Phoenix Suns: All-Decade Team Starters and Reserves

Small Forward

Starter: T.J. Warren – 261 games: 14.4p/4.1r/1.1a

Reserve: Kelly Oubre – 67 games: 17.2p/5.3r/1.5a

At the moment, Kelly Oubre is on pace to be a better player overall than T.J. Warren.

However, over the course of the decade, Warren was the franchise’s best small forward; a nearly 20 points per game scorer who rebounded very well; and by the end of his tenure in Phoenix, a seriously good 3-point shooter.

If Warren played a little bit more of hard-nosed style of defense, and was maybe a little more excitable on the court, he very well might still be here and Oubre could be elsewhere around the league.

Those traits that Warren lack though are the traits that make Kelly Oubre so lovable and, today, so successful, making him the reserve small forward of the decade after less than 70 games with the franchise.

Oubre does everything that Warren did, minus the spectacular 3-point shooting percentage (after a hot start, he has dropped to 33.8% on the year), and if he continues to develop (after all, he is still only 24-years-old) he will probably end up the second best true  small forward in history behind only Shawn Marion (and if you consider Walter Davis a true  shooting guard).

Grant Hill and P.J. Tucker were both very  close to making this list themselves, and although both played extremely well for the franchise in their time here – Hill solidifying his credentials for the Hall of Fame with Phoenix, and Tucker becoming a life-time fan-favorite – overall, they are both overshadowed by the better scoring players mentioned above.