Inside the Suns – Topics: trades up or down in the draft, shooting more than three points, veteran minimum players

Welcome to “Inside the Suns,” your weekly in-depth analysis of the current Phoenix Suns team.

Every week, the Fantable – a roundtable of Bright Siders – gives their take on the latest Suns numbers and news.

Fancy questions of the week

Q1 – What would you rather see the Suns do, use the 2024 and 2031 first rounds to try to trade up in this year's draft or trade up using only the 2024 pick (and maybe the 2028 second round that 'they own) to get more choices. this year's draft?

GuarGuar: If I had to choose between these two scenarios, I would rather trade this year's draft to acquire more picks. We don't have many choices going forward, so having a few more chances would be better than even LESS. That being said, I just hope we stay where we are and just write the best available.

Elder Az: More picks for a team that has historically struggled to develop young players is about as useful as a lollipop that tastes like poop. No thanks. However, using a pick 7 years from now to move forward in a mediocre, but possibly deep, draft doesn't appeal to me either. If I had to choose between these 2 options, I would wait until the last minute to see how the project turns out. If the player they want slides their way (let's say a PG from Marquette for example), then my ideal would be to hold on and take him at 22. If they feel like they need to move up a few spots, and that can be done with the 2028 2nd round, then I hope they do. These are not options offered in the question, however. I wouldn't give up this future 1st to move up for a player like Kolek, so if he's not going to be available at 22, then I'd take the move down option and buy the NBA equivalent of more lottery tickets.

Stem: First, I don't think this draft has enough top-tier talent to make the trade worth it. If they were to trade down and take a second round, I think it would only be worth it if they don't trade too far down in the first round. If they could make a deal with the Knicks to move up to 24th or 25th AND get the 38th pick back in the 2nd round using only the 22nd pick and maybe that 2028 2nd (which comes from Boston), then I think I would do it. Go for it. Either way, I would make the 2031 first rounder out of bounds as far as trading for more picks in this year's draft. The Suns should keep this one aside for now unless a much better offer comes along.

Q2 – NBA teams averaged 35.1 three-point attempts per game last season. The Suns were below average at 32.6 (24th) but 5th in 3-point percentage (38.2%). How much do you think just trying more threes next season could improve the Suns?

GuarGuar: We need to try a lot more than three. This has been reduced to nothing, but we have played far too much in an archaic style over the last two seasons. Taking photos from mid-distance is acceptable to some extent. But the lack of 3-point attempts often puts us in such a hole. In the end, sometimes it's just a game of math and we simply haven't yet optimized our group for the modern NBA offense. Hopefully Bud can change that!

Elder Az: I've tried to avoid this argument in the past because I get easily distracted by math. Essentially, the Suns' points from 3 were middle of the pack last year based on this combination of stats. There were also many games where they were simply beaten by math when the other team took and won by a lot. 3 is against them. However, whenever they “rolled more than 3” just to try to make the math work, they often tended to have a lower 3 percentage, which significantly lowered their average. I'm actually more interested in them having a much more defined scheme (both on offense and defense) so that it results in better shooting all around. If those extra open shots are 3s that would be great, but if they hit the same percentage of the same number of 3s but then make 75% on the extra midrange or close to the shots that define the open offensive, then that would be pretty good too. This is reminiscent of 2 or 3 seasons ago, when the team spent the entire third quarter increasing (and mostly missing) 3-pointers and ignoring the 70% bucket that was open in the paint . All I care about is that the Suns have a good offensive philosophy that results in more open looks.

Stem: Honestly, I think it's mainly Book, Beal and KD who should attempt more threes. Beal (43.0%), KD (37.8%) and Book (36.4%) were 2nd, 4th and 7th, respectively, in 3-point shooting percentage among Suns players who attempted at least 50 field goals at three last season but 10th, 11th and 12th in percentage. of their shot attempts being 3-pointers. In today's NBA, that's not a good thing, especially when those three are also your top 3 in FG attempts, making 60.6% of the team's shots per game. The fact that they are focusing more on threes rather than mid-range iso shots should also help reduce turnovers, which would be another positive.

BTW, this year's NBA champions, the Celtics, led the NBA in 3-point attempts in the regular season and playoffs.

Q3 – Are there any vet minimum potential free agents available this summer who could be useful rotation players for the Suns?

GuarGuar: Well, last season I thought we hit it out of the park with the KBD/Yuta signings and both ended up being massive failures. There really aren't any extremely attractive guys we could go for vet minimums this offseason. For them to be attractive, they would have to be like the Eric Gordon types who take a big pay cut to join our team. Guys like Lowry or a Chris Paul taking big pay cuts to join us is really the only appealing thing I can see.

Elder Az: I think many options will be forced to accept minimum deals due to the new CBA rules and tax aprons. This will be increasingly true as cap growth is limited, so more and more teams will exceed these caps. Veteran players are going to have to choose big money for the below average teams or less money for the contenders (which I would call the top 6 in the West and the top 3 teams in the East). However, it's difficult to name these potential vet minimums until teams and players have exercised their declined options for next year. I still say I hope the Suns look for length and athleticism. I hope they resign Bol, and I hope Detroit declines their option on Metu because I think he fits what they're missing pretty well.

Stem: There are a few veterans who could potentially be available at the vet minimum and be very useful rotation players, but there's a good chance the best of them will find contracts above the vet minimum that the Suns are limited to paying.

If we're talking centers, Goga Bitadze and Andre Drummond could both provide quality backup minutes and could be available at the vet. Bitadze would be my No. 1 pick, but maybe he'll get a better contract offer. Drummond isn't the athletic guy I would prefer, but he can at least gobble up rebounds and is a good finisher at the rim.

At point guard, Kyle Lowery would be a good choice, but I think if he signs somewhere at the vet minimum, it will be to return to his hometown of Philadelphia. Kris Dunn would be a pretty good VM candidate if the Suns don't get a PG in the draft.

At SF and PF, I really don't see any UFAs that would likely be available on VM that I have a lot of confidence in being more than passable rotation players…at best.

Overall, I think the chances are slim that the Suns will sign any really good rotation/bench players on VMs in free agency. I hope they are able to find the players they need to improve through the draft and a trade or two (although I don't have much hope for the return of trades that don't not send one of their big 3).

As always, a big thank you to our Fantable members for all their extra efforts this week!

Last week's poll results

Last week's question was: “If the NBA held an expansion draft after the 2024-25 season, would you leave Bradley Beal unprotected?»

87% – Yes.

13% – No.

A total of 355 votes were cast.

Trivia about the Suns

On this day in 2021, the Suns defeated the LA Clippers 120-114 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. In this match, Devin Booker achieved his first – and only – triple-double (regular season or playoffs) with 40 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists.

In 2024-25, Booker will begin his 10th season with the Suns. Only 5 other players have worn the purple and orange for 10 or more seasons. Those players are Steve Nash (10), Shawn Marion (10), Walter Davis (11), Kevin Johnson (12) and Alvan Adams (13). So far, Adams is the only one who has spent his entire career playing for the Suns.

Important upcoming dates

June 26-27 – NBA Draft.

June 29 – Deadline for player options for Gordon, Okogie, Eubanks and D. Lee.

June 30 – Teams can begin negotiations with all free agents (6 p.m. ET).

July 6 – Teams can begin signing free agent contracts (12:01 p.m. ET). Jusuf Nurkic becomes extension eligible.

July 8 – Kevin Durant becomes extension eligible.

July 12 – NBA Summer League begins (Las Vegas).

This week's poll is…