12. Phoenix Suns
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY SportsHere’s what I wrote about the Phoenix Suns way back in March:
If even one of Bender/Chriss can develop into a borderline All Star-type player in the next two seasons to join Booker and if Warren keeps progressing, the Phoenix Suns will have something real on their hands… and that’s not even considering what they might get if and when they decide to move on from Eric Bledsoe, or the Miami picks that are coming down the pipeline.
Between that point and now, Devin Booker went off for 70 points, their young forwards continued to generate little excitement, they drafted Josh Jackson, and then flirted with flipping him for Kyrie Irving.
So no, the Suns haven’t finally figured it out. Robert Sarver is still the West Coast version of James Dolan and Ryan McDonough is still the guy who gave away Isaiah Thomas and traded THE Lakers’ pick for Brandon Knight before handing him $60 million.
Still…after the handful of top young cores in the league, Phoenix’s is right there on the next level. Booker isn’t an elite building block in his own right, but he’s a threat to lead the league in scoring one day, which might be good enough. They should have another top five pick on the way, and will have a relatively clean cap in two years when whatever this core is starts to bear fruit. There are a lot worse places to be.
Path to Glory: Booker keeps growing, whoever they get in the 2018 Draft is a franchise-changing star, one of Jackson/Chriss/Bender becomes a borderline All Star, and in 2019 Kyrie Irving decides he’s had enough of twelve degree February mornings.