NBA: 5 teams facing the most pressure heading into the 2019-20 season
Phoenix Suns
For a team known as the Phoenix Suns, it has been a long time since things have been sunny. How many lottery picks are they going to continue to whiff on? Excluding this most recent draft, the Suns currently have two lottery picks on their roster since the 2011 season. Devin Booker, the team’s best player, has to be growing tired of the never improving situation in Phoenix.
He is wasting his young-but-prime years on impending lottery results. Another losing season may lead to a Booker divorce, where he wants out. Booker has already locked down his future financially so he has nothing to worry about on his side of things.
The selection of Deandre Ayton with the first overall pick right now looks decent and down the line may just stay at that. In an era where shooting the 3-ball is more stressed for all positional players, Ayton has not received that memo. He attempted only four 3-point shots (missed all) in 71 games. With the first overall pick and point guard being more of a priority the Suns pulled the trigger on Ayton. Players like Luka Doncic, Trae Young, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander were still on the board.
It really looks like Booker needed a running mate in the backcourt to take the load off of him. Enter the Suns new $51 million man, Ricky Rubio. Rubio has proved he is a capable starter and has pass-first tendencies which may elevate Suns players. However, is Rubio worth $17 million per year? We will see. The pressure is on the Suns with the big investment in Rubio.
On draft night, the Suns were making moves that left fans puzzled. They traded forward T.J. Warren, an 18 point per game scorer, to the Pacers for cash. They then traded down from the No. 6 pick to the Timberwolves for the No. 11 pick and Dario. Still at this point, pre-signing of Rubio, the point guard position was still a big glaring hole on the team.
Point guard Coby White, out of the University of North Carolina, was still on the board instead the Suns chose his teammate Cameron Johnson.
Johnson has been injury prone in college and is very old for a rookie. Johnson is 23 years old which is older than their star Booker. His game is more of spot-up, he lacks athleticism, his position is occupied by other players on the roster, if he were to play the small forward he might struggle keeping up with opposing wings – needless to say, he’s not going to be worth that lottery pick.
The Suns are on the clock to make things right, well Booker’s clock.