Cons
If given the option, however, I’m sure there’s a sizable contingent of Suns fans who would’ve preferred the third option of keeping the pick, not trading for Brandon Knight, keeping Goran Dragic, letting the Dragon fly the nest this summer and having a huge amount of cap space to work with.
After all, there’s no question Knight failed to fill the hole that Dragic left behind. Phoenix’s offense has fallen to pieces since his departure and even when Knight was on the floor, he struggled to make an impact. While it’s true 11 games is a small sample size, it’s worth noting that Knight and Bledsoe displayed approximately zero chemistry in that time.
That can’t feel good for a front office that hedged all its bets on a young player they’ll probably have to overpay this summer in order to keep his services.
Because Knight is a restricted free agent, the Suns will be able to match any offer sheet for him. But if some team is willing to pay $14-16 million a year for his services, should they?
That’s not only an overpay, but it’s a lot of money to commit to a guy who isn’t quite as helpful to his teams as the statistics suggest, as pointed out by ESPN’s Amin Elhassan. Knight’s Real Plus-Minus is a -2.45, ranking him 54th in the league among point guards.
RPM is a slightly flawed statistic, but the point remains: among starting guards who have played at least 28 minutes per game this season, Knight ranks 66th in plus/minus (-1.1), per NBA.com. He’s been a -3.1 with the Suns with a net rating of -4.9.
So Brandon Knight is going to finish with 11 games, 16 games missed, and an eFG% of 43%. Not quite an inspiring start to his Suns tenure
— Scott Howard (@ScottHoward42) April 6, 2015
Again, that’s a small sample size for a guy who spent most of those 11 games just trying to get acclimated, but everyone would feel a lot more comfortable about re-signing Knight if he had shown any sort of cohesion with his new teammates.
Forget about the Suns’ perspective for a second, though. What if Knight doesn’t even want to play for this team? Think about it. He was the man in Milwaukee, where he controlled the ball and had the Bucks above .500 (situated sixth in the East).
Then he was suddenly and shockingly traded away in a move that hurt his pride. He joined a team with all kinds of chemistry issues, one depending on him to adjust to playing off the ball on the fly in their frantic pursuit of a playoff spot. He goes down with an ankle injury and suddenly his new fan base questions his value.
Does anything about that scenario scream “Yeah, I definitely want to stay here”? If you were Knight, wouldn’t you be hoping some other team makes you a lucrative offer that the Suns aren’t willing to match? We’ve seen what happens here with disgruntled point guards already.
While Phoenix would be unwise to have let that Lakers pick go without keeping Knight as compensation, they also shouldn’t re-sign him simply to avoid the inevitable uproar that would spawn from letting him go. A ton of cap space isn’t the worst news in the world, after all.
Next: Salary Cap Situation