Phoenix Suns: Pre-draft rules released and they make scouting difficult

The Phoenix Suns are going to have limited resources with which to select a player in the 2020 NBA Draft, as new guidelines came out limiting what teams can do.

Barring some ping-pong ball lucky bounces, the Phoenix Suns are likely to end up with the 10th overall pick in 2020 NBA draft, whenever that happens to be. As of now, no one knows when it will be held. What we do know, however, is what the pre-draft workout process will look like, and teams have their work cut out for them.

According to Shams Charania of the Atlantic, there are a handful of general guidelines teams will adhere to as they evaluate players.

First and foremost, there will be no in-person interviews or individual workouts. We kind of knew this was coming. We all assumed the NBA combine would be canceled, but now we know teams won’t get anything kind of additional basketball skill showcase.

To make up for this, the NBA is jumping on the video-conferencing bandwagon and allowing interviews to take place virtually.

I can see it now. James Jones pulling up a Zoom video conference with Bob Sarver, Jason Rowley, Jeff Bower, Trevor Bukstein, Larry Fitzgerald (for the coolness factor), and a recruit like Tyrese Maxey.

Sarver, Rowley, and Bower at the same time: “Hello, Tyrese. We are glad…”

Bower and Rowley: “Sorry, go ahead.”

Sarver and Bower: “Well, we just want to welcome…”

Sarver: “Guys, I’ll start. Tyrese, we just want to thank you for joining us today for this interview. We’ll turn it over to our GM James Jones for the first question.”

(Several seconds of silence)

Sarver: “James?”

Jones: “Sorry, I was on mute.”

Fitzgerald, forgetting he is on video, facepalms aggressively, Maxey doesn’t know what to think, and the interview is off to a great start.

Don’t think teams can just hit up recruits’ FaceTimes all willy-nilly. There is a maximum of four hours per prospect and no more than two hours of meetings with a player in a given week.

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Still, it will be good for teams to at least be able to talk to these guys and get a sense of their personalities. One would assume, this virtual meeting would extend to virtual workouts too, right?

Nope.

Teams cannot request or watch live video of a workout. I’m not sure what the NBA is trying to curb here. How can one gain an advantage by seeing a live, virtual workout? In non-pandemic times, they can see it live in person. Why not through an iPad?

Anyway, the Phoenix Suns and teams around the league are going to have to dig deep into the film (what little there is of it for a lot of these guys) and grade these players that way, which is not something the Suns front office has done in the past (seemingly).

They usually go for players on college teams who make deep NCAA tourney runs (see: Ty Jerome and Jared Harper), so with no prime time March Madness, James Jones and company will have to rely on film and virtual interviews to get the right guy.

Next. The Suns should target Malcolm Brogdon. dark

Or they could just trade the pick. With a weak draft class and limited info to select on, let someone else deal with that risk.

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