Remember Yuta Watanabe? The Japanese international might as well be shorthand for "promised so much, delivered so little" during a season with the Phoenix Suns in which he was already gone by the trade deadline.
Coming off a ridiculously hot shooting stretch with the Brooklyn Nets, and having called Kevin Durant his teammate in New York as well, Watanabe found his way to Phoenix to reunite with his superstar teammate.
It was a disaster.
Luke Kennard could yet go the same way as Watanabe for Suns
Which made the prospect of signing Luke Kennard such a scary one for the Suns, because there is every chance he ends up going the same way as a guy who these days plays for the Chiba Jets Funabashi and is only a year older than Kennard at 31.
For those who argue that this couldn't possibly happen because Kennard was signed to replace the departed Grayson Allen, you are absolutely correct. But what Allen has and Kennard does not is the ability to be a secondary playmaker in spots and also underrated athleticism which makes him the much better defender.
Whereas if Kennard's shot is not falling (and in his defense he did lead the league in 3-point shooting last season at 47.8 percent), there's not much more he can do to impact the game. He somehow has less rebounds per game (2.8) for his career than assists (2.3), which is not what you would want considering how he plays the game.
We've even seen Kennard glued to the bench with other teams in the past, because he is so easy to pick on defensively.
The hope is that playing alongside Dillon Brooks and Miles Bridges can hide that side of Kennard's game, although if Jalen Green is going to flourish like we hope there doesn't appear to be room for the two of them to be featured offensively while barely contributing on the other end.
Suns fans all remember how stoked we all were to see Watanabe arrive in The Valley. His contract was a steal and he looked the perfect role player next to Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
That's exactly how the signing of Kennard looks for this roster, only the Suns likely need him to do more heavy lifting after the departure of Allen and with Brooks the current second best player here. This was a signing the franchise were correct to make, but that doesn't mean it won't evoke nightmares of the not too distant past.
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