No matter what your thoughts are on new Phoenix Suns' player Jalen Green, the fact is he's an elite scorer who at just 23-years-old had 38 points in a playoff game against the Golden State Warriors last season. When you're getting into the rarified air of who can put it in the basket when the game slows down, Green has shown there is plenty more to come from him.
Despite that, the Suns are currently built around a player in Devin Booker who is both in his prime, and who occupies the same spot on the court as Green typically does. Throw in that monster extension he recently signed - and yes the organization was right to do it - and it is clear he's not going anywhere either.
Brian Windhorst believes Green is a cornerstone in Phoenix.
Despite the clear fit issues, Brian Windhorst took to his Hoop Collective podcast recently - which you should check out in full below as the Suns heavily feature - and went as far as to say that he felt that Green was now being viewed in Phoenix as a "cornerstone of the perimeter next to Booker" for the franchise. That's quite the contrast to when Green was initially linked with the Suns.
If you go back to when Durant was being linked with all manner of teams, it was mentioned by several reputable sources that the Suns were canvassing the league to see if they could immediately flip Green for something else. That obviously didn't happen, but that is quite the change of opinion on the player in such a short time.
Perhaps they got him in the building quickly and realized that the Houston Rockets were using him the wrong way all along. What is more likely - and a lot more depressing - is that the front office believes they can make the tandem of Booker and Green work. This despite there being no true point guard on the roster right now.
If you think Collin Gillespie should be starting for this team - and everybody loves what he brings to this roster and the Suns were right to bring him back - then they are going to be even worse than predicted next season. The Suns shouldn't be trying to force the pair to co-exist together, and the word cornerstone certainly shouldn't be thrown out before ever playing a game for a team.
There is a chance that the pair will light opponents up every night though, and the roster around them can help to achieve this. Ryan Dunn, Dillon Brooks and Mark Williams are a much better defensive trio than we've seen in Phoenix for years, while Oso Ighodaro and Khaman Maluach could provide some spark as well. Going all in on Green and we're still in July? Worrying.