Early draft chatter around the pick-less Suns

For draft fanatics like me, it kind of sucks to be a fan of a team without a draft pick. That truth would’ve landed a lot more kindly, however, if the Phoenix Suns had a championship ring to show off; they don’t.

That’s why it’s particularly important for the team to be measured and careful with how they handle the next month or so leading up to the draft.

General manager James Jones was asked during the end-of-season availability if he’d pursue trading back into the draft, and he said “I explore all options, so if there’s an opportunity for us to get back into the draft, we will. We’re going to use all the avenues to improve, whether that’s the draft, free agency, [Las Vegas] Summer League, you name it.”

But as things stand now, they’re not involved in picks 1-60, so they’ll instead be mostly looking at undrafted free agent candidates.

The 6-foot-4, 200-pound senior from Iowa State, Izaiah Brockington, is the first prospect to be connected to the Suns in what could be a busy lead-up. From BasketballNews.com:

Having just worked out for the Atlanta Hawks, Brockington’s list of interested teams is growing. According to sources, the Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana Pacers, Sacramento Kings, Utah Jazz and Brooklyn Nets are lined up next — and he has five other teams who asked to schedule workouts at Tandem’s Pro Day on Friday.

Brockington, after transferring from Penn State, helped lead Iowa State to a significant turnaround from 2 wins in 2020-21 without him to 22 wins this past season.

In his lone season with the Cyclones, he averaged 16.9 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.3 steals on 45/36/78 shooting splits in his 34.6 minutes over 35 games (all starts).

He also led the nation in total points scored from long 2, specifically the leader in points from 18, 19, 20, and 21 feet respectively, per Synergy; the three-point line in NCAA is just over 22 feet.

In addition to that being just a good fit for the Suns with how much they love the mid-range, long 2 efficiency is also frequently used alongside FT% as a good indicator for a prospect’s 3P% outlook. His 3P% is already pretty good at the 36% mark.

His off-the-dribble marks are especially intriguing, shooting 77-177 on those attempts, good for 82nd percentile in NCAA.

The only other prospect linked with the Suns at this point is Oral Roberts junior point guard Max Abmas.

The 6-foot-1, 165-pound guard is certainly lacking in many physical departments, size and athleticism included, but he was one of the most productive college players over the past two seasons.

He averaged 23.6 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.3 steals on 45/41/87 shooting splits over his last 58 games, and he led Oral Roberts to a stunning Cinderella run in the 2021 NCAA Tournament, reaching the Sweet 16. During that run, he averaged 26.7 points, 4.7 assists, and 1.3 steals on 42/40/85 shooting splits.

Abmas is an elite shooter in all sorts of scenarios:

• 1.154 points per possession (PPP) on contested catch-and-shoot opportunities, 82nd percentile in NCAA
• 1.286 PPP on open catch-and-shoot opportunities, 73rd percentile
• 1.082 PPP off the dribble, 93rd percentile.

Be sure to tune in over the coming weeks for more draft coverage!