How will Eric Bledsoe, Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns do in 2016-17?
Here are our player scouting reports and analysis.
Projected starters
Eric Bledsoe
Position: Guard
Experience: 6 years
Age: 26
Scouting report
+ Athletic combo guard who has battled knee injuries
+ Capable of running an offense and has become 3-point threat
+ Bulldog defender who is effective against both guard spots
Analysis
When Eric Bledsoe suffered a torn left meniscus that required season-ending knee surgery on Dec. 26, the Suns were 12-19 and still thinking about turning their season around. He returns to a very different team that has now committed to rebuilding around young talent. At 26, Bledsoe can be part of that effort, but his knees are a concern. Bledsoe missed 39 games in 2013-14, his first year in Phoenix, due to a meniscus injury to his right knee and previously underwent surgery on the right knee while with the LA Clippers.
While he has split point guard duties throughout his time with the Suns, Bledsoe was the team's primary ball handler last season, averaging a career-high 6.1 minutes of possession per game, according to SportVU tracking on NBA.com/Stats. Accounting for that, Bledsoe's 7.1 assists per 100 touches were a little below average for players with at least 50 touches per game (7.6). He has been better at driving to score, though last season his rate of attempts inside three feet (26.4 percent of shots, per Basketball-Reference.com) and accuracy inside three feet (58.5 percent) were both down, a concern as Bledsoe ages. On the plus side, he hit 37.2 percent of his 3-point tries. He is now at a credible 34.4 percent over his three years in Phoenix.
Bledsoe's tough defense has been key to making dual-point guard lineups workable, since he can comfortably slide over and defend shooting guards at just 6-foot-1. He's difficult to move in the post and uses a 6-foot-7½ wingspan to contest the shots of bigger opponents. Bledsoe is good on the ball too, though at some point the knee injuries might take a toll on his lateral quickness. His 2.9 steals per 100 plays were a new high during his time with the Suns.
Devin Booker
Position: Guard
Experience: 1 year
Age: 19
Scouting report
+ Precocious, sweet-shooting off guard
+ Learned to create own offense due to teammates' injuries
+ Weak defender who gets few steals or rebounds
Analysis
Through December, Booker was playing spot minutes off the bench, as you'd expect from a player who debuted at age 18 before celebrating his 19th birthday two days later. Then his role changed dramatically. Booker moved into the starting lineup after Bledsoe's injury and averaged 34.7 minutes and 17.9 points per game through the rest of the season, emerging as a go-to player due to injuries. The expanded role highlighted Booker's weak spots but might also have accelerated his development.
Early on, Booker was reluctant to shoot all but the most open 3s, and it showed. He averaged just 3.3 attempts per 36 minutes through Bledsoe's absence and made them at a sizzling (and unsustainable) 58.8 percent clip. Over the rest of the season, he shot 5.1 treys per game but made just 31.0 percent of them. Expect Booker to settle somewhere in between this season. While he can get up 3s off the dribble, he probably shouldn't, having shot 24.3 percent on those attempts, according to SportVU tracking on NBA.com/Stats, as compared to 39.8 percent of catch-and-shoot 3s.
By the end of the season, Booker was basically playing point guard, which would have been unthinkable, based on how little he handled the ball at Kentucky. In part because of the limited talent around him, Booker wasn't yet very good in that role -- his assist-to-turnover ratio was barely better than one as a point guard, per NBAwowy.com -- but it was part of Booker's evolution. He posted up a little when opponents put smaller defenders on him, came off screens and ran pick-and-rolls, offering the potential of becoming a well-rounded shooting specialist in the mold of Ray Allen or Klay Thompson.
Comparisons between Booker and Thompson do not extend to the defensive end. As at Kentucky, Booker almost never came up with steals (1.0 per 100 team plays) and was a nonfactor on the defensive glass. He needs to add strength -- particularly if he ends up playing small forward at times, in lineups alongside Bledsoe and Brandon Knight -- and become more conscious as both an on-ball and help defender.
P.J. Tucker
Position: Forward
Experience: 5 years
Age: 31
Scouting report
+ Physical wing defender who is a converted power forward
+ Has to be guarded but is a below-average 3-point shooter
+ Capable of defending multiple positions; good wing rebounder
Analysis
The lone fixture in the Phoenix lineup, Tucker played all 82 games and was the only Suns player to start more than 60 games (he started 80). As a result, there was never much doubt about guaranteeing the $5.3 million salary Tucker is due in the final season of his contract, though at age 31, he's likely to become a rental option for contenders before the trade deadline.
