According to RealGM, the New York Knicks are interested in making an offer for Chris Paul. The Phoenix Suns should absolutely be interested in him as well.
The Phoenix Suns are finishing up their 10th consecutive non-playoff year, and aside from the 2013-14 season when the franchise missed the postseason by one game, this one absolutely hurts the worst.
The roster was supposed to be much better – heck, it is a lot better than the past three years, and yet still look where they are; the younger players were supposed to have matured; and the organization was supposed to have taken a turn around the seemingly never-ending corner.
And yet here we are, with a month or so remaining in the season, and it feels like the same-old Robert Sarver owned Suns: they’re spinning their wheels in place claiming to be going somewhere fast.
The roster doesn’t necessarily need a complete overhaul, but it does need a lot of help, and the piece that it is most missing is that of a true and undeniable superstar; a name who can demand respect and get it:
A name like Chris Paul.
Certainly the team who Paul plays for next season isn’t getting the CP3 of old, so expectations of what he can provide should not be what they would have been five years ago.
But for the Phoenix Suns, that’s not necessarily what they need (obviously if James Jones could somehow pull the trigger on a young, true superstar and still keep his current core intact, well, now we’re talking – the million dollar question is though: who?).
The team just needs to get over that first hump: iIt needs to have a winning season – and have some fun doing it.
They need to get to the playoffs, and do so beating some of the better teams in the league.
They need to show that they are making progress – and they need to do it before Devin Booker says that it is too late.
At 35 next season, Chris Paul wouldn’t represent the future, but he would represent a changing of the direction of the franchise.
Not a change in the direction of hope, but a changing in the direction of trying.
His acquisition would mean that the franchise is willing to take big homerun-type swings trying to improve, rather than the kinds of bunts or infield singles that they have been making ‘lo these many years – and that Sarver and Jones are attempting to sincerely change the culture of the franchise, not by claiming that they are doing it, but by finding players who could actually force a culture change the moment they begin their introductory press conference.
Beggers cannot be choosers either.
It is impossible to deny that Chris Paul is not the most ideal player the franchise could acquire this offseason.
Not only would he be quite old by professional athlete standards, but he will also earn an insane $85.5 million over the final two years of his contract.
And yet (presumably at the cost of Ricky Rubio and other small pieces), he is better than the franchise’s current point guard, and would step in as the second best offensive player on the roster and best defensive player.
Think about this too: would you rather the Phoenix Suns entered 2020-21 with an aging hall of fame point guard for two years? Or no real star talent added, only a small group of reasonable role players (like Dario Saric and Aron Baynes were to the team this past season) and the hope that another summer miraculously makes Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, and Kelly Oubre all regular All-Stars?
Give the team and the fans real hope. Give them a legitimate star point guard, no matter his age, for two seasons.
Bring in a superstar who will demand the best out of the young players on the roster at all times because he wants to win more than anything else, and demand that they earn it – something that he could do: because he’s Chris Paul.