The Phoenix Suns have the 6th and the 32nd overall picks in June’s draft. No matter what, that second round pick should not be made by themselves.
The Phoenix Suns lost out on the lottery when they slid three spots (although kind of five) finishing with the 6th overall pick in the Draft Lottery.
However, their second round pick, 32nd overall, was set in stone regardless of where the lottery took them with their first round pick.
Generally, bad teams would be excited to have that high of a second round pick as the talent at the end of the first round and beginning of the second round is generally vary comparable. The beauty of selecting second overall in the second round is that the contracts are no longer guaranteed, and if you take a player with the last pick in the first round versus the first pick in the second round, although both may turn out to be busts, it is much easier – and cheaper – to move on from the second rounder than the first.
Phoenix Suns
That said, the Phoenix Suns already have more than enough young players on the roster, and will very likely add yet another in the first round as I do not see them trading out of their pick entirely, at best using it to acquire a veteran player but still re-acquiring a first round pick sometime later in the round.
Meaning that, once again, if they kept their second round pick, the Suns will have two rookies on the roster come this fall.
Can talent – star talent – be found in the second round?
Absolutely. Draft picks are lottery tickets and like the old saying goes “you can’t win if you don’t play.”
Every season a good player comes out of the second round that nobody expected, the kind of player that would have gone in the top-ten had experts actually been able to predict their talent and fast development.
Just ask the San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors of which part of their championship cores were built around second round picks in Manu Ginobili (57th overall) and Draymond Green (35th overall).
Even the Phoenix Suns have drafted solid second round picks over the years in Jeff Hornacek, Negele Knight, Marcin Gortat, and Goran Dragic.
Could they pull a magic rabbit out of a hat and take a player with the 32nd overall pick who makes an immediate impact – maybe even becoming an All-Star?
Certainly! I am not denying that fact!
However, like a lottery ticket, I am also playing the odds.
While I have a chance at winning many millions of dollars by buying a lottery ticket, I know that I am not. The odds are just way too low and I’d rather spend that money on something that will actually give me lasting gratification.
Like beer. I’m just saying.
And while the Suns could find somebody who will make a lasting impact on the roster and immediately make Phoenix a much better team, the odds are too significantly stacked against them and that player will more than likely waste a spot on the roster, if not for at least one year, a spot that really should go to a player of some veteran experience, someone that management knows what he can do and that he can help make the team better guaranteed if nothing more than for at least depth, rather than draft a player who will take forever to “develop,” and then never does.
If that pick is moved, it probably will not happen until draft day, but by the time they select at number 32, they should find a trade partner to at least sell the pick off too, or swap it for that veteran that I have spoken of before.
The time for the Phoenix Suns to waste a roster spot on the potential development of a second rounder has long passed, and rather than treating their draft picks like lottery tickets, they instead must treat their roster spots like their most valuable asset they own, and refuse to waste it on a player who cannot help them win.
Heck, Marcin Gortat is an unrestricted free agent again and with his skills diminishing considerably, he can be had on a very small contract.
Trade the second round pick for a veteran backup power forward, sign the former second round pick Gortat, and bolster the front court with veterans, although this time not under the guise of their veteran leadership and mentorship abilities, but to actually help the Phoenix Suns win games.
It is time to stop wasting roster spots on hope and actually begin acquiring players who can help the Phoenix Suns win.