A nonshooter when he played power forward at Texas, Tucker has worked hard to become a credible 3-point shooter. He hit 68 triples at a 33.0 percent clip last season, not far off his career 34.9 percent mark and good enough that defenses can't completely sag off him. Thanks to his experience inside, Tucker has a nose for offensive rebounding and generates regular second chances. However, he otherwise struggles when asked to create his own offense; he had a surprisingly difficult time finishing last season. Per Basketball-Reference.com, Tucker shot just 53.3 percent inside three feet.
Defensively, Tucker is versatile enough to handle either wing spot and small power forwards. The Suns even used him to defend point guards at times, when they played Booker at the position. Tucker is a diligent individual defender, if perhaps not quite athletic enough to rise to stopper level or as engaged off the ball. He's also a good rebounder for a wing, which could allow him to play some 4 on a contender with a need at the position.
Jared Dudley
Position: Forward
Experience: 9 years
Age: 31
Scouting report
+ Combo forward regarded as a strong locker room presence
+ Efficient scorer and dangerous 3-point shooter as a stretch 4
+ Good positional defender who is challenged athletically on wing
Analysis
Cue Skylar Grey: Dudley is coming home to Phoenix, where he experienced his greatest individual heights in the NBA. The respected Dudley fills two important roles for the Suns as a veteran mentor for their young talents and a starting power forward to keep them from having to rush Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss into the lineup. Those attributes came at the reasonable price of $30 million over three years.
Despite offseason back surgery, Dudley debuted for the Washington Wizards in their second game and played all 81 the rest of the way, shooting 42.0 percent from 3-point range. It was the fourth time in Dudley's career he made at least 100 triples -- exceptional shooting from a stretch 4. He's also a good enough ball handler to be trusted putting the ball on the ground against closeouts and making a play off the dribble. Alas, Dudley and Tucker might finish last among NBA starting forward duos in dunks. They combined for six last season, per Basketball-Reference.com, none by the notoriously ground-bound Dudley. Yet he still shot a strong 67.5 percent inside three feet.
Losing Dudley's team defense hurt the Milwaukee Bucks, who slipped last season after trading him to Washington. Dudley's declining lateral mobility makes it tougher for him to defend wings on a regular basis, but he can effectively switch out and contain the ball and is in the right place as a help defender. So despite being a poor defensive rebounder for a power forward, Dudley will be a defensive upgrade.
Alex Len
Position: Center
Experience: 3 years
Age: 23
Scouting report
+ Skilled 7-foot-1 center who was dominant in stretches
+ Ineffective post scorer against players his own size
+ Good defensive rebounder who declined as a shot-blocker
Analysis
At first glance, the 11.3 points and 9.1 rebounds Len averaged as a starter last season at age 22 -- along with 19 double-doubles -- suggest solid progress toward filling the center position long term. However, looking closer yields concerns as Len heads into the final season of his rookie contract. He'll be a restricted free agent next summer, unless he and the Suns agree to a contract extension before Oct. 31.
The big concern is that Len shot 42.3 percent from the field for the second time in three seasons after improving to 50.7 percent in year two. While part of that can be traced to Len playing alongside veteran Tyson Chandler in giant lineups that cramped Phoenix's spacing, those only accounted for less than 30 percent of Len's minutes, and he shot 43.9 percent with Chandler on the bench, according to NBA.com/Stats. Phoenix loves to use Len in the post, but his 35.2 percent shooting on post-ups was better than only Roy Hibbert among players with at least 100 such attempts, per Synergy Sports tracking. Len did better against smaller power forwards when opponents put their center on Chandler, but those lineups tended to force him to space the floor from midrange, and Len shot just 32.6 percent on 2-point jumpers outside the paint.
Defensively, Len's block rate dropped by nearly half to below average for a center. Again, the big lineups are a convenient scapegoat, but Len blocked just 1.4 shots per 36 minutes as the lone center, down from 2.5 in 2014-15. Despite that fact, the Suns would probably be better off having Len drop against pick-and-rolls rather than show on guards on the perimeter, as he did under former coach Jeff Hornacek. At least he's a strong presence on the defensive glass in the paint.
Reserves
Brandon Knight
Position: Guard
Experience: 5 years
Age: 24
Scouting report
+ Score-first combo guard who might work better in reserve role
+ Inconsistent outside shooter who gets relatively few easy scores
+ Hasn't yet harnessed good defensive tools into production
Analysis
The Knight conundrum is perhaps the most vexing question facing Earl Watson as he enters his first full season as head coach. There's no doubt that Knight, the team's leading scorer with 19.7 points per game in 2015-16, is one of Phoenix's five best players. Yet starting three guards would be disastrous defensively, and Knight appears well-suited to leading the second unit, so Watson might have to sell him on accepting a demotion.
