So how did the Suns do in the NBA Draft? Surprisingly good.
Lets start with the TJ Warren trade. This was a bad deal from Day 1 for the Suns. Warren is a volume scorer on a bad team who does little to move the ball or defensively. It frees up $11+ million in cap space and depending on what they do with the cap space, it could be a very wise trade.
Now, trading out of the 6th spot was a bit of a head scratcher. They picked up a solid role player in Dario Saric, who’s a 6’10 career 36% 3 point shooter who plays hard. He’s also been traded twice in a year. But, he’s a nice fit alongside Deandre Ayton. The confusing part is passing on the chance to take a backcourt partner for Devin Booker.
The Suns effectively decided to punt on taking Coby White or Jarrett Culver to move to #11. This only makes sense if they have a D’Angelo Russell-sized trick up their sleeves for free agency. More on that later.
As for the 11th overall pick, they selected 23 year old 5th year senior from North Carolina in Cam Johnson. He shot a spectacular 46% on over 5 attempts per game from the 3 point line last year and at 6’9 is a great fit on the foot for the Suns. He adds size and shooting, which is something the Suns needed.
Did they overdraft him? Maybe. If you had a choice between Coby White or Cam Johnson/Dario Saric, I’d take Coby White. But if the payoff is D’Angelo Russell, it all makes sense.
That was the most surprising part of the night for the Suns. They added two big floor spacers to their roster, which will help Ayton and Booker. That makes sense. A starting point for James Jones and the Suns would be to make logical decisions and assuming they can add an impact guard in free agency, tonight made logical sense.
Its about the best Suns fans could ha’ve hoped for.
And it could get even better if all the draft night signs come true and D’Angelo Russell joins the draft night haul.