibling.

Once again, McDonough was in a position of covering his tracks, this time trading the remaining Morris to the Washington Wizards.