Breaking Down Each Team’s Offseason Priorities
#27 — Phoenix Suns
Over the course of the next few weeks, I’ll break down what each NBA team needs to do this offseason, working from the worst record in 2015–16 to the best. Today, it’s the Phoenix Suns — a team with more Guards than they have roster spots for. On the bright side, Phoenix has one of the best collections of young prospects in the entire league. Still, there are some moves Phoenix needs to make to set itself up for success down the road.
Make a Decision — Build to Win Now or Blow it Up
Phoenix is in a bit of a pickle. They have some quality veterans that they can build around in an effort to make the playoffs this year. Adding some pieces to play with Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, and Tyson Chandler could help the Suns improve right away. On the other hand, their smorgasbord of young talent ensures that they could trade those veterans away for even more young pieces and draft picks. Let’s see what each option looks like.
Option 1: Build Around The Veterans
Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight are both veterans, and yet are still young enough to be cornerstone pieces in a long term plan. The only issue is that they’re essentially the same player — athletic, slashing Point Guards who average something in the neighborhood of 19 PPG, 5 APG, and 4 RPG. Phoenix has tried for years now to play multiple Point Guards at the same time, and that plan has yet to translate into Playoff appearances. Bledsoe is probably the better, more reliable of these two, so the Suns should consider shipping Knight for some vets at other key positions.
With Bledsoe and Chandler at the PG and C positions, Knight could potentially go to the Memphis Grizzlies for Zach Randolph and Vince Carter, bringing back a veteran PF and SG, respectively. This deal could work for Memphis if they fail to bring back Mike Conley. A lineup with Knight and Marc Gasol, along with some other additions Memphis could make, would help the Grizzlies stay in the Western Conference mix. As for the Suns, a Bledsoe-Devin Booker-Randolph-Chandler core with Carter off the bench could help them at least reach the Playoffs, if just barely.
To help them advance in the Playoffs, the Suns will surely to need to add some pieces in free agency, but who really wants to join Phoenix? The Suns aren’t in the news as a potential landing site for any of the big stars, but perhaps they could convince guys like Aaron Afflalo, Courtney Lee, Jeff Green, Evan Turner, or Joe Johnson to climb aboard. Their needs will be at the SG and SF positions, and the aforementioned free agents could help fill those gaps.
Don’t hold your breath, but the Suns might have a shot at Golden State’s Harrison Barnes. If, and only if, the Warriors sign Kevin Durant, Barnes will essentially be an unrestricted free agent, because the Dubs won’t be able to match any deal for him. If the Suns offer him a max deal — and they should — he could join Bledsoe, Chandler, potentially Zach Randolph and, say, Aaron Afflalo in the Suns’ starting lineup.
Option 2: Build Around the Young Guns
As nice as a Bledsoe-Afflalo-Barnes-Randolph-Chandler lineup sounds, it’s really not a championship contending roster. Short of signing KD in some kind of miraculous coup, the Suns really don’t have a realistic shot at building a championship-caliber roster this offseason, so why not trade away every veteran and build around the young core?
For starters, the Suns should be able to easily move Eric Bledsoe. One potential suitor could be the Sacramento Kings, who the Suns just worked with during the 2016 Draft. Bledsoe could reunite with Kentucky teammate DeMarcus Cousins in exchange for Rudy Gay and Skal Labissiere (which would also reunite Kentucky teammates Labissiere and Tyler Ulis). Gay has a Player Option for the 2017–18 season, which he’ll likely exercise next summer given the money he could make under the new salary cap. So, in essence, the Suns add Labissiere, a strong PF/Center prospect, and rent Gay for a year. The Gay-Cousins connection hasn’t worked out, so the Kings might like this deal.
Next is Knight. If the goal is to get prospects and picks, then the aforementioned Grizzlies deal wouldn’t make sense for the Suns. So, Knight could instead go to Atlanta for the expiring contracts of Thiago Splitter, Thabo Sefolosha, and a second round pick. This essentially opens up cap room for the Suns next summer, while giving them another pick to work with. Atlanta gets a speedy, capable PG to play either with or behind Dennis Schroder.
Lastly, Tyson Chandler. Chandler should be attractive to a team in win-now mode who lacks a defensive presence. How about the Boston Celtics? They don’t really have anyone who can protect the rim, and perhaps they’d be willing to ship Amir Johnson for some help in that area. For the Suns, Johnson would be another expiring contract that would open up cap room in summer 2017. It’s doubtful that the Celtics would give any picks to the Suns, being that Chandler’s contract is lengthy and taking it on is a bit of an arduous task. Still, getting an expiring contract in Johnson should be enough to entice the Suns.
With all these deals in place, the Suns are looking at a young, exciting starting lineup of Tyler Ulis (PG), Devin Booker (SG), TJ Warren (SF), Dragan Bender (PF), and Alex Len (C), with a bench that includes Archie Goodwin, Skal Labissiere, and Marquese Chriss, who the Suns feel could be an Amar’e Stoudemire-type talent. Leading this group of youngsters would be Rudy Gay, Thiago Splitter, Thabo Sefolosha, PJ Tucker, and Amir Johnson, all of whom would be gone before the 2017–18 season. What’s more, the Suns would lose plenty of games and surely get a high draft pick next year.
Phoenix Rising
It’s going to be another difficult year in Phoenix, as the current rumors suggest the Suns are looking more toward Option 2 of this plan. It’s unclear exactly who they’ll ship and for what pieces, but it’s becoming clear that they’ll opt to build around their young core. On the plus side, the Suns should grow into a playoff team by 2018–19 simply by developing their young talent, and there’s nothing wrong with growing from within — just ask the Warriors.
