5. Alex Len
Why He’ll Make It: Technically speaking, Jeff Hornacek deserves to be ahead of Alex Len on the list (and our No. 4 option too). But since it’s boring to pick a no-brainer like Hornacek, who will get in one day down the road as a former Suns player AND coach, let’s go with Len here.
Say what you want about his largely underwhelming first two years in the league, but chalking him up to the number of games he’s missed (53 games) or his pedestrian career averages so far (4.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 16.9 minutes per game) would be a mistake since he’s only 22 years old.
At 7’1″, Len always had the requisite size to be a game-changer in the middle. But now that he’s put on some muscle and beefed up to 260 pounds, he might have the strength to really make the most of his innate shot-blocking abilities.
Throw in his commitment to expanding the range on his jump shot, his potential as a defensive anchor, his youth AND the fact that he’ll be mentored by Tyson Chandler, and you’ve got a player who could join Alvan Adams as the only other center in the Ring of Honor one day.
Why He Won’t Make It: What’s that? You’re not ready to buy into the Ring of Honor potential of a seven-footer who’s already had multiple ankle surgeries and has never averaged more than 22 minutes per game in a season? It’d be hard to blame anyone for thinking that way.
Len is only 22, but frequent injuries — some scary ones, some of the “freak incident” variety — have severely limited his potential. He’s still got a lot of growing to do, but what if he never reaches the potential everyone’s envisioning for him? Centers have never typically stuck or resonated in Phoenix, so he has his work cut out for him.
Next: No. 4