Part 10 of offseason guides features two teams with promising futures. The Utah Jazz, who currently hold the biggest wildcard of the entire offseason and the Phoenix Suns, who need to make postseason success happen after a bunch of trades and money spent.
The Utah Jazz right now holds the entire offseason in the balance of their hands. Lauri Markkanen is a 7’ 0” super skilled Finnish center that has the entire offseason at a stop. He’s eligible for a contract extension on August 6th. Many teams are waiting to see the number he signs for and how that will affect their salary cap if they trade for him. For now, let’s focus on how the Jazz got into this position.
Utah, under the guidance of Quin Snyder, had a dynamic offense and really good defense anchored by then center Rudy Gobert. They were the number seed heading into the 2021 playoffs. They were coming off a disappointing bubble playoffs that saw them blow a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets. That also announced the arrival of the Jamal Murray - Nikola Jokic tandem to the NBA. Utah had a lot to look forward to though. Donovan Mitchell in that bubble series had put together quite an unbelievable scoring output. He had 2 50+ point games and another 40+ point game in that series. This also included a 57 point game in the opening game, second most all-time in a playoff game. They continued this momentum in 2021, blazing through the regular season and earning the number 1 seed in the Western Conference. However, tensions grew higher throughout the season between the team. Reports were that Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell were not the best of friends and it seemed like the tension boiled over and onto the court. Mitchell seemed to ignore Gobert on offense and didn’t trust him with the ball in his hands to score. The Jazz were able to defeat the Grizzlies very easily, 4 games to 1. However, that was the last time the Jazz had anything easy. They went up 2-0 on the Clippers, winning the first two home games. However, that was the last pair of games they won that postseason as the Clippers won the next 4 games and sent the Jazz home. This was highlighted by Terrence Mann putting up 39 points in game 6 against Rudy Gobert. The Clippers exposed Gobert’s perimeter defense and didn’t feel like he was a threat on offense either. This ultimately led to Danny Ainge blowing up the roster. He traded Donovan Mitchell to Cleveland and Rudy Gobert to the Timberwolves. However, what happened in the two years after that was unexpected. The Jazz were able to compete for a spot in the Play-in tournament. It was like the blowup to rebuild was almost too good. They received some quality players along with lots of draft assets from both Cleveland and Minnesota. Lauri Markenan was involved in one of these trades along with Colin Sexton. The roster around these two has changed a little bit since the trade occurred, but the Jazz were still solid enough to contend to get into the playoffs.
This brings us to the current Jazz. They need to pick a direction. They’ve picked in the low teens each of the last two years in the draft. There's good talent available in these spots, but they currently do not have enough talent to justify picking in these spots. The roster around Markenan isn’t good enough to justify picking in these spots going forward. The big question for the front office is how do they handle Markenan. If they feel he’s someone they can build around, they can trade assets from Cleveland, Minnesota, and Los Angeles, but overall I think this would be unwise. The decision I think they should make is to trade Markenan and try winning the race in the bottom of the standings for these next two drafts. Keyonte George was a very good pick at 15th overall last season and Walker Kessler, who they received in the Rudy Gobert trade, had a very good rookie season two years ago. He struggled to improve last season from his rookie year. However, I’m confident he can regain a little bit of what he did well in his rookie campaign.
Some teams to keep an eye on for a Markkanen trade would be the Spurs and the Warriors, both have been interested in landing the center, but until he’s renegotiation eligible on August 6th I don’t think we will see much action take place until then. He is the best available trade target and free agent on the market right now and until the Jazz make a decision on the future of the franchise the rest of the league will continue to wait on a decision.
As for the roster aside from Markkanen, they have good talent. The expectation is that Markkanen will be traded this offseason and the Jazz will then turn their focus to trying to improve the young roster. Keyonte George had an exciting rookie season for the Jazz. He moved into the point guard position, something he did not experience at all in college. It took him a little while to figure out how to balance between passing and scoring, but I think he’ll be a good starter for them in the future. Taylor Hendricks is another prospect they need to develop. He had an up and down rookie season as he spent time in the G league, but the biggest critique of him is his jump shot. He’s an explosive athlete and can be versatile on offense, but he needs to show he can make some shots from the outside. 37.3% is encouraging from the rookie. His biggest question coming out of college was his shooting, he’ll need to continue to show the Jazz that he can develop and help the Jazz fill out their young core. Overall, the Jazz are in a good spot as a franchise. They recently had a good draft selecting Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier, and Kyle Flipowski. They have lots of draft picks and cap space heading into next season and will look to get a top draft pick in the 2025 NBA draft.
