I sit here watching Mad Men on Netflix, after listening to Best Coast's latest album (review up later) something was on my mind, "oh right I had to do another sports blog entry...oh right the NBA draft lottery was today". I figured what better thing to talk about than the lottery and the upcoming NBA Draft? And yeah you may be wondering why I'm not discussing the playoffs well...in the words of the infamous Jim Mora tirade, "playoffs?!"
You thought I'd discuss the playoffs? No way, that's for fans of successful teams, and a group us Suns fans are traditionally apart of that. With the team in the lottery for the second straight year and about to enter the most crucial off-season in the past decade, I've come to terms with the harsh truth...the Suns are about to enter a rebuilding phase.
This isn't a familiar phase as Phoenix has been, historically one of the NBA's most successful franchises. The Steve Nash era has most likely come to an end in Phoenix, the front office now looks to the future and faces the most pivotal short period this summer. So this arises the great question, what happens with the draft?
Who the hell does Phoenix take?
Now was I a fool to believe the Suns would land a top three draft pick with only a whopping 2.18% chance in their favor? Perhaps. But, was I a fool to think the NBA would "work" the "luck" of the lotto balls to get the Suns into the top three in order to keep a good market successful team from fading into the NBA's mediocrity pool? Perhaps not! No wait, that was definitely foolish as well.
Nonetheless the Suns ended the night with the 13th selection in a very deep draft class. I am very satisfied with the list of prospects that would be available around the time the Suns pick. The Suns' chances of getting the first overall pick were so low I didn't bother remembering it...0.06%...
A plethora of young development-ready prospects will be available for Phoenix to take, the obvious question is who do they go with? Do they go for Steve Nash's replacement, a go-to scorer who can create for himself, or low post scoring? There are two options that I'd be satisfied with.
Option 1: Terrence Jones, the sure thing
I was a huge fan of Jones this season, maturing not only as a player but as a person. Jones quickly became the senior leader for the young National Champion Kentucky team littered with NBA talent, and I instantly envisioned him as apart of the Suns' future.
Terrence Jones is what draft analysts would call a "tweener" [1] forward. Jones would easily fill the void that would presumably be left by Grant Hill with size, defense, and shot creation. What Jones lacks in consistent shooting he makes up for with amazing athleticism and rebounding. I've heard comparisons for him ranging from Josh Smith to Lamar Odom and his newly found maturity is exactly the type of player Phoenix should look to build with.
Option 2: The High risk/High reward
With Jones being such a solid prospect who experienced much growth this season, it wouldn't be farfetched for a team in the 8-10 pick range to take a shot on him and select him earlier than projected. If Jones happens to be gone, do not fear, there are two players who are listed as "project prospects" [2], Austin Rivers and Perry Jones III who'd certainly be worth the risk if their names were called.
Rivers is the highly touted son of Boston head coach Doc Rivers out of Duke, who caught the attention of the casual fan after an excellent great performance vs rival North Carolina in which he hit the game winner in UNC's home arena. A natural scorer with great quickness, where's the flaw? He's only around 6'3 or 6'4 which is pretty small for an NBA shooting guard and he doesn't have the play-making skills to play the point. Would he be worth taking and solidifying a potential Jason Terry-type scorer for the future?
Perry Jones III on the other hand is another "tweener" forward, from Baylor who is probably the biggest mystery in this class. PJIII as he's sometimes called was a top prospect in last year's class but chose to go back to school and try and make a title run. Jones' upside is almost ridiculous, he has natural athleticism that's probably near the top of this draft and can take over any he wants...and there's the issue.
When he wants, Jones has at times looked like a top five prospect, and at other times you have to check the box score to even confirmed in he played or not. The team that decides to draft PJIII is a team that not only has the time to teach him the ins and outs of the game, but a team that has the personnel to push him to be the player he can be.
If Terrence Jones is taken, with the current situation the Suns are in, the organization would get no complaints from me if they decide to risk a draft class on one of these two make or break players, if it works, WE DID IT! If not, then we're bad enough to land next year's big stud. Win/win, right?
[1] Tweener: player who has no true forward position, can seamlessly transition from small forward to power forward without a true drop-off in performance. Think Rashard Lewis, Josh Smith
[2] Project prospect: prospect who has shown to have natural gifts such as athleticism, and size but lacks NBA-Ready skills, projects typically require about 2-3 seasons of development before they can contribute consistently to a team.
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