Phoenix Suns: Despite the young talent, the Suns are directionless

The incompetence of the Phoenix Suns’ front office may be jeopardizing the futures of their talented young players, employing a peculiar approach to roster construction

The Phoenix Suns were at one point among the NBA’s premier franchises. With highly talented players such as Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudemire, and Shaquille O’Neal, Phoenix was a perennial playoff team which, despite never claiming a title, was well-respected throughout the league.

Nash was awarded the NBA MVP award in back-to-back years (2004-05, 2005-06), changing the way the point guard position is played.

Therefore, it’s difficult to see how the Suns reached their current state, mired in a seemingly endless rebuild. It’s not as if Phoenix’s roster is devoid of talent. On paper, this should be one of the most promising young teams in the NBA.

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With a roster consisting largely of lottery selections – Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton, Dragan Bender, Josh Jackson, Mikal Bridges, Kelly Oubre Jr., Dario Saric, and incoming rookie Cameron Johnson – Phoenix seems to have enough talent to at least show marginal improvement on a yearly basis.

In other words, this is not a team that should win just 19 games in a season, as Phoenix did this past year. Naturally, this raises questions about why exactly the Suns are failing. Simply put, the front office has made countless mistakes which have extended an already lengthy rebuild.

Despite the prevalence of superteams, most, if not all, NBA contenders have demonstrated a knack for drafting well. While the signing of Kevin Durant buoyed the Golden State Warriors‘ dynasty, Golden State already had key players like Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green in place.

Similarly, the Toronto Raptors, this year’s NBA champion, developed important players such as Pascal Siakam, Kyle Lowry, and Fred VanVleet in addition to acquiring Marc Gasol and Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard via trades.

While successful teams like Toronto and Golden State have acquired homegrown talent in a variety of ways, Phoenix has been afforded a large number of lottery picks and simply failed to acquire or retain players who can play a meaningful role.

Since 2013, Phoenix has made four top 5 selections in the NBA Draft, selecting Alex Len, Bender, Jackson, and Ayton. Of that quartet, only Ayton has shown the potential to be a franchise centerpiece.

While the Suns were lucky enough to land a franchise player in Booker at No. 13 overall in 2015, countless other premium picks have turned into busts. Despite his high production, Booker is not the kind of player who can singlehandedly carry a franchise. He is a volume scorer who needs other talented pieces around him.

Adding Ayton last year was a step in the right direction. While Luka Doncic and Trae Young experienced more immediate success in their rookie seasons, Ayton is a highly-talented post player and double-double machine.

While Bender and Jackson have both been massive disappointments, Bridges and Oubre, who was acquired via a midseason trade, are both promising wing pieces who could prove to be valuable role players.

None of this talent has translated to on-court success, however. Phoenix has consistently been among the league’s worst teams in recent years, often due to subpar play at the point guard position. Since trading a disgruntled Eric Bledsoe, Phoenix has failed to fill the positional void with a noteworthy player.

The Suns were expected to pursue a point guard in this year’s draft, possibly by trading up from the No. 6 spot. However, general manager James Jones opted to employ a different approach, simply ignoring the position.

Despite having the opportunity to draft a premier talent in Jarrett Culver or address the hole at point guard by taking Coby White at No. 6, Phoenix traded down, sending the sixth pick to Minnesota for Dario Saric and the No. 11 pick.

The Suns then selected North Carolina forward Cameron Johnson with the eleventh pick, a massive reach for a low-upside player who provides little more than perimeter shooting and is already older than Booker, a four-year NBA veteran. While this is a need for Phoenix, he was far from the best player available, meaning that the Suns could have traded down, acquired more assets, and still selected him.

On the surface, acquiring Saric may seem beneficial for Phoenix. After all, he is a good role player who can help to improve the Suns’ 3-point shooting (worst in the league last year). However, he only has one year left on his contract and is due for a raise next year, meaning that the Suns must either let him walk or re-sign him at a higher salary.

This comes after Jones decided to ship off TJ Warren, a high-end bench player, and the No. 32 pick to Indiana for cash considerations. The motivation for this move was supposedly to create cap space before the start of free agency.

While losing Warren hurt, this move was defensible in a vacuum. That is, until subsequent moves seemed to serve the opposite purpose. In addition to taking on Saric’s salary, Phoenix acquired Aron Baynes from Boston in addition to Ty Jerome, the No. 24 pick.

Both Saric and Baynes simply eat away at the cap space created by offloading Warren, with neither looking to figure into the Suns’ long-term plans. After all of this, it is now unlikely that Phoenix will be able to sign D’Angelo Russell, an All-Star point guard who fits with the Suns’ timeline. Such a signing would require some financial maneuvering on the parts of Jones and the rest of the front office.

Signing Russell could have completely changed the outlook of this organization. He is a young, skilled scorer coming off of a breakout season who also has the ability to distribute the ball and run an offense. Any move which endangers Phoenix’s ability to sign such a player is simply irresponsible. Yet, the Suns continue to make these kinds of mistakes.

Such missteps as those which occurred during last week’s draft are precisely the reason why Phoenix has been unable to carry out a successful rebuild. The front office habitually makes short-sighted moves which limit the ceilings of stars like Booker and Ayton and may even threaten to stunt their growth trajectories.

With that being said, it is not too late for Phoenix. Booker and Ayton are both under contract for the foreseeable future and have each shown promise. However, it is fair to question whether the aforementioned front office incompetence has made Phoenix an undesirable free-agent destination.

If this is the case, the Suns must seriously consider some sort of front office reform, either by taking a new approach to roster construction or instituting a new regime which will do so. Otherwise, Phoenix risks remaining in an indefinite rebuild, and possibly losing the only two franchise players it possesses in the process.