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Well, we've finally reached that point. We have come to the Suns' last pick in the draft.
The Suns pick at #34 this year as a result of our stupendous record last season. Picks 20-40 produce a pretty good amount of talent in most years, particularly role players.
This year, this range is filled with underclassmen and draft and stash candidates.
Like in the previous stories, each staff member rank ordered their top preferences, using as their reference point DraftExpress players mocked 30th or later.
Kellan Olson
1) Dejounte Murray - G, Washington
2) Patrick McCaw - SG, UNLV
3) Rade Zagorac - SF, Mega Leks (Adriatic)
Sean Sullivan
1) Fred VanVleet - PG, Wichita State
2) Stephen Zimmerman - C, UNLV
3) Joel Bolomboy - PF, Weber State
Dave King
1) Thon Maker - C, Athlete Institute (Canada)
2) Malachi Richardson - G/F, Syracuse
3) Patrick McCaw
Geoff Allen
1) Paul Zipser - SF, Bayern Munchen
2) Gary Payton II - PG, Oregon State
3) Pascal Siakam - PF, New Mexico State
As you an note, there is a lot of variation in preference here. The only player to appear twice is McCaw, the guard out of UNLV. McCaw is an interesting prospect. Not many people expected him to leave UNLV after a good, but not great season. Rail thin with elite athleticism, McCaw is a raw prospect that will need time and coaching to develop, but could be a diamond in the rough.
Maybe somewhat counter-intuitively, only two draft-and-stash candidates appear - Zagorac and Zipser. Most of the staff seems to favor more well known NCAA prospects, even if there is a heavy emphasis on underclassmen (McCaw, Siakam, Richardson, Zimmerman and Murray are all early entrants).
Guards and wings feature heavily among the staff, probably reflecting to some extent the fact that most of the staff prefer a heavy emphasis on the power forward position earlier in the draft.
Let us know: who are your top 3 guys to consider for the 34th pick? What makes them stand out? What are your concerns or positive opinions about some of the guys listed here?