Your weekly Inside the Suns analysis straight from the BSotS community who live and breathe the team.
Welcome to Inside the Suns, your weekly deep down analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.
Each week the Fantable — a round table of Bright Siders — gives their takes on the Suns’ latest issues and news.
Fantable Questions of the Week
Q1 – The point guard position is (again) going to be an issue for the Suns in 2025-26. Tankathon has them selecting Kam Jones, a 6’5” PG/SG from Marquette with the 29th pick in the draft. Do you like this idea, or should the Suns instead attempt to get another PG through a trade?
Ashton: First, it is an honor to be guest member on the Fantable. To the writers and board commentators, I read everything and thank you for your contrasting ideas and support. Let’s see if Mr. Argent gives me the short hook but at least he did not ask any NBA CBA questions. And I may have beat OldAz to the deadline. FWIW, writing is hard. I felt like I was back in college on these questions.
This is a question that needs to be addressed with the next new coaching hire. But the goalposts have moved with how the PG is being utilized in the modern NBA.
There is an emphasis on three-point shooting that obviously led to Coach Mike Budenholzer’s downfall. The Suns cannot shoot threes. Most NBA teams can’t. And to ask a point guard to not only facilitate a high assist-to-low turnover ratio, while shooting a bunch of threes, is asinine. Even at the professional level, this will never work in a pure point guard system.
Let’s take a look at our draft candidates. In a pure point guard system, the rule of thumb (btw – the origins on that saying is disturbing), is assist to turnover ratio players.
Ryan Nembhard of Gonzaga could be available in the second round, who is ranked number 3. Worst-case scenario, if he does not pan out, is to trade him and a filler to the Pacers for T.J. McConnell. Cam Jones shows up as the seventh-ranked player in this category. Within the Sun’s range for the later first-round pick. But I would personally address another position of need with pick number 29.
The front court needs to be upgraded. So, I would look at developing the power forward position, you know, in the event the Suns have a vacuum at PF. This would not be a fan post, if I did not mention Carter Bryant out of the University of Arizona. Even Brandon Duenas profiled him.
Why? Uber athletic power forward that can be a game changer in STOCKS. He can also keep in front of his man. Why not? A bit raw and may need to grow into his frame a bit more. ESPN projects him as the 20th pick, but if he chooses to stay in the NBA draft, and I think he will, the Suns would be remiss if he drops to their selection.
GuarGuar: I’m going off the assumption that we are trading Durant and trading/cutting Beal. I am definitely fine drafting a PG at 29 because we need talent anywhere pretty much at this point. Point guard rookies generally aren’t good immediate players though so if the idea for next season is to compete from day 1 then I’d advise against it. A pure vet PG is probably the best option.
Rod: I kind of like this guy as a prospect. He was not a great shooter from distance as a Senior, making 36.7% of his dribble-jumper 3s entering his senior season and 38.1% of spot-up 3s in his four college seasons combined. He’s described as “a savvy at-rim finisher who can use either hand.” He seems solid in most other areas plus he’s big for a PG and the Suns need to add more size at almost every position. He’s not super athletic but a good defender though. He’s already 23 years old so he might not ever be much more than he is today as a player but he might wind up being both the best player available and the best fit for the Suns at 29. A possible plus for taking Kam is that he played two seasons at Marquette with Oso Ighodaro. That familiarity could help make the transition from college to the NBA easier and faster on the Suns.
I’d prefer that the Suns find a good power forward in the draft but it doesn’t seem likely one will be available at 29 unless someone falls below the current projections.
Q2 – Do you think the Suns made a mistake by not converting Collin Gillespie’s two-way contract to a standard NBA contract before the end of the season?
Ashton: Without any evidence, I feel like it was Collin Gillespie’s decision to determine if he could make more money on the NBA open market. I mean, he played for the Nuggets and the Suns and shined on both teams. So, did the front office have a choice? I really do not know what conversations were had behind the scenes and I
think this could be a developing story as we learn more. Maybe the Suns did extend an offer and CG’s camp turned it down.
But it is a mistake. CG is clearly a board fan favorite and has been since Summer League. The Front Office should have “struck while the iron was hot” as they had the entire season to so. If it is case of ineptitude, then yeah. Fool me twice or for infinity.
GuarGuar: I was pretty surprised we didn’t convert it given the level of play he displayed those last couple months. I think if we somehow made the playoffs he would’ve been converted but management didn’t think it was worth it given we got eliminated. Still, I thought he was deserving and I’d like to see him retained.
Rod: I wish they had done it but I won’t call it a mistake just yet. He’s a restricted free agent which a lot of teams don’t like going after early in free agency because it ties up their money while they’re waiting to see if their offer is matched or not. Hopefully they go ahead and offer him a standard contract in the 1st few hours of free agency before most other teams even start looking at players to fill out their benches. While Collin might wind up starting for the Suns, I doubt anyone else will be looking at him as more than a backup PG which should work in the Suns favor.
