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Phoenix Suns Draft Workout Review – Thon Maker

By Kyle Fleeger

Jun 25, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; General view of the full first round draft board at the conclusion of the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 25, 2015; Brooklyn, NY, USA; General view of the full first round draft board at the conclusion of the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports /
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Thon Maker is a popular player, and told reporters that the Phoenix Suns draft workout was already his fourth workout, with over three weeks until the draft.

Any time there is a 7-foot basketball player who can handle the basketball like Maker, he is going to draw attention. Plus, his name is Thon freaking Maker.

Maker also became a trending topic because of the unorthodox way he got into the NBA draft.

Traditionally, players must be one year removed from high school to be NBA eligible. Thon Maker, 19 years of age, spent last year at Orangeville District Secondary School, a high school in Canada.

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Normally this would exclude a player from being draft eligible, however, Maker proved that he actually graduated in 2015 and was merely staying in school for additional training. The NBA ruled him eligible, so here I am, standing face-to-face with Thon Maker.

The first thing I notice is this is a big, young man. Even around other really tall people, he stands out. That’s because he stands 6’11 ¾ without shoes on. So he is a true 7-footer.

In watching his workouts, I notice that it looks like he cups the ball into his wrist when going up for one-handed dunks. His hand measured 8.75 inches in length and 9.25 inches wide, which is on the smaller side for someone his size.

22 players, or nearly 1/3 of the players, at the NBA combine had larger hands by width. Fellow big men Jakob Poeltl and Zhou Qi both had hands over a full inch wider.

I am not saying it is a big deal. I asked ESPN insider Kevin Pelton (@kpelton) on Twitter whether hand size matters:

That being said, it was something that stood out to me on film. Either way, he is a tall and lanky. He hasn’t really put on much weight in the last couple of years, so his size could be an issue his first couple of years in the league.

While other players were being interviewed, he was standing under the rim shooting short, reverse layups and it looked like he could almost touch the rim standing. He also used the wait to get in some additional shooting. That could have been because he was bored, or because wasn’t satisfied with his shooting performance.

He expressed some displeasure with how it went, saying, “I don’t think I shot it well on this one, towards the end, maybe because of fatigue, but other than that it was good, the games were really good”.

I asked Suns Assistant GM Pat Connelly how Thon did. He replied, “He did well, he did really well. He’s a very skilled player, very good with the ball for his size, shot it pretty well. Plays really hard, he plays very hard, so he did well”.

Thon Maker addressed the question of why he chose to go straight to the NBA instead of College saying,“It’s just a dream, I’m glad I got an opportunity, and when I did, I decided to take it.”

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What are you trying to prove in the workouts? Thon: “My shot ability and defensive part also, communication as a leader, being a good teammate, and also, I’m a competitive person on and off the court. I hold everybody accountable for everything.”

I followed by asking how he tries to show off leadership skills in the workouts. He told me, “just got to be speaking a lot, and not just speaking nonsense, it’s got to make sense. You also got to make sure the other guys are doing well.”

“Make them compete so they help you compete also. Don’t make it a personal battle and just worry about yourself because then none of you guys are getting better. So I got to push the other guy to make sure he makes shots, and that will force me to make shots. Or I got to make shots to force him to make shots.”

When it comes to shot making, from what I saw, Maker seemed to have a wider stance when shooting threes than when shooting from other places on the court.

I watched him put up about 25 3’s and he only made a few. It was the end of the workout, and he did explain that he was a bit fatigued, but it looks underdeveloped at best.

While I have only seen about 10 minutes of action from Maker, Pat Connelly said he has been able to see Thon play quite a bit, despite Maker having played in high school last year.

Thon maker at Suns Draft workout May 30 - picture by Kyle Fleeger
Thon maker at Suns Draft workout May 30 – picture by Kyle Fleeger /

Connelly elaborated that Maker has been at various camps both in the U.S. and internationally, and that the level of competition he has been playing against is very high.

Maker is projected all over the draft board so it will be interesting to see if he is available to the Suns at 28.

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Phoenix could very well draft Maker for his upside and athleticism giving them someone to develop behind Tyson Chandler and Alex Len. However, I don’t see that happening with either pick #4 or #13.

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