Suns’ Draft Night Options
Draft a Power Forward at No. 4
With the No. 4 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, the Suns will end up with a lot of options. Of course, everyone is expecting Phoenix to take a power forward. The question, however, is who?
Who looks to be the front runners for this selection, is Washington forward, Marquese Chriss, and international sensation, Dragan Bender. Both players seem to be the top power forwards in this year’s NBA Draft.
Chriss, may be the most athletic PF in the draft. His strong body and freakish athleticism made him a dominant post player offensively during his freshman year at Washington. No one expected Chriss to be a top-five draft pick before he began his single season in college. But he’s proved everyone wrong and has a lot of people raving about his potential.
Of course, Chriss has his downside. He isn’t as strong of a defender as NBA teams would like him to be. His 1.6 blocker per game were impressive, but watching him you get the feel that he isn’t there defensively. At least not yet. With his incredible athletic ability, most believe he will be just fine on the defensive end. He isn’t 100% there yet, but Chriss is one major option for the Suns.
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Another option, Dragan Bender. Thanks to New York Knicks star, Kristaps Porzingis, this next international sensation is the cream of the crop to NBA teams in the top-five.
His dazzling set of basketball skills has the NBA world captivated. Yes, he may be a few years from reaching his full potential, but Bender has a lot of basketball left just to get better. He’s the youngest player in the draft, only being 18-years and seven months old on draft night. I’m not sure what I did wrong, being older than Bender and sitting on my laptop typing this article instead of working out for the Lakers. Anyways, he has everything you want in a potential star. He’s tall, capable of shooting anywhere on the court, can rebound, and if he can put on some weight, should be a great defender.
Outside the top-two picks of Brandon Ingram and Ben Simmons, there may not be a player with this much hype. His numbers may not be as phenomenal as people would want them to be, but as our Scott Hanna-Riggs explains, his hype as overshadowed his play. Nevertheless, most NBA teams don’t draft players based on how great they were before the NBA, but how high their potential in NBA is. For Bender, that potential is HIGH.
Next: Trade No. 4