Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Phoenix Suns might have too many guards.
For the 2015-16 season, the Suns should be fine. They’ll be trotting out the dual point guard lineups once again, this time with Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight holding down the backcourt in a union that Phoenix hopes will look much better than the 11 games they played together last season.
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Veteran Ronnie Price will play spot minutes at the backup point guard position, logging minutes when one of Bledsoe or Knight can’t be on the floor. But because of the nature of the dual point guard lineups, it won’t be long before there’s a noticeable logjam at the shooting guard position.
For the upcoming season, head coach Jeff Hornacek will have his hands full finding enough minutes in yet another crowded backcourt. Having so many players with potential is a good problem to have, but stunting one or more of those players’ growth could wind up becoming a byproduct of this team’s pursuit for its first playoff appearance since 2010.
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Knight will technically be starting at the 2, which leaves Archie Goodwin, rookie Devin Booker and recent acquisition Sonny Weems to fight for minutes at the shooting guard spot off the bench.
As he’s about to turn 21, Goodwin is entering his third NBA season and the pressure is on for him to have a breakout year after being unable to crack the rotation thus far in his young career. Between his quickness off the dribble, athleticism and youth, Goodwin has a lot of potential, but he’s still a turnstile defensively and desperately needs to add some range to his shot.
During NBA Summer League, Goodwin sported a vastly improved shot mechanic, which didn’t include the normal hitch in his release that used to come from across his body. He only shot 31.3 percent from downtown in Las Vegas, but the shot itself looked good, and that percentage trumped both the 29.3 percent he posted last season and the dismal 13.9 percent he shot as a rookie.
Goodwin won’t be turning into a sharpshooter anytime soon, but there’s still plenty of upside for this young player who really could use the minutes to actually develop.
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However, the biggest reason there’s pressure on Archie Goodwin heading into the 2015-16 season is the Suns drafting Devin Booker, a sharpshooting rookie who can actually spread the floor with an efficient three-point touch. In his one season at Kentucky, Booker nailed 41.1 percent of his threes and that skill will help his game translate to the NBA level much easier than Goodwin’s has.
Booker may be hard-pressed to find minutes as a rookie, but he looked like a much more committed defender in Vegas and his shooting stroke is so pure it’ll be harder to bench him once those shots start falling. If Booker can spread the floor without being a liability in the other areas of his game, he could very easily steal Goodwin’s minutes.
This would undoubtedly fluster Goodwin, who has struggled to find playing time and hasn’t been afraid to voice his displeasure in the past. If Booker thrives as a rookie, don’t be surprised to see Goodwin turn into trade bait, even if his trade value would be much higher if he actually got an opportunity to show teams what he can do.
Then there’s Sonny Weems, a player that Hornacek and general manager Ryan McDonough have said they envision being the first guard off the bench for the Suns. Weems’ NBA numbers won’t impress, but the shooting guard/small forward hybrid has spent years overseas improving his perimeter shot to 40 percent territory and his ability to finish above the rim won’t be overlooked.
Weems is capable of playing the 2 or the 3, but P.J. Tucker and T.J. Warren will be locking down most of the available minutes at the small forward spot. Unless Goodwin or Booker prove they’re 100 percent ready in training camp, Weems will be a more experienced and prepared option for the start of the season.
Of course, all of this is before mentioning that Phoenix’s 27th overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, Bogdan Bogdanovic, might be coming stateside for the 2016-17 season. Double Bogdan is exciting not only because of his name, but because of his shooting ability and his impressive accomplishments overseas, where he was a four-time Serbian League champion, a Serbian League Finals MVP, a two-time Euroleague Rising Star and an All-ABA League Teamer.
When this 22-year-old sharpshooter brings his talents stateside, the Suns simply won’t have enough space in the backcourt for Bledsoe, Knight, Goodwin, Booker, Weems AND Bogdanovic, which means somebody will be on the trade block by then, if not sooner.
Bearing that in mind, the 2015-16 season could very well be Goodwin’s last chance to prove his value. If he can show that all this talk about his potential is well warranted, he’ll be worth keeping even with the ensuing logjam, because moving on from Booker after one season — no matter how good or bad it might be — would be foolish.
Weems is on a great contract and would be the most likely candidate to go if Goodwin proves his worth, but with Bogdanovic’s inevitable transfer to the NBA, the Suns’ shooting guard position — particularly in these dual point guard lineups — will reach its breaking point soon enough.
When it does, only the players who proved themselves during the 2015-16 season will have a chance of remaining on the roster.
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