The NBA season is officially over. A champion has been crowned and now we shift our focus to the upcoming NBA Entry draft. For those teams who missed out on the playoffs, this year's draft marks hope and optimism as he talent pool here is deemed to be considerably better than it has been in the past few years; mind you it seems like the draft pundits say this same thing every single season.
Nonetheless, the teams who are holding lottery bound picks must be looking at ways to complement their rosters, be it by using the upcoming selection or via a trade on draft day. Not every team with lottery selections are able to address their needs via the draft as there is only so much talent available at each position and since these rookie deals are guaranteed, the new incoming salary amounts must be accounted for within the team's salary cap.
As the NBA Draft approaches eDraft.com will look at each of the lottery teams and identify their needs heading into the draft as well as who might be available to fill hose teams needs. Our draft coverage won't stop there though as post-draft we will have analysis of the picks as well as report cards for each of the teams as to how they fared.
Holding on to the thirteenth overall pick in the upcoming draft is the Phoenix Suns who must be disappointed to see themselves back in the lottery after posting a 48 win season the year prior and barely missing out on the postseason. The Suns did not get off to a great start and they just couldn’t recover as the season progressed. As a result of this, the Sun’s management made some trades and jettisoned soon to be free-agent Goran Dragic to Miami and then traded the versatile Isaiah Thomas to Boston. The Dragic deal basically dealt a player whom the Suns weren’t going to pay big money to and in return they acquired some first-round picks from Miami to be used starting in 2017. The Suns then dealt the very reasonably priced Thomas to Boston for another first-round pick, this one coming in 2016. With these two moves the Suns basically threw in the towel on the season and accepted their lottery-bound fate.
Key Pieces to Build Around:
Right now the Suns have Eric Bledsoe as their centerpiece, which is a fairly costly one for the next four season and one that isn’t really capable of propelling a team to success. Complimenting Bledose is Markieff Morris who made some decent strides last season on his way to starting all 82 games and averaging career highs in points, rebounds and assists per game. These two pieces are capable of continuing their growth together; however, with the Sun’s team concept ball they need some drastic improvements elsewhere to remain competitive in the West.
State of the Union - Phoenix Suns
The Sun’s are currently sitting at around $42 million in salary on the books for next season. This certainly leaves them room to sign their draft picks, go after a couple players at minimum salaries and chase down a upper-tier free-agent. As it stands now the roster seems to be fairly well stocked in the backcourt with Bledsoe and Brandon Knight. Knight has a qualifying offer on the table so it remains to be seen if he will accept it or go straight to restricted free-agency looking for a bigger deal. Either way it seems unlikely that the Sun’s would be prepared to let Knight go. With that duo in place the frontcourt becomes the focus here with the Morris twins firmly entrenched along side the serviceable Alex Len at center. The gaping hole in this roster is the same one that existed last season when the Sun’s grabbed T.J. Warren with their lottery pick. The Sun’s continue to need help with the small forward spot as they need a knock down shooter who can defend, if their goal is to spend money to sign a player like Luol Deng here then look for the Sun’s to look for height, rim protection and versatility with their pick.
Draft Needs:
The Sun’s need a versatile small forward who will stretch the floor for Eric Bledsoe to attack the basket and allow for Markieff Morris to operated with perimeter options. As it stands now a lot of draft projections have the Sun’s grabbing Frank Kaminsky off the board with this pick; there is no way that Kaminsky is still around by this time so that idea can be kaiboshed. What is far more likely is that the Sun’s have their pick of guys like Kelly Oubre from Kansas, Trey Lyles from Kentucky, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson from Arizona or Kevon Looney from UCLA.
Of this bunch, Hollis-Jefferson had a terrific workout for the Sun’s already and Trey Lyles is a higher ranked prospect on the board; however, it is Kevon Looney who fits the Sun’s needs here the most. Looney is a floor spacing power forward who can really play the stretch four or even a big three depending on matchups. Looney can knock down the outside shot and he can slash to the basket; both of which are needs for the Sun’s offence. Looney also contributes nicely on defense as he stands 6’9” and has a 7’3” reach with a 35.5” vertical jump. Looney is by no means a polished NBA prospect here; however, depending on how the board looks by the time the thirteenth pick rolls around, the Suns might reach a bit here for a versatile big man who can provide some perimeter help and spell off minutes for the Morris twins in certain situations.