Bledsoe actually had a higher usage rate last season than Knight, so perhaps the latter's reputation as a gunner is a bit unfair. At the same time, Bledsoe was far more efficient as a scorer than Knight, whose true shooting percentage slipped to a below-average .522 from the .543 mark he posted in 2014-15. That owed primarily to Knight shooting 34.2 percent from 3-point range, down from 38.9 percent the year before. Expect Knight to bounce back, though more toward his career 36.0 percent mark. He also suffered from not creating enough easy baskets off the dribble. Just 19.9 percent of Knight's shots came within three feet, per Basketball-Reference.com, far and away a career low.
For all the concern about Knight's offense, his real issue in terms of ESPN's real plus-minus (RPM) is defense. Knight rated about average offensively for a point guard in RPM but in the bottom 15 defensively. A long-armed 6-foot-3, Knight has strong defensive potential but hasn't consistently put in the effort to succeed at that end. As a result, his long-term future might be as a reserve.
Tyson Chandler
Position: Center
Experience: 15 years
Age: 33
Scouting report
+ Aging center who was less active and athletic last season
+ Good finisher with almost no shooting range
+ Was a step slower as a help defender
Analysis
The Suns viewed Chandler as the veteran center they needed to take the next step, as well as a potential lure for fellow free agent LaMarcus Aldridge. When Aldridge signed with the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix fell into a rebuilding project, the team was stuck with three more years of Chandler at $13 million per season.
Chandler's 2015-16 campaign looked a lot like his 2013-14 in New York, which led the Knicks to trade him. In between, he found the fountain of youth with the Dallas Mavericks, and the Suns will have to figure out how to replicate that, starting with Chandler's finishing. He shot 68.5 percent inside three feet last season per Basketball-Reference.com, good but down from the 74.6 percent he shot in Dallas. In fairness to Chandler, that can partially be attributed to the Mavericks' ability to find him for lobs in the pick-and-roll. Dunks went from 43.2 percent of his shot attempts in 2014-15 to 37.3 percent last year. Given Chandler struggles anywhere away from the basket, that's a big deal.
Even when he won Defensive Player of the Year, Chandler didn't block many shots, so last year's decline in his block rate isn't a concern on its face. However, opponents shot 53.6 percent inside five feet against Chandler according to SportVU tracking on NBA.com/Stats, putting him in the bottom 10 among players who defended at least five such attempts per game. That's one place Chandler was even worse than 2013-14, and at 34 early in training camp, it's going to be tougher to bounce back this time around.
Leandro Barbosa
Position: Guard
Experience: 13 years
Age: 33
Scouting report
+ Positive presence in locker room and on-court energizer
+ Remains one of the league's fastest players after ACL tear
+ Has made progress as a defender, though limited physically
Analysis
Phoenix's other veteran signing in free agency was also a familiar face. Barbosa played his first seven seasons in Phoenix, as well as part of the 2013-14 campaign. Since then, he won a championship with the Golden State Warriors. Now Barbosa is back to bring his cheerful personality to the locker room and go-go style to the court.
Barbosa found new life with the Warriors, posting his best two true shooting percentages since his first stint with the Suns as a sixth man award winner. What's interesting is, that had relatively little to do with creating more easy baskets, even in an up-tempo attack. Instead, Barbosa has shot better, making 38.4 percent of his 3s in 2014-15 and an unsustainable 53.1 percent of his 2-point attempts beyond 16 feet last season (fourth best among players with at least 50 attempts, per Basketball-Reference.com).
The more sustainable improvement has come on defense, where Barbosa was one of the league's weaker regulars early in the decade. While it's still hard to justify using him as an end-of-quarter defensive replacement, like Steve Kerr did at Golden State, Barbosa has worked hard to become an adequate individual defender against bigger opponents.
T.J. Warren
Position: Forward
Experience: 2 years
Age: 23
Scouting report
+ Throwback small forward who scores primarily in midrange
+ Showed 3-point range in limited sample last season
+ Poor rebounder who made progress as individual defender
Analysis
A broken foot ended Warren's season in late January, which was a bummer, because he was in line to play big minutes in the second half of his second year in the NBA. Still, Warren made positive strides before the injury toward establishing himself as a capable second-unit scorer -- and maybe something more.
