Grading the Phoenix Suns who were traded at the trade deadline
By Luke Duffy
Chimezie Metu
It is hard to gauge the impact that Metu had with the Suns, because his time was so inconsistent. He managed to start five of 37 games played, but only managed 12.1 minutes of time on the court. That was up on the 10.4 he averaged with the Sacramento Kings last season, which if anything should have given Suns fans an idea of the limitations of Metu's game.
Yet there were high moments as well, such as the Christmas Day loss to the Dallas Mavericks that had us making the case that he should receive more minutes. It always felt like Metu was signed as cover for when Jusuf Nurkic went down with injury, only that never happened and so he was stuck to the bench for large portions of his time with the team.
The fact the front office felt that Bol Bol was the better player to keep after the deadline despite being a dreadful defensive player tells you all you need to know about Metu's time with the Suns. Unlike Goodwin though - who it is hard to remember ever having a notable game - Metu did bring a level of energy at the big man position that had a visible impact.
The arrival of Roddy to gobble up Metu's minutes, and likely then some, meant his time in The Valley was up after 447 minutes. Roddy is the better offensive player - although the moves Metu has around the basket might actually be underrated - and it is clear this is the direction the Suns are going in with the playoffs now on the horizon.