The Phoenix Suns have three young point guards on their roster right now. They should go get another one.
The current point guards on the Phoenix Suns roster are Isaiah Canaan, Shaquille Harrison, De’Anthony Melton and Elie Okobo.
It’s anyone’s guess who will be the starting point guard come season tip off.
I will be going over several possibilities on who Phoenix could trade for to better play next to Devin Booker through the next few pieces.
Canaan has bounced around the league. Last season he played 20 games for the Suns averaging 8.6 points, 3.8 assists and 0.8 steals in 21.1 minutes before suffering a gruesome season-ending injury.
Phoenix Suns
Harrison was called up from the G-League and stood out as a defensive player. He honed in on his playmaking towards the end of the season too. Through 23 games with Phoenix he averaged 6.6 points, 2.4 assists and 1.1 steals in 16.7 minutes per game.
In five April games, he stepped up his game and posted 10 points, 5 assists and 1.4 steals in 26.2 minutes. In the Las Vegas Summer League he continued to show improvement, averaging 12.2 points, 6.6 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 2.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game.
New Head Coach Igor Kokoskov spoke very highly of him this summer as well.
Melton was the 46th pick in this year’s draft. He really stood out in the Summer League with 16.4 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. He has a 6-8.5 inch wingspan, all-around athleticism, and the potential to develop into a sweet combo with star Devin Booker should he improve his jumper which showed promise in Vegas.
Okobo was the 31st pick in this year’s draft. Like Melton, he fell from his projection on many draft boards and the prospect of getting a sweet shooting point with defensive potential with the first pick in the second round was too tempting to pass up.
See his 44-point detonation on his Euro team.
Canaan is not signed to a guaranteed contract. The other three that are have a total NBA career experience level of 23 games. That is a lot of youth at an important position.
The general consensus is that the team needs to bring in some experience and a proven starting guard. What if that consensus is wrong? Maybe the Suns should bring in another young guy.
Jones is not a bonafide starter. Not because he doesn’t deserve to be though.
Jeff Teague is ahead of him and Minnesota Head Coach Tom Thibodeau has a weird infatuation with Derrick Rose.
For the entirety of his career thus far Tyus has had solid starting leads that he’s had to follow as well as other youth to split time with. Needless to say, his minutes have been limited.
This season was his “best” so far, as he averaged 17.9 minutes posting 5.1 points, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He shot 46% from the field and 35% from deep (making 0.5 treys per game).
Jones started 11 games this season when Teague was injured averaging 9.4 points, 4.9 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 2.9 steals in those games.
I repeat, 2.9 steals. Even in a small sample size, that’s impressive.
Despite the rarity in playing time, he had some interesting stats.
His 7.6 assists per-48 minutes tied him with Eric Bledsoe and Kyrie Irving. He was third in assists per turnover with a 3.93 rate, ahead of Chris Paul.
This shows he’s able to be a primary ball handler and make smart plays.
On the defensive side, he was third in steals per 48 minutes with 3.11 and third in steals per turnover with 1.61, showing he can hound the ball handler and force mistakes to initiate the team defense.
His play reminds me of a young Gary Payton. He would be a great fit next to Devin Booker and would help the other youth on the team.
Looking through his stats, if you give him at least 25 minutes of playing time and let him take at least 7 shots per game, you’re looking at numbers in line with 11-13 points, 5 assists and 2-3 steals on the season.
He’d grow on that over time as well.
Why not take the chance?
For Minny, Jamal Crawford‘s status is up in the air. A playoff team needs a proven pure shooter. This deal gives the Timberwolves a solid replacement for Crawford as well as a draft pick to replace a third string PG. They’d have to consider it.
For the Phoenix Suns, maybe he’s the future point guard. Look at all the other point guards that had short stints on the Wolves, then went elsewhere and were so much better. Tyus Jones – you got next.