Scouts in Sports Illustrated RIPPED the Phoenix Suns

PHOENIX, AZ - SEPTEMBER 25: Eric Bledsoe #2, Josh Jackson #20, Head Coach Earl Watson, and Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns pose for a portrait at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
PHOENIX, AZ - SEPTEMBER 25: Eric Bledsoe #2, Josh Jackson #20, Head Coach Earl Watson, and Devin Booker #1 of the Phoenix Suns pose for a portrait at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Barry Gossage/NBAE via Getty Images)
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What is their direction?

BOSTON – NOVEMBER 17: Before game time, Suns general manager Ryan McDonough, center, chats with Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, left, and Sean Grande, the voice of the Celtics. Pagliuca shares video of his son’s Saturday Duke game against Fairfield. The Boston Celtics host the Phoenix Suns, at the TD Garden, on Monday, November 17, 2014. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
BOSTON – NOVEMBER 17: Before game time, Suns general manager Ryan McDonough, center, chats with Celtics co-owner Steve Pagliuca, left, and Sean Grande, the voice of the Celtics. Pagliuca shares video of his son’s Saturday Duke game against Fairfield. The Boston Celtics host the Phoenix Suns, at the TD Garden, on Monday, November 17, 2014. (Photo by Pat Greenhouse/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
"I don’t see a direction for them. They added a lottery pick in Josh Jackson, but that was their entire summer. It’s like they want to be forgotten. They’re just praying that Devin Booker becomes a top five shooting guard. This is a pretty hopeless situation. . . ."

This is two entirely different points, but we can discuss them as they are presented.

For starters, to say that the Suns don’t have a direction is laughably incorrect. For the first time in years the Phoenix Suns actually have a direction that fans can both see, but also see the point of: they are tanking. The Suns did not go after a big contract free agent or make a radical trade this past offseason because there was not a combination of any number of truly acquirable players that would have made the Suns championship contenders, let alone playoff participants.

So why go after any of them?

To then argue that the only thing the Suns did in the offseason was draft Josh Jackson and shroud that move in a cloak of mismanagement, is truly the definition of ignorant.

For this particular scout to further add that Phoenix is “praying that Devin Booker becomes a top five shooting guard” is an equally bitter a point of view. Of course  the Suns are praying that happens. Every team with a young player who has his level of statistical return and talent at such a young age is praying that the ceiling is even higher.

The Suns got extremely lucky with drafting Booker 13th overall, so really, any production above where he is at right now would be icing on an already sweet cake. Don’t make it sound like he’s a bust if he doesn’t average 27+ points a game for the rest of his career.

(Is it just me or were these statements sounding like a jilted ex? Was this scout formerly an employee of the Suns and is using this platform to attack them with such baseless arguments?)