FanPost

Should we draft a 3 and D prospects with our second round pick?

After trading PJ Tucker, it is pretty obvious that we left a big hole in the defensive side of the field.

Watson has been trying to groom Derrick Jones Junior into a defender but we are still unsure how it will turn out.

Most of us, including myself, are focusing all our attention on the top few prospect, who will hopefully turn into a star player next to Devin Booker in future. Who will be picked with our second round pick received little consideration at this point of time.

However, I am starting to get tired of the endless debates on whether Fultz, Jackson or Ball is the best fit for Suns, so I am trying to devote some attention to possible second round candidates instead.

Some mentioned picking a Center with our #32/33 pick in case Alex Len walks, while I do agree that is a need that we should investigate, but there doesn't seem to be much good options available at center position in this draft. Jonathan Jeanne's length looks freakingly awesome but it really shocked me that he weighs only 195lbs at 7'2". And we are complaining that Dragan Bender is lacking strength to play center because he is "only" 225lbs at 7'1". Beside that, I guess fans here will still love Big Sauce and want to give him more chances to play at the backup center position.

Thus I think we should also consider taking a no-nonsense 3 and D prospect with our second round pick, and I will like to hear recommendations from fellow BSOTS contributors as I am still not too familiar with the prospects projected to be drafted in the second round. I don't think it is realistic to target a future all-star in this range, so I think we should look at some one who may not have a high ceiling, but with the character, toughness, and shooting ability for the role. I know some of you will say that drafting Josh Jackson will fix everything, but regardless of who we pick at the top I still feel that choosing a 3 and D guy here will help to balance up our current roster, which has too little defensive man on board. Both Brandon Knight and Barbosa are not great at those aspect. Besides, outside of Devin Booker, even though we have players that can shoot threes but not many can consistently hit it at a good percentage.

Currently I am looking at Sindarius Thornwell and Wesley Iwundu, both seems to receive some good comments on their defensive capabilities and toughness. Thornwell looks like a tough, bulldog warrior type of player which reminds me a bit of PJ Tucker's look with more offensive game. I am sure he can't match Tucker's intensity defensively at this stage but it does look like he has that mentality. He can shoot threes at 39% this season, which is impressive. Iwundu is a lot slimmer but more mobile in comparison, he was once voted to the Big 12 All Defensive team and is labelled as a versatile defender. His three point shooting percentage is pretty decent, 37.6% this season.

Will like to hear what you think and whether there are better options out there.