Quinn Cook could be a sleeper signing for the Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns need a starting point guard of the future, but they also need a veteran backup as well. Quinn Cook could be a sleeper signing of James Jones’.

The two primary positions that Phoenix Suns General Manager James Jones must  upgrade with all efficiency this offseason is point guard and power forward. But along with starters, the roster needs depth, and while I advocate for youth at the starting positions so that those players can grow along with Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton, the bench should be particularly populated by players with experience.

A backup point guard that Jones should target is Golden State’s Quinn Cook.

At 27-years-old, Cook has not only been around for a while, but been around the block as well.

An energetic player and never a problem on or off the court, Cook has had the special privilege of playing under two of the best guards in NBA history on one of the greatest teams in NBA history for the last two seasons, with this year being the first of his NBA career to receive full-time reserve duties.

Cook would be a solid role player off of Phoenix’s bench – something that they had very little of under Igor Kokoskov – but his greatest skill too happens to be what was the Phoenix Suns’ most egregious weakness last season: he is a fantastic 3-point shooter.

Do not forget: The Suns were worst in the league in 3-point percentage at 32.9%. the first time in franchise history that they sat in the league’s super shot basement.

A career 41.8% 3-point shooter, Cook made 44.2% in 2017-18 on 104 attempts, then followed it up this season with 40.5% on 200 attempts.

I have already advocated for Troy Daniels‘ re-signing as the team’s backup shooting guard. Having a pair of backcourt reserves like those two could be great fun to watch as they launch 3’s from all over their half of the court – and unlike Daniels’ teammates and Cook’s potential predecessors, they’ll make them.

For those who are still hoping for something special from De’Anthony Melton and/or Elie Okobo, do not forget: they were absolutely awful  from beyond the arc last season with Melton barely breaking 30% on the year while Okobo lagged behind at 29.5% – both with fewer 3-point attempts combined  than Cook shot this past season himself.

Admittedly, he is neither a long-term answer nor is he a savior of any kind. He is essentially a journeyman in the league and while he would make the Suns better, if whoever they acquire to start goes down for an extended period of time, Booker will still be forced to re-carry the point guard load.

But, if Cook can play an average of 22.4 minutes a game for a Championship  team like the Golden State Warriors as he did in 2017-18 (and 14.3 minutes a game as he did this season), then he is more than skilled enough to play such minutes with the Phoenix Suns and be a significant improvement over everybody currently on the roster at the position.

This would be nothing like Tyler Ulis too who last season averaged 23.4 minutes per game for the Suns, only to be out of the league one year later after having played one solitary minute for the Chicago Bulls and even actually being on the Warriors’ roster this year on an Exhibit 10 contract – only to never see the court.

Quinn Cook is a restricted free agent for Golden State this offseason, and for a team who is going to need all the money they can to keep their stars (and now potentially Kevin Durant who is probably far less likely than ever to sign a long-term contract elsewhere), if the Phoenix Suns merely doubled Cook’s 2018-19 salary of $1.5 million and signed him to an approximate $6 million deal over two seasons, the chances are strong that he will be theirs.