What Each NBA Team Needs – Suns
As the field for the NBA Finals is now down to 4 (Indiana, Miami, SAS, Memphis), the hopes and dreams of the other 26 teams have faded quickly. Some of them (Clippers, Knicks, Nuggets, OKC) left the playoffs too early, some of them (Lakers, Brooklyn) never materialized what they thought was a great team, and others (Minnesota, Philadelphia) were hit by the injury bug and never got to see their team perform at expectations. So as 4 teams compete for the ultimate goal, let’s go over what each team needs, in order to reach the conference finals next year. We’re going to go over a few teams each week as we approach the NBA draft.
Group L – Should we hit the restart button?
29 – Suns
Steve Nash had the unprecedented ability of taking decent athletes and making them seem like solid players, and taking good players and making them seem like stars. Is Shawn Marion good? Sure. Is was Amare good? Sure. Joe Johnson? Yep. Quentin Richardson? Nope. Channing Frye? No. The l…
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Comparing Mock Drafts for the Phoenix Suns from Around the Web
The 2013 NBA draft is now just a little over a month away, and Phoenix Suns fans may want to circle the date (June 27), as it could be the most important night of the offseason for this team.
As of now, the Suns have their own pick (fourth overall), Miami’s first-round pick (30th overall), and Denver’s second-round pick (57th overall). But with the NBA lottery less than a week away, that fourth overall pick could still change.
After finishing the season with a 25-57 record, it is clear that the Suns have a lot of work to do, and they need help at more than one position. Point guard may be left alone as Goran Dragic was the team’s best player this season, but the Suns desperately need help on the wings and down low.
Because Phoenix could use youth at several different positions, there is no clear-cut choice for the team’s lottery pick. As of now, Ben McLemore, Nerlens Noel, Anthony Bennett and Victor Oladipo appear to be the four top candidates, but there is no consensus on which one would be the best choice.
As a result, many expert mock drafts have conflicting feelings about who the Suns should take in the first round.
Let’s take a look at some of these online mock drafts to get a better idea of which draft prospects could prosper in Phoenix.
First, let’s start with a mock from ESPN analyst Chad Ford (insider required).
Ford has the Suns going with Victor Oladipo fourth, and Kentucky shooting guard Archie Goodwin 30th.
Considering that McLemore is taken with the second pick in this draft, Oladipo is the next best shooting guard available for the Suns.
Oladipo, the 6’5″ guard out of Indiana, is not the go-to scorer that the Suns crave. It simply isn’t in his nature to score 20 points per game. However, he has a wide array of skills, and in a best-case scenario, perhaps his career will emulate that of Andre Iguodala or Luol Deng.
Oladipo is quite explosive, and his athleticism allows him to get out in the fast break and perform emphatic dunks. He almost always takes smart shots, as evidenced by his crazy 60 percent field-goal shooting, and his 6.3 rebounds per game average is fantastic for a guard.
For the Suns, Oladipo could be used on offense as a great option to catch and shoot in the corner, do a backdoor cut and finish a play off the pass, or thrill the crowd with an exciting alley-oop on a fast-break play.
But what really makes him a potentially special player is his elite defense.
Oladipo led the Big Ten with 2.2 steals per game and a defensive rating of 86.9. He has enough defensive potential to come into the NBA and immediately be a force on the defensive end. If all goes well, he would be contributing on the offensive end while being trusted to take on elite guards such as Dwyane Wade, Kobe Bryant and James Harden.
Archie Goodwin, the freshman guard out of Kentucky, is an interesting pick for the Suns.
On the bright side, Goodwin has tremendous length, standing 6’5″ tall with an enormous 6’10″ wingspan. He is also very aggressive at getting to the rim and can isolate to create offense for himself, and he is a solid perimeter defender.
But Kentucky struggled all season long, and Goodwin did, too. He was inconsistent with his shooting stroke and shot just 44 percent from the field and 27 percent from downtown.
He also turned the ball over 3.1 times in just 31.8 minutes per game, and he is only 18 years old, making him one of the youngest players in this draft class. With that being said, is Goodwin truly ready for the huge transition to the NBA so soon?
This is a pretty good mock draft, and with Noel and McLemore off the board, I do believe that Oladipo would be the best option for the Suns because of the defensive upside he brings.
However, drafting two guards in the first round isn’t a great idea. Goodwin isn’t a particularly enticing prospect, and if the Suns do take a shooting guard/small forward such as Oladipo with their first pick, they should probably target some frontcourt help later in the first round.
The second mock draft comes from nbadraft.net, and has the Suns taking Cody Zeller and James Ennis in the first round.
