The Phoenix Suns surprised everyone this season as they came within a game of clinching the final playoff spot in the uber-competitive Western Conference. They made it that far due to the inspired play of Goran Dragic, Gerald Green and Eric Bledsoe. New coach Jeff Hornacek had the Suns flying high all season long as he preached an uptempo style of play and demanded defensive intensity for all 48 minutes.
The Suns appear to be close to breaking through here as they have a ton of salary cap space to make a play for free-agents and they have their core guys all under contract. Green and Bledsoe are currently signed for one more year apiece at $3.5 and $3.7 million respectively. Suffice to say that should their strong play continue through the 2014-15 season both will be in line for significant pay raises. Given the depth in the backcourt it is likely that the Suns trade one of these two rather than commit all the salary cap dollars to backcourt players.
Over the last few years the Suns have not exactly had great draft day success. They picked Alex Len last season with the 5th overall pick when they could have had Nerlens Noel or Michael Carter-Williams. In 2012 the Suns made the best of what they got when the nabbed Kendall Marshall; unfortunately he didn’t pan out with the franchise but still not a bad pick. The year before they drafted Markieff Morris which has worked out pretty well. Despite passing on Kawhi Leonard and Nikola Vucevic; Morris has turned out to be a solid NBA pro.
Moving forward the Suns appear to be set in the backcourt as mentioned and they have the duo of Markieff and Marcus Morris in the middle. The weakness here is the small forward and power forward spots as current Sun Channing Frye will likely be leaving the desert in search of a long term contract.
Biggest Draft Day Need:
The Suns have the luxury of two first round picks in this deep draft. The 27th overall pick comes to the Suns courtesy of the Indiana Pacers via the Luis Scola trade. With this pick the Suns can be a bit adventurous and look for a sleeper pick. A decent replacement for Frye might just be Wichita State’s Cleanthony Early.
Early is a 6’8” senior who stepped in at Wichita and made an impact immediately. Last season he averaged a solid 16.4 ppg and 5.9 rpg while shooting a respectable .486 from the field and .375 from beyond the arc.
Early would be a bit undersized for an NBA forward but he makes up for the height issue with his versatility. Early could post up smaller defenders and take bigger slower guys out the perimeter. He has the ability to score off the dribble, in the post and with his jumpers. Early was a versatile scorer in college and that kind of court awareness could very well appeal to the Suns given their style of play.