Phoenix Suns: 5 storylines to follow after the All-Star break

4. Progress at power forward

Almost two years into their tenure with the Phoenix Suns, you’ll find no consensus on whether Dragan Bender or Marquese Chriss should be the team’s starting power forward. On the one hand, Chriss was the more NBA-ready prospect from the start. His athleticism and scoring were easier to track than Bender’s defensive footwork, and Bender missed half his rookie year due to injury.

On the other hand, Bender has thrived as the starter lately with Chriss on the mend, shooting 37.9 percent from 3-point range and being more aggressive on offense and on the boards. On the other other hand, Chriss was starting to put it all together before his hip injury. On the other, other other hand … well, you get the idea.

In seven games in February, Bender has put together the best basketball of his young career, averaging 12.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists in 30.3 minutes per game while posting .492/.444/.727 shooting splits. This stretch included a career-high 23 points, eight rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.

However, Chriss was showing similar progress in the nine games leading up to his hip injury, averaging 11.6 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game on 50.6 percent shooting from the field and 36.8 percent shooting from downtown over that stretch.

That included a 17-point, 11-rebound performance in a win over the Atlanta Hawks, which was sealed up by his game-saving block.

Ideally, the Suns could play the two together in the frontcourt, especially with the 20-year-old Bender showing signs of being able to play the 5 once he gets stronger. Then again, with names like Ayton, Bamba, Jackson and Capela being tossed around as summer targets, having two capable power forwards would be a good problem to have.

To be clear, the Suns are nowhere near having that problem yet. In fact, to this point the Suns have had the exact opposite problem with their two first round picks from the 2016 draft. However, there’s no question the final 23 games of the season will be yet another test for these two in proving which one fits better as the starting 4 with the team’s emerging core.