It doesn’t hurt that the Portland Trail Blazers lost four of their five starters, or that the Dallas Mavericks were out-bunkered by a Los Angeles Clippers contingent desperate for DeAndre Jordan‘s services. But with two former playoff teams most likely lottery-bound this year, the Suns join the New Orleans Pelicans, Utah Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder as contenders for the West’s vacant playoff slots.
Phoenix won’t be contending for a title next season, but the roster tweaks McDonough has made have the Suns looking more like a typical NBA team: young talent mixed in with veteran leadership.
First there’s Eric Bledsoe, more than likely still the Suns’ best player. Bledsoe joined LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and James Harden last season as the only four players in the league to average at least 17 points, six assists and five rebounds per game.
He’s a two-way force and borderline All-Star who makes up for his lack of charismatic qualities with the fact that he’s only 25 years old, that he just finished his first full season as an NBA starter and that he’s locked in for another four years on a deal that will soon look like a bargain because of the league’s skyrocketing salary cap.
That’s not a bad asset to have, especially when you remember McDonough first snagged him for Jared Dudley and a second round pick.
Then there’s Brandon Knight, a promising 23-year-old combo guard who has the intelligence and leadership qualities that could make him a huge asset to this team in the future. Some still have doubts about whether or not he was worth giving up that protected pick from the Los Angeles Lakers, but there’s no guarantee that pick winds up being valuable.
The fact that McDonough will soon lock him in on the same manageable five-year, $70 million structure that Bledsoe got signifies that Phoenix’s backcourt for the future is locked in.
Then you look to his draft results. T.J. Warren often looked like the smartest offensive player on the court as a rookie, darting to the open spot on the floor and converting any and all looks around the rim. Archie Goodwin has shown flashes of potential, but even if he hasn’t gotten his opportunity to deliver on them yet, he’s still only 20 years old.
Adding Devin Booker this summer addresses an area of need — three-point shooting — with the purest shooter in his draft class. Booker is also a 6’6″ shooting guard and is only 18 years old.
Finally, there’s Alex Len, who’s been a bit of a work-in-progress and already has a (slightly unfair) reputation of being injury-prone. But he’s also only 22 years old and his potential began to emerge before our eyes as the world’s most awkward seven-foot butterfly once he was inserted into the starting lineup. As a future stretch-5 and rim protector, Len’s value will soon become readily apparent, especially under Tyson Chandler‘s wing.
Chandler says his biggest priority is making Alex Len the best player he can be and that they’ll both benefit from the relationship. #Suns
— Valley of the Suns (@ValleyoftheSuns) July 9, 2015
Speaking of Chandler, remember when the biggest complaint about the Suns was that they had no veteran presence in the locker room? Or maybe it was their inability to protect the basket and clean up the glass? It doesn’t matter, because the addition of Chandler addresses both problem areas.
At 32 years old, Chandler isn’t going to turn the Suns into a top-tier team in the West. But do you think Markieff Morris outbursts will fly in that locker room now? Do you think Len won’t learn anything useful under Chandler’s tutelage? And with Bledsoe, Chandler and P.J. Tucker all on board, do you really think the Suns’ porous defense won’t improve leaps and bounds next season?
Next: This Summer