Phoenix Suns: 5 takeaways from 2017 NBA Summer League

3. Marquese Chriss needs to slim down

Perhaps the biggest surprise of Summer League for the Suns was how much bigger Marquese Chriss got over the last few months — and not all of it appears to be muscle.

While it was encouraging to see Chriss bulk up and use strength and newfound size to his advantage down low, he also appeared to be about two steps slower, making his already lackluster defensive awareness a downright liability for the Summer League squad.

Chriss was almost entirely helpless defending the pick-and-roll without the same athleticism to recover from the mental mistakes you’d expect from a 20-year-old who only played 21.3 minutes per game as a rookie despite being named the “starter.”

While no one should imply Chriss’ ankle injury was caused by this unexpected change in body mass, it probably didn’t help matters. Even if they’re completely unrelated and it was just a fluky tweak, Chriss needs to slim back down to go back to being the athletic freak he was just a few months ago.

I mean, remember this? No way the Marquese Chriss we saw in Summer League could still do this:

In three Summer League games, Chriss averaged 10.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 5.3 fouls per game. He shot only 33.3 percent from the field and missed all seven of his three-pointers. With all the concern over Dragan Bender’s NBA future, it’s Chriss who needs more work right now.

This is all contingent on his recovery process, of course, but Chriss needs to slim back down and let his body develop naturally.

He’s already got the quickness to compete at this level and the burst to out-jump anybody in the gym; now he needs to put on muscle mass more slowly, letting his 20-year-old body develop in due time rather than packing on 15-20 pounds in one summer.