After watching production fall off a cliff when Rubio goes to the bench, the Phoenix Suns could use Goran Dragic coming off the bench and providing a spark.
Think about it, you could do a lot worse than Goran Dragic coming off your bench. And that’s what the Phoenix Suns need right now, a combo guard that can score and set up for his teammates. And it’s the role that makes the most sense for Dragic right now.
Dragic is an unrestricted free agent and while there might be some hesitancy bringing him back for a third stint, the Suns need a veteran point guard and scoring off the bench. Dragic would provide both.
Back when the Phoenix Suns acquired Dragic in a draft-day trade with the San Antonio Spurs in 2008, they had an eye for him to eventually replace Steve Nash as the starting point guard. High expectations for the 45th overall pick, Nash being a two-time MVP and one of the most beloved Suns ever. It wouldn’t happen, of course. On February 24th, 2011 they traded him to the Houston Rockets for Aaron Brooks.
Oops.
When he became available as a free agent in 2012, the Suns signed him to a 4-year, 30 million dollar deal. This is when Dragic came into his own, averaging over 20 points in the 2013-14 season. Starting alongside Eric Bledsoe, the two-point guard system surprised the league by winning 48 games and coming tragically close to a playoff spot.
It would be the last season the Suns were relevant.
The next year, GM Ryan McDonough decided to triple-down on their dual point guard system, bringing in the diminutive Isaiah Thomas, passing on re-signing Channing Frye, and completely dismantling all the chemistry from the prior year. McDonough believing that players are just assets, devoid of human emotion. They would win ten fewer games and trade both Dragic and Thomas in one of the most baffling trade deadlines in Suns history, completely exposing McDonough as in over his head as a GM.
Somehow he would hold on to the job for four more years.
Now, for the last five and a half seasons, Dragic has played for the Heat. And even though the Heat sport the raddest uniforms in the league currently, it’s never looked right on him. Dragic belongs in a Suns uniform…preferably the sunburst uni, but that’s for a different article.
Sure he’s not the same player he was in 2013-14. He’ll turn 34 in early May. He’s no longer a starter on the Heat, but that’s okay. He still has enough of what the Suns need to come off the bench and stabilize a teetering second unit. We saw what he could do last time he visited the Valley, coming off the bench to score 25 points on 5-for-7 shooting from 3-point range.
In fact, Dragic shot the most 3s of his career this season, 5.8 a game to be exact, hitting on 37% of them. That’s over two a game. That’s more than Devin Booker, and at a better percentage. That would have been good enough to be third on the team behind Jevon Carter and Cam Johnson.
But what’s more than this is the attitude and mentality he brings. Dragic has been there and done that. He’s played in big games in the playoffs and he’s fought for respect at the bottom of the league, but through it all, he always brings the fight, not shying away. Not afraid of the moment.
My favorite memory of Dragic is of this very mentality. Way back in 2010, his first stint with the Suns, Derrick Rose and the Bulls were in town and Rose had one of the most iconic dunks of his career over Dragic. The play came off a turnover, then a quick outlet pass to a streaking Rose who went up high for the dunk.
It was a nationally televised game, playing on ESPN. Three-man booth Mike Breen, Jeff VanGundy, and Mark Jackson had the call. Mark Jackson delivering his sitcom commentary, “Momma, there goes that man,” a phrase he over-uses but was fitting here. Derrick Rose had stolen Dragic’s lunch money and used it to buy a banana cream pie then threw it in Dragic’s face. The crowd loved it. They ate it up.
But Dragic was undeterred, saying, “I can’t not try,” when asked why he didn’t just get out of the way and let Rose have the two points.
The Suns could use a little more of that kind of thinking these days. And we could all use a little more Dragic.