As a sophomore at NC State, Warren scored 24.9 points per game, while making less than one 3-pointer per game. That aptly sums up his game. Some 56 percent of Warren's shot attempts last season came between three feet and the 3-point line, yet he hit enough of them (44.4 percent, per Basketball-Reference.com) to be reasonably efficient. Warren has a variety of floaters and in-between shots to go with pull-up jumpers and even posts up smaller defenders. To his credit, Warren did shoot 40.0 percent from 3-point range last season, though the sample (70 shots) was too small to really call that a new baseline. On the downside, Warren's ability to draw fouls hasn't carried over from college. He attempted just 2.2 free throws per 36 minutes, a big reason his true shooting percentage (.549) was only average.
At this point, Warren isn't a good enough wing defender to step in for Tucker as the starter at small forward long term. Phoenix needs a stopper in that position because of Booker's weak defense, and while Warren made progress individually, he's unlikely to ever reach that level. He's also a notably poor defensive rebounder for a small forward.
Dragan Bender
Position: Forward
Experience: Rookie
Age: 18
Scouting report
+ Athletic, 7-foot-1 big man whose NBA position is uncertain
+ Good passer and ball handler with FIBA 3-point range
+ Long-armed defender who moves well for his size
Analysis
After considering a number of potential power forward options, the Suns took Bender with the No. 4 pick in this year's draft. The Croatian forward, who won't turn 19 until shortly into the regular season, will be the NBA's youngest player this season. He has major potential but showed during this year's NBA Summer League in Las Vegas that he's a long ways from realizing all of it.
First, Phoenix has to determine where Bender will play. A natural power forward, he played small forward at times in Las Vegas; he might start at that position because he's so skinny. Bender has the quickness to defend many wings on the perimeter, but truly elite athletes will surely give him problems. Playing Bender outside also takes him away from the paint, where he can help protect the rim. So expect him to eventually settle in at power forward -- or maybe even eventually center when he bulks up to defend the post and battle on the glass.
Playing Bender on the wing helped him float through summer league. Bender fired up 34 3-pointers in five games but made just 26.5 percent of them. He made 33.3 percent of his 3s last season from the shorter FIBA line while playing for Israeli power Maccabi Tel Aviv, but the adjustment to the NBA line can be difficult. In time, Bender's ballhandling and passing should be weapons on the perimeter, but he tended to force passes in Las Vegas and had 19 turnovers against just five assists.
Marquese Chriss
Position: Forward
Experience: Rookie
Age: 19
Scouting report
+ High-jumping big man who also has terrific mobility
+ Has range to NBA 3-point line but struggles with decision-making
+ Late comer to basketball who lacks necessary pattern recognition on D
Analysis
Within a year, Chriss managed to go from four-star recruit ranked 60th nationally by ESPN's Recruiting Nation to lottery pick. While Chriss' combination of size, athleticism and shooting range didn't necessarily translate to wins at Washington, it tantalized NBA teams. The Suns gave Chriss heavy consideration at No. 4 before trading up to the eighth pick to add both him and Bender to their frontcourt of the future.
Like Bender, Chriss will be a project. A football star in middle school, he didn't switch to basketball until he got to high school. Nonetheless, Chriss is skilled for his size (6-foot-9). He showed college 3-point range, making 21 triples at a 35 percent clip. Chriss also has the ability to beat slower defenders off the dribble, though his decision-making with the ball in his hands is poor, and he struggles to find teammates. For now, Chriss is best as a finisher. He has the ability to adjust to lobs in midair, which should make him an effective pick-and-roll player.
Chriss' inexperience is a bigger issue defensively. He struggled with foul trouble throughout his lone college season, averaging 6.5 fouls per 40 minutes and fouling out 15 times. That shouldn't be an issue in the NBA, since he'll play sparingly, but it reflects his willingness to make bad choices and his struggles to keep his temper in check. Chriss also lacks the ability to read plays ahead of time and get to the spot as a help defender. Washington's switching defense put him on the perimeter frequently, a big reason Chriss was a horrible defensive rebounder, grabbing just 11.6 percent of available misses. He rebounded much better in Las Vegas, averaging 9.0 per game.
Tyler Ulis
Position: Guard
Experience: Rookie
Age: 20
Scouting report
+ Pint-size point guard who is mature beyond his years
+ Pass-first player who figures to struggle with finishing
+ Quick defender who generates steals at high volume
Analysis
Though Ulis was the last of Phoenix's three draft picks, there's a good chance he will be the team's most valuable rookie. Concerns about hip wear and tear that might eventually require surgery helped push Ulis to the second round, along with the factor (size) that's always worked against him. However, the 5-foot-9 Ulis was the SEC Player of the Year as a sophomore at Kentucky and figures to become an NBA rotation player, possibly as soon as this season.