The Suns could use a center to replace Marcin Gortat, who only has one year left on his contract, but if Noel is gone, Alex Len may be a better option than Zeller.
The 7’0″ center had a fantastic freshman season with Indiana, putting up 15.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while shooting 62 percent from the field.
So what’s the problem? In his sophomore season, Zeller‘s production remained fairly stagnant and he was unable to develop into the dominant prospect that some thought he could become.
In fact, Zeller‘s PER, effective field-goal percentage and offensive rating all went down in his second season with Indiana, and he committed 0.6 more turnovers per game in about the same amount of playing time.
Zeller is still an athletic player, and quick 7-footers with the ability to run the floor don’t come around so often. But Zeller is purely an offensive force, and he would do little to help the Suns improve their defense down low.
Even on offense, his short 6’8″ wingspan (smaller than the 6’5″ Archie Goodwin mentioned earlier) and small hands would put him at a disadvantage when it comes to finishing down low.
James Ennis is a fairly unknown prospect coming out of Long Beach State, but he is an interesting name to watch. There are a lot of wings available to be taken in that 25-35 pick range, but Ennis could be a candidate for Phoenix.
In his sophomore season as the main man for the 49ers, the 6’7″ small forward put up 16.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. He was named the Big West Player of the Year after leading his team to a regular season conference championship.
Ennis is a very versatile player with the ability to contribute in all sorts of ways. He is athletic enough to drive to the rim, large and strong enough to grab rebounds and has the range to make three-pointers.
On the other hand, Ennis did lead the Big West with 99 turnovers (three per game), and he himself said that he needs to improve his on-ball defense.
There hasn’t been a lot of news around Ennis, but keep your eyes open for that name as we get closer to the draft.
As for Zeller, this was one of the few mock drafts still taking the center as a top-five pick. But some of the concerns about him are justified, and there are several other prospects the Suns should strongly consider taking with their pick before Zeller.
The final mock draft comes from Bleacher Report’s very own Jonathan Wasserman, who has the Suns taking UNLV forward Anthony Bennett and Kansas center Jeff Withey.
Anthony Bennett, the undersized tweener, is expected to be a top pick, and he is one of the most versatile scorers in his class.
Bennett is a powerful and explosive leaper who can stun the crowd with great dunks, and he can either score in the paint on opposing big men or shoot mid-range jump shots and three-pointers. He would bring some excitement back to the U.S. Airways Center with his highlights.
Bennett averaged 16.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game for UNLV, and he could be an exciting prospect to watch, despite a shoulder injury that will keep him out for four months.
I personally believe that Oladipo is the better pick fourth overall, but Bennett could really help strengthen the frontcourt, as Luis Scola is only getting older, Channing Frye is returning from enlarged-heart issues and Markieff Morris shows potential but may not be ready to be a full-time starter just yet.
Then, center Jeff Withey would join Kansas alums Markieff and Marcus Morris to add some depth down low, which may be necessary if the Suns consider trading Marcin Gortat sometime before his contract expires next summer.
Withey has a fantastic 7’3″ wingspan, and he has developed into one of the best post defenders in the NCAA.
On offense, Withey is a great target for point guards on the move and he thrives in pick-and-roll scenarios. However, his average lower body strength often prevents him from establishing good post position, and he is not a great offensive weapon with his back to the basket.
But on defense, Withey was fantastic. In 30.9 minutes per game, Withey averaged 3.9 blocks and put up a defensive rating of 83.7. Both of those statistics led the Big 12 in 2012-13.
Withey may not be expected to be the team’s future starting center, but at the very least he would be a strong defensive presence to protect the rim and intimidate opposing offenses in a bench role.
This is by far my favorite of the three mock drafts, and although the Suns don’t address their urgent need of a wing player, they vastly improve the frontcourt with two solid prospects. With one specializing on offense and the other on defense, the Suns would hopefully see improvement on both ends of the court next season.
However, Bennett and Withey is not the best combination for the Suns in the first round. Withey would be a fantastic pick if he falls to 30th overall, but Victor Oladipo is the better prospect to take fourth, as Chad Ford suggested.
With Oladipo and Withey, the Suns draft two defensive specialists to hopefully start becoming the smart, defensive-oriented team that Lindsey Hunter wants to see.
They still would not have a go-to scorer, but that does not necessarily have to be addressed immediately. The Suns could target a new primary scoring option in free agency, going after Monta Ellis or Josh Smith.
Or, they could wait one or two more seasons and hope to find their new clutch scorer in an upcoming draft. If the Suns do not make any major acquisitions in free agency this season, they certainly won’t improve enough with just Oladipo and Withey to compete for a playoff spot next season.