The Phoenix Suns have probably had the most activity of anyone over the last two seasons with roster turnover. Their owner, Matt Ishbia, told the media that 26 other franchises would want to be in the current position the franchise is in and I couldn't agree less. The Suns made the decision to go all in for a title in 2023 when they traded for Kevin Durant at the trade deadline. They sent out Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson along with future draft assets to the Nets. This was coming off of a finals appearance in 2021 and an embarrassing second round exit to the Mavericks in 2022. After trading for Durant, he couldn’t stay healthy enough to find chemistry with Chris Paul and Devin Booker, a risk many around the league knew when trading for Durant. Overall, they flamed out in 6 games to the eventual champions, the Denver Nuggets, but it was very disappointing to see the assets sent out, for a mediocre finish to the finish. Coming into the past season, the Suns traded Chris Paul for Bradley Beal and went completely all-in for a title. Again, injuries didn’t allow us to see a full version of the Suns until it was too late. Beal dealt with a slew of injuries and Booker was in and out of the lineup. Durant was healthy this season and played 75 games. All of this led to an embarrassing sweep to the Timberwolves in the first round and left them with absolutely zero financial flexibility in the future. Booker, Durant, and Beal all have 150 million dollars committed to them over the next two seasons and $212 million committed to the entire roster. Phoenix also owes a 116 million dollar tax penalty as well. Phoenix’s current roster is shaping up to be the most expensive team in NBA history as they are nearing the 350 million dollar benchmark. So why does Matt Ishbia think 26 teams would trade places with them?
For starters they have Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, two of the league’s best scorers. They have Bradley Beal, who is a matchup nightmare at the guard position, and they have a top 10 shooter in the NBA in Grayson Allen. After reading all that you’re probably wondering why wouldn’t teams trade places with them. Well, for starters, 350 million dollars gets you good top end talent, but their bench SUCKS. This season the Suns had one of the worst bench scoring in the league. Eric Gordon helped when he could, but injuries to Beal saw him starting more than coming off the bench. Outside of Gordon the Suns didn’t have anybody to help. They traded for Royce O'Neal at the deadline in February which helped their perimeter defense, but overall they relied heavily on Beal, Booker, and Durant. In today’s NBA, it is really difficult to win with just top end talent. Any past champions have had teams that were extremely deep and had really good bench production to help out. However, this is not how the current Phoenix Suns are set up. So how can Phoenix improve for this upcoming season?
For starters, health for Beal has to happen or it doesn’t matter. The Suns have both Booker and Durant, who are proven bucket getters in the NBA. Durant has 2 finals MVPs to prove his scoring caliber and Booker in the 2023 playoffs averaged 35 ppg on 60 fg%, 50 3pt% shooting splits. Defenses must place their two best defenders on Durant and Booker leaving Beal with typically the third best defender. Bradley Beal with the third best defender on him is a recipe for disaster for the opposition. He has led the NBA in scoring twice before and he’s another player who’s extremely difficult to match up with. However, this past season, the meshing between the three wasn’t always great when they were on the floor. The Suns did not have a point guard meaning Devin Booker assumed the role when he was on the floor. He’s a very capable point guard, but that’s not what he does best. Along with Durant and Beal on the floor the Suns didn’t use the threat of the big 3 very well. The 4th quarter offense saw Kevin Durant standing in the corner while Booker and Beal operated in pick and rolls. This was the best way to get the most out of them on the floor together. This will be the challenge for new head coach Mike Budenholzer. For starters I’d like to see more pick and rolls involving Booker, Durant, and Beal. I understand that the best defenders will be on them, but having those three moving and working together on the offense is what you’d like to see. Durant popping while Booker drives or vice versa is difficult for a defense to handle, especially with their elite scoring abilities. The Suns season mostly depends on the health of these three players and if the health holds up it’s possible the Suns can compete next season. However, it’ll be extremely difficult for them to improve the roster in the season because of the apron restrictions they’ll have. Matt Ishbia has made it clear to everyone that the apron and its restriction do not scare him and that he’s essentially willing to buy a championship.
The Suns offseason has been productive so far. In the 2024 NBA draft they selected Ryan Dunn, a versatile defender from Virginia. He’ll help improve the perimeter defense and will be tasked with handling the best offensive players in the NBA from day one. They signed Monte Morris, who brings a veteran presence on offense and is a good point guard. He will help set up the offense for Durant, Booker, and Beal. It’ll be important that the Suns get the most of any signing they make as they are lacking depth. Along with Dunn, they drafted Iso Igohodaro from Marquette. They were able to draft him because of a draft night trade that was able to land them the 2nd round pick along with other future 2nd round picks as well. It will be important for the Suns to capitalize on these selections as they'll be cheaper options as opposed to signing low level role players on minimum contracts. They will also own rights to the players they draft for longer periods of time as opposed to the 1 year rentals they had to use last season. It also is necessary to mention they lost a draft pick due to tampering for DREW EUBANKS, of all people, in free agency last season. Overall, the Sun's future depends solely on how well next season goes. If they’re somehow able to put it together and win a championship next season then everything they have done is worth it. But, if they don’t win it all, it gets significantly more challenging as Durant and Beal both add another year on to their aging bodies.
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