Phoenix Suns And The Ryan McDonough Era

Roster Construction

Aside from small forward P.J. Tucker, every player on the Suns’ roster has been added since McDonough’s arrival. Despite the success of the 2013-14 season, just Tucker, Len and Bledsoe remain from that team which won 48 games in a highly competitive season.

The current team is 15-32, placing them dead last in the Western Conference. Since McDonough’s arrival, the Suns have enjoyed five lottery selections, including three picks in the top eight. Despite these selections, the overall performance of the team has not improved.

Last season saw the dismissal of head coach Jeff Hornacek in just his third year in charge. His interim replacement, Earl Watson, was later selected as the permanent coach despite not interviewing any other applicants.

At the time of Watson’s hiring, McDonough said:

"“We do value and emphasize the development of our young players. That’s something extremely important to us. I think we’re going to try and continue to do both is the best way to put it. We want to win games. We want to establish a culture, and a framework of an organization that is conducive to winning, and is sustainable over a long period of time. At the same time, we do want to develop our young players. We’re gonna toe that line as best we can. I think coming into the season we hoped to be a playoff team and also get our young guys experience. I know that can be difficult to do at times.”"

Two things stand out from this statement. Firstly, McDonough says he wants to develop young players. Two young players that stand out, Len and Knight, clearly fall under this category. And in the case of both, neither are receiving the recess playing time and opportunity to carry this out.

Having averaged 19.6 points and 5.1 assists in 36.0 minutes per game in his first full season in Phoenix, Knight has taken a complete back seat this season.

Presently signed to a five-year, $70 million contract and still just 25, this makes no sense when considering McDonough’s sentiments. And then there is the aforementioned Len, whose progress will continue to be halted whilst Chandler is manning the middle.

Furthermore, McDonough said he expected the Suns to be a playoff team last season. Considering the team won just 23 games, this is an alarming miscalculation. Granted, there were injury problems with Bledsoe playing just 31 games and Knight 52.

Having said that, the remainder of the roster consisted of young developing players and experienced role players.

So his expectations last season for the roster he had constructed were either overly optimistic, or very misleading.