They may have another top-five pick, and the 2014 class is expected to be the strongest in years, as it offers fantastic prospects such as Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle.
Either way, it’s now Ryan McDonough’s decision of which path to take. But his first test will be the 2013 draft, and if he proves successful in evaluating talent this year, he could potentially make the Phoenix Suns’ rebuilding process a relatively short one.
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Police investigate Phoenix Suns forward Beasley (Yahoo! Sports)
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Scottsdale police are investigating Phoenix Suns forward Michael Beasley in connection with an alleged sexual assault.
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Suns’ Beasley investigated on sexual assault charge
Beasley has not been arrested, but the investigation is ongoing
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Suns hire McDonough as next GM (Yahoo! Sports)
PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns have hired Boston Celtics executive Ryan McDonough as their next general manager.
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Suns moving in new direction, but which way?
The Phoenix Suns have opted to change course a year after losing Steve Nash and finishing in last place in the Western Conference. The organization has been lost in the woods even in those last years with Nash playing point guard, but moving on and moving forward has been difficult.
The organization fired coach Alvin Gentry midway through the season after he went 13-28. Now they have fired general manager Lance Blanks, putting Phoenix’s future on a path for complete change.
The Suns announced that Blanks would be relieved of his duties Monday and that the organization would be moving on from him and likely from his selection for the interim coach Lindsey Hunter. Phoenix will likely have new leaders captaining this ship.
It is just the destination that seems so difficult to figure out.
Phoenix is in a bad spot right now. A team mixed with veterans and some disappointing young players. A team without a proven star and with a high draft pick in a bad draft (at least…
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2 Potential Marcin Gortat Trades for the Phoenix Suns
Marcin Gortat has been the Phoenix Suns‘ starting center for almost three years and looked to be the team’s starting center for years to come.
That was until the debacle known as this season.
Gortat endured his worst season as a Phoenix Sun and it’s clear he is no longer in the long-term plans of the organization.
With his expiring contract, Phoenix can either trade him or potentially lose him for nothing during free agency.
For a rebuilding team like Phoenix, it’s a no-brainer to get some value for Gortat while it still can.
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Suns, GM part ways after second-worst season (Yahoo! Sports)
PHOENIX (AP) — Lance Blanks’ short run as Phoenix Suns general manager is over.
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3 Potential Draft-Day Trades for the Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns are coming off one of the worst seasons in team history and have only the June 27 draft to look forward to this offseason.
Phoenix will have three picks in the 2013 NBA Draft, including two first-round selections.
Having those three picks gives the team some freedom to negotiate trades in order to either move around in the draft or acquire young players.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying the Suns should make any trades at all during the draft. But I would be remiss to ignore the fact that trades could happen, especially in a rebuilding team like Phoenix.
Trade Scenario No. 1
Phoenix trades Michael Beasley for $3 million cash and a 2013 second-round pick (from Denver). Portland trades their own 2013 second-round pick.
From a pure basketball standpoint, this is not a scenario that improves Phoenix. However, they rid themselves of the enigma that is Michael Beasley.
For Portland, they get a potential double-digit scorer, at a discounted price, for the worst-scoring bench in the NBA.
Trade Scenario No. 2
Phoenix trades Shannon Brown and a 2013 first-round pick (from Miami). Brooklyn Trades MarShon Brooks.
Phoenix gets younger at shooting guard and receives a player under club control until the 2015 offseason.
Brooklyn gets a comparable player in Brown and an extra first-round pick to draft a young player or move around in the draft.
Trade Scenario No. 3
Phoenix trades Marcin Gortat, and Dallas trades their 2013 first-round pick.
Phoenix trades Gortat, who is not in the long-term plans of the franchise, and gets a lottery pick to help rebuild.
Dallas gets a proven center, who can consistently get 15 points and 10 rebounds per game, and finally pairs Dirk Nowitzki with the center he’s desperately needed.
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Lance Blanks dismissed as Suns’ GM
PHOENIX Lance Blanks is out as Suns general manager.
The Suns announced Blanks’ dismissal Monday in a news release from president of basketball operations Lon Babby.
Lance has been a trusted friend and colleague, Babby said. I thank him personally and professionally for his hard work on behalf of the Suns. We will continue to prepare for the offseason even as we look for his replacement.
Blanks was originally named to the post on Aug. 5, 2010, after serving in the front offices of the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs. He and Babby were hired in tandem after Steve Kerr resigned to return to his role as a television analyst.
Check back later today for more.
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