You probably caught us on a good day with this train of thought, and having recently read "The Psychology of Money" sure would make anybody feel optimistic.
One of the main takeaways from that book is the fact that overly optimistic people can be viewed as crazy, while those overly pessimistic are often lauded for being realists. Certainly this writer has never been afraid to go down the road of doom and gloom.
Jalen Green could still end up being an All-Star and top offensive player
When thinking about Green and how he fits into what the Suns are trying to do in his second campaign, it is easy to make him the odd man out.
Devin Booker is... well Devin Booker, while Mark Williams and perhaps even Khaman Maluach have the center position locked down. Dillon Brooks is likely to get a new extension, while Phoenix didn't give up all that it did to have Miles Bridges come off the bench or flip him altogether.
Yet in five seasons in the league, Green has on two occasions averaged over 20 points per game and has also appeared in every regular season game in a campaign twice as well. You're not going to believe this, but he's also less than six months older than Oso Ighodaro at 24-years-old.
Point is, his injury-hit first campaign in The Valley can definitely be looked at as an anomaly. There is a world in which Green plays 70 games, and in the absence of a true scorer when Booker is off the court puts up 25 each night. The front office is surely hoping that playing next to Brooks and Bridges will hide his defensive fragilities as well, and they could yet be proven correct.
The Suns already won the Durant trade, but a leap from Green would put them in the bracket of winning a playoff series.
It would also allow the organization to be more aggressive the next time a star player becomes available, as the prospect of a two-way wing alongside Green, Booker and Maluach opens the championship window in Phoenix once more.
There's reason to believe, as Green has proven on the Houston Rockets that he is capable of big scoring nights. Not always the most efficient and he does not look like he could run an offense, but the Suns wouldn't need him to.
Green might just be the x-factor for the Suns this coming season, but there is a world in which this all goes incredibly right for the franchise. In late July and with a ton of time on our hands, we choose to believe.
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