FanPost

Jazz show Suns how rebuilding is done right

We all know Lon Babby had his research done and it showed that rebuilding through the draft does not work and that those teams on average spend 8 years getting back to the playoffs?

Well the Suns are officially out of the playoffs for the 6th time in 7 years. It is fair enough to call it a 7 year drought. So what happens. During this time the Suns refused to bottom out, they refused to rebuild, they told us that tanking for a high pick is not a path that is working because it takes many years on average but apparently the alternative plan is not working so great either with many teams that went the draft route poised to leapfrog this Suns team.

This year the Pelicans passed the Suns riding the back of Anthony Davis(#1 pick). The Utah Jazz have easily passed the Suns since the trade deadline and are close to level for the season.

A quick look at Utah's roster is pretty interesting. Trevor Booker is pretty much the only player on the roster that has not been with the Jazz since his rookie season. In fact all other players are undrafted free agent pickups, Utah Jazz draftpicks or traded for as a rookie (Derrick Favors).

The Jazz could even afford to move Enes Kanter(#3 pick) for next to nothing because they decided they were not going to pay him. That seems pretty rich from the Suns perspective when the Suns gave up assets to trade for Brandon Knight to sign him to a hefty contract.


This season the Jazz had Gobert(#27), Kanter(#3), Favors(#3 traded to utah in his rookie season), Hayward (#9), Exum(#5), Burke(#9), Burks(#12), Evans(#55), Hood(#23) plus a bunch of undrafted players.

Their rookies (Exum, Hood and Ingles) started a combined 83 games. Their 2nd year players (Burke and Gobert) started 77 games despite injuries. As a team they had to overcome severe injuried to Alec Burks.

The Suns on the other hand for year refused to rebuild, telling fans that research told them rebuilding through the draft does not work. Unlike the Utah Jazz the Suns have not allowed young players to play heavy minutes and play through mistakes instead rotating them between NBA bench and DLeague for most of the season. It is not like Dante Exum played great for Utah and earned his minutes, they just trust him to learn from playing experience. A stark contrast to how the Suns are handling Archie Goodwin.

Dante Exum 4.7ppg 1.6rpg 2.4apg 34%FG 31%3s 21.5mpg

Archie Goodwin 5.3ppg 1.6rpg 1.1apg 39%FG 30%3s 11.5mpg

Fair to say that Goodwin is a better player right now and more ready to play than Exum but it shows the completely different approaches by the Jazz and the Suns.

Utah trusts their draft picks even when they struggle in summer league and in the NBA as Exum has they give them an opportunity to play and get better while the Suns for example make TJ Warren earn every single minute the hard way even when he looked like the upcomming rookie of the year after summer league.

In the 2014/2015 season the Suns there was one bright spot and it is not surprising it was Alex Len who is the result of the one season where the Suns were in contention for the #1 pick. It is unfortunate however that Len is fragile, injury prone and still looks like at best the 3rd best center taken in that draft with all other centers still on the board when he was picked.

1. Noel/Gobert 3. Len 4-5 Adams, Plumlee, 6. Dieng

For the Suns there is one choice to make before the 2015 NBA Draft.

a) Do you continue this path that lead them to mediocrity for 6 of the last 7. Making trades like the Brandon Knight or Brandan Wright trade while the players wear out their welcome with the fans.

b) Do you finally admit that rebuilding through the draft is the best and only chance they have to become relevant gain and make aggressive moves to get even younger and find franchise players in the draft to build around. Players that the fans embrace.