Q3 – What are your thoughts on the Suns’ front office changes?
Ashton: I, like many of you, was like Who? What? (Expletive). I scrambled to find any information on these guys, and it turns out Deadpoolio covered it for me. LinkedIn was basically a bust, which kinda describes their business model.
Welcome to “Corpo-Land” everyone. Ladies and Gentlemen, your next new GM is…Matt Ishbia! Brian Gregory does not have a chance of making any meaningful changes when his direct report is to the owner himself. What does the hierarchical organizational chart look like at this point? It probably looks like a crime scene investigation chart.
And who does MI report to? Izzo? Funny enough, Michigan State also fired their athletic director on the same day, and Coach Izzo is now a co-interim athletic director. Matt and Izzo must be pen pals. Some power plays behind the scenes when I put my pointy-head conspiracy tinfoil hat on.
This is summed up as many of us were expecting big changes in the front office. What they do reflects on what the on-court product is. And the on-court product is what wins games. Staying with the status quo in the front office is not going to be reflected well with the fans or the on-court product itself.
This is a bad idea and just stinks of a corporate model where I believe some liberties should have been taken with creative and new talent in the front office. Should it be Bob Myers? I had my arguments against him, but in hindsight, he would have been the better choice at GM.
GuarGuar: I don’t have any opinion on Brian Gregory I barely know anything about him but I will say I’m not a fan of the trend Ishbia is showing here.
We just had a disaster of a season and you make an internal hire?!?! Maybe he was the lone voice against some of our bonehead moves and that’s why he’s getting promoted. If that’s the case then I’m for it. But the guy is another Michigan State dude and that’s a major warning red flag for me. Ishbia seems to be all about bringing on these buddy buddy Michigan state guys that he’s close with to manage our team. It’s a bad sign for us that this is how he’s managing the team.
Why James Jones or Bartelstein weren’t fired I have no clue but we’ll see what happens. I hope Gregory was hired because he was the lone voice against what we did the past 1-2 years. Otherwise I am quite concerned.
Rod: Well, at least it’s a change? I figured that they would make some sort of in-house rearrangement of James Jones’ responsibilities (now senior advisor) when he wasn’t fired after the season ended so I’m not at all shocked by that. The promotions of Gregory and Taliaferro (to assistant GM) from within is a bit of a surprise though. It makes me wonder if Bob Myers (and maybe others) gave them a swift and firm “no” when approached about the job and there just weren’t any better options available. After all, any really good, proven GM already has a job in the NBA and the Suns can’t even speak to any of them without gaining permission from the team they’re already under contract to (not without violating those pesky anti-tampering rules).
I am glad that at least something was done. At this point I’ll just try to remain hopeful that the changes will be for the better.
As always, many thanks to our Fantable members for all their extra effort this week!
Suns Trivia/History
On May 2, 2006, the Suns, down 1-3 against the Lakers, avoided playoff elimination with a 114-97 win over LA. Boris Diaw played masterfully, finishing with 25 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists, but it is Raja Bell’s clothesline of Kobe Bryant with 7:33 remaining in the 4th quarter that is most remembered about this game. The Suns went on to win this first round series 4-3.
On May 4, 1994, Charles Barkley hit 23-of-31 field goal attempts and finished with 56 points to lead the visiting Suns to a 140-133 win over Golden State and a three-game sweep in their Western Conference First Round series. Barkley’s 56 points tied for the third-highest total ever in an NBA Playoff game, and his 38 points in the first half set a record.
On May 4, 2021, the Suns moved to 47-18 when they set the franchise-record for largest margin of victory in a single OT game when they outscored the Cleveland Cavaliers 20-4 to win 134-118.
On May 5, 2010, the Suns made national headlines when they donned jerseys emblazoned with “Los Suns.” According to team owner Robert Sarver, the jerseys were worn “to celebrate diversity on Cinco de Mayo ” but also to protest a controversial immigration law recently signed by Arizona’s governor. Los Suns beat the San Antonio Spurs 110-102 in a conference semi-final contest.
On May 6, 1968, the Suns acquired their first player during the NBA Expansion Draft, selecting 6’5” guard Dick Van Arsdale from New York. Van Arsdale is still affectionately known as “The Original Sun.”
Last Week’s Poll Results
Last week’s question was “The Suns’ determination to rebuild around Devin Booker is…”
63% – A good idea.
37% – A bad idea.
A total of 167 votes were cast.
Quote of the Week
“I want to put a team out there on the court that everyone is proud of. It has to have an identity — an identity similar to Phoenix. Some grit, some determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy. We just haven’t had that.” – Mat Ishbia
Important Future Dates
May 9-11 – NBA G League Combine
May 11-18 – NBA Draft Combine
May 12 – NBA Lottery
June 25-26 – NBA Draft
July 1 – Free Agency begins
July 6 – Teams may begin signing free agents to contracts (12:01 p.m. ET)
July 10-20 – Las Vegas Summer League
This week’s poll is…
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