The Phoenix Suns had a busy offseason, looking to acquire talent they hope will help turn up the heat in the Western Conference and help move them back into the playoffs.
In
Mirza Teletovic – one year, $5.5 million
Ronnie Price – one year, $1.5 million
Sonny Weems – two years, $5.8 million
Tyson Chandler – four years, $52 million
Jon Leuer – trade with Grizzlies
Out
Earl Barron – free agent
Gerald Green – free agent
Marcus Thornton – free agent
Reggie Bullock – trade with Pistons
Danny Granger – trade with Pistons
Marcus Morris – trade with Pistons
Draft
Devin Booker – 13th overall
Andrew Harrison – 44th overall
Overview
The Phoenix Suns are a few years removed from the sunny skies of Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire running and gunning under Mike D’Antoni. It might be fair to say that things are, at best, partly cloudy in the state of Arizona basketball.
The Suns offseason seems to mirror their current status as a team that is a small jump away from playoff contention, but could be poised to challenge in 2015-16 if everything breaks their way. Following a tepid 39-43 season, the Suns looked to upgrade by adding free agent center Tyson Chandler and signing or trading for players on short-term or expiring deals.
The Western Conference seems to only get crazier as each year passes in terms of talented individuals and juggernaut squads. The Suns finished with the 10th best record in the conference, a full six games back from the last team in, New Orleans. In between them was a down season Oklahoma City, playing without the 2013-14 NBA MVP, who is reportedly back to full health and participating in drills at the Team USA camp in Las Vegas this week. The Suns needed to retain their best players and acquire additional talent if they wanted to make a run at playing beyond Game 82 for the upcoming season, knowing that the Thunder will be better this coming season and the young, and scary, Utah Jazz right on their heels last season. If Phoenix had spent last season in the Eastern Conference, they would have made the playoffs.
As it stands, the Suns missed out on their priority target, LaMarcus Aldridge. But, he didn’t return to Portland either. With the Blazers also sending out Nicholas Batum and losing Wesley Matthews, Robin Lopez and Arron Affalalo, the road to the playoffs for Phoenix has improved. The implosion of Portland was helpful to most of the fringe teams in the West, but the Suns needed to make some actual moves if they wanted to improve their odds. Though they whiffed on Aldridge, they were able to move the lesser of the Morris twins, which could be partly attributed to clearing space to acquire Chandler in free agency and possible due to off-court issues that hung over the Morrii.
Moving one part of the Morrii was a good play by the Suns, but it has come with some backlash from the remaining brother, Markieff, who has demanded to be traded from Phoenix for a perceived slight in the handling of the trade. If the Suns are indeed feeling inclined to allow said departure, they would be moving an $8 million-per-year player who clearly has value to them. Or, perhaps they saw this impending fiasco, which might explain bringing in both Mirza Teletovic and Jon Leuer. Teletovic signed a one-year deal while Leuer was the product of a trade with Memphis. Neither player is particularly Morrii-like, but Teletovic is a bit of a prospect move. He doesn’t have the basic shooting or scoring numbers that Markieff puts up, but on a short-term deal he could end up being a steal at just $5.5 million, a deal that could set him up for a final longer deal at age 30 next offseason if he performs well. This is, of course, just speculation.
If Morris stays put in Phoenix this season, he will join the starting lineup of Eric Bledsoe, the newly re-signed Brandon Knight, the combination of TJ Warren and/or Sonny Weems and Chandler. That’s a strong starting rotation in a very deep conference. Weems is fresh off a nice Euroleague campaign with CSKA Moscow and seems to have a better grasp for the game now. He comes off as hungry and more aware of the IQ portion of the game instead of just focusing on the physical ability required. His two-year deal is definitely team friendly and even if he only replicates the type of numbers he put up during his last NBA season in 2010, he would be worth the money in the skyrocketing NBA salary cap economy.
The floor for this team is probably “make everyone else’s schedule harder.” The high end seems to settle wherever the depth of their roster will take them, coupled with how this Markieff Morris situation plays out. The depth right now doesn’t look so good for Phoenix, speaking strictly in terms of talent gap between starters and first man off the bench at each position. If the only true point guard backup for Bledsoe is Ronnie Price, they might have to leave heavily on Knight this season, should an injury arise. If that happens, PJ Tucker, Archie Goodwin and rookie Devin Booker will all need to step up in a significant way.
Likely, they could challenge for the eighth seed out West, while teams like Portland seem destined to drop out of the picture and it is still uncertain where the Jazz will end up, particularly with the devastating news that Dante Exum is set to miss the upcoming season with a torn ACL. The misfortune of Portland may be good fortune for Phoenix, but if your biggest acquisition is a player signing long term post 30th-birthday, you still have your work cut out for you.
Offseason Grade: C+
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