One big takeaway from Trevor Ariza’s press conference

While Phoenix Suns fans wait on the announcement of Devin Booker‘s max contract extension, the franchise introduced their newest member, Trevor Ariza. In his press conference, he said one thing in particular worth taking to heart.

Talking with the media on Friday morning about his agreeing to sign a one-year, $15 million contract with the Phoenix Suns, Trevor Ariza noted one thing about the franchise that we all know, which will not be resolved very quickly:

The Phoenix Suns are a young team who does not know how to win yet.

Even with the addition of Ariza, who turned 33 on June 30, the Suns will still enter the 2018-19 season as one of the youngest teams in the league, especially in their main rotation, with the addition of 20-year-old (and expected day one starter) Deandre Ayton, 22-year-old Mikal Bridges, and 21-year old Elie Okobo (all ages at the start of the season).

This is still a team who’s core pieces have never really won at all in their careers, and while both Ariza and Tyson Chandler have won NBA titles, they have not won anything with the Phoenix Suns, and they won’t be counted on enough to help push the Suns over the top (whatever “the top” might be in their current situation), and instead will have to wait out this season while the young Suns figure out what they need to do to pull  themselves  over the threshold from a young team who can’t win, to one who can.

Adding Ariza to the roster is an interesting move because it sets Phoenix up to make a play next offseason when they will have approximately $20 million in cap space when Tyson, Trevor, and Jared Dudley‘s contracts are off the book.

But Ariza does not necessarily help Phoenix win on the court. Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, T.J. Warren, and the rest of the under 24’s will have to take from their veteran counterparts experiences through conversations off the court, and incorporate that into their games on the court. They will have to win through sheer determination and will, and not because of overwhelming talent on their side, then remember what that feels like and repeat the process over and over.

With the addition of Ariza, Phoenix didn’t add a star-quality player who is going to carry Phoenix to the promised land, in many ways the way Charles Barkley once did. Instead, Ariza will oversee the growth of his new teammates, offering advice and stories of his own experience to help illustrate what others around him have done and how his new teammates can use that information to their advantage.

Devin Booker was not given a teammate to lean on. He wasn’t offered someone in trade (thus far) or free agency who can take immediate pressure off of him, and in those moments where one-on-one ball just isn’t enough near the end of games, he can play a two-man game with to work around the defense.

Obviously we are all hoping that on some level that’s the kind of player both Ayton and Jackson can be, but as Ayton has yet to play an NBA game and Jackson has not survived many NBA battles as of yet, unless they each come into this season having taken an unexpected step forward in their games, then the team will still remain incapable of taking on, and defeating, the tougher opponents in the league.

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Hopefully Trevor Ariza’s observation of the Phoenix Suns is something that he can have a tremendous influence over this season, and through wisdom and words can help the other veterans and coaches guide the young Suns to a season no one expects.

Alas, as he will not be counted on as a star contributor in a game, the kind of player Suns fans were hoping the General Manager Ryan McDonough might acquire this offseason. Ariza’s role will be purely to lead by example, while his young teammates try and fail to win, on their way to developing into one of the better teams in the Western Conference – a distinction that will only come with time.