Even as a freshman playing behind more highly touted Aaron Harrison, Ulis was Kentucky's best point guard. He's a natural distributor who loves to drive and set up teammates. Ulis handed out 7.6 assists per 40 minutes last season and 6.3 per game at the NBA Summer League. Eventually, opponents will dare Ulis to score. He's a capable midrange jump-shooter and can make the NBA 3-pointer (he hit 31.3 percent in Las Vegas), but finishing over bigger defenders will be a challenge. Instead, Ulis relies on an advanced in-between game of pull-up jumpers and floaters.
Ulis will be at a size disadvantage on a nightly basis, which is nothing new for him. He compensates with quick hands and feet, allowing him to shadow opponents full court and generate steals at a high rate (2.8 per game during summer league). Ulis is also a tough defender who gives no quarter when posted up.
Archie Goodwin
Position: Guard
Experience: 3 years
Age: 22
Scouting report
+ Athletic combo guard who's failed to improve much in the NBA
+ Poor outside shooting hampers offensive efficiency
+ Defensive production hasn't matched physical tools
Analysis
The arrival of fellow Kentucky product Ulis is bad news for Goodwin, who might be further pushed down the depth chart entering the final season of his rookie contract. Despite some big scoring outings -- he topped 20 points eight times -- Goodwin did relatively little with his chance to play in the second half of 2015-16, leaving his NBA future in jeopardy.
The Suns have hoped Goodwin could grow into a point guard, and he seems to lack that mindset. To his credit, Goodwin did improve his assist rate to 3.8 per 36 minutes last season, but those came with 3.2 turnovers over the same span. He struggled with pressure from smaller defenders, and though Goodwin is excellent at getting to the basket -- more than half his career shot attempts have come within three feet -- he doesn't finish well there, making just 57.7 percent of those shots according to Basketball-Reference.com. Add in Goodwin's dreadful 3-point shooting (his 23.2 percent accuracy was third lowest among players with at least 50 attempts) and he was again wildly inefficient as a scorer.
Yet offense is the better part of Goodwin's game, according to RPM. His minus-4.1 defensive RPM ranked third worst in the NBA. An athletic 6-foot-5, Goodwin has the size to block the occasional shot and cause problems for smaller point guards -- his matchups with Ulis in practice should be interesting -- but he's undisciplined and tends to allow penetration, so Phoenix's defense collapsed with him on the court.
Alan Williams
Position: Center
Experience: 1 year
Age: 23
Scouting report
+ Burly, undersized center who moves reasonably well
+ Post scorer who struggles at times to finish in traffic
+ Terrific defensive rebounder who's not a shot-blocker
Analysis
NBA opponents should be careful messing with Williams, whose mother, Jeri, was named Phoenix's new chief of police in July. Of course, at 6-foot-8 and 260 pounds, Williams is perfectly capable of defending himself. After leading the Chinese CBA with 15.4 rebounds per game, Williams signed a deal with his hometown Suns that is now guaranteed for 2016-17.
A post scorer at UC Santa Barbara, Williams might have trouble scoring efficiently in the NBA. He is not a particularly explosive finisher, so he has generally shot a low percentage from the field in summer league action. Williams can help his cause by drawing fouls -- he shot 15 free throws in one summer game this year -- and will find teammates when he draws a double team.
The strength of Williams' game is moving opponents on the glass. He averaged 11.2 rebounds in Las Vegas this summer, although also registered 5.8 fouls per game. Despite that strength, Williams moves his feet pretty well for his size and can step out against the pick-and-roll. A quality shot-blocker in college, Williams has blocked few shots in summer action and might need to swat more to stick in the NBA.
John Jenkins
Position: Guard
Experience: 4 years
Age: 25
Scouting report
+ Good outside shooter who has rarely played due to poor defense
+ Has only shot well from 3-point range sporadically
+ Small, weak defender who has little hope one-on-one
Analysis
Last October, it looked like Jenkins' NBA moment might finally be coming. With Wesley Matthews and Chandler Parsons sidelined, he averaged 19.7 points for the Dallas Mavericks in preseason. Alas, they soon returned and Jenkins saw just 193 minutes in Dallas before being waived to make room for David Lee. The Suns picked up Jenkins and liked what they saw enough to mutually extend Jenkins' guarantee date, giving him a chance to make the team in training camp.
Part of Jenkins' issue is he doesn't shoot well in limited minutes, He went just 3-of-19 from 3-point range in Dallas. His 40.6 percent 3-point shooting in Phoenix with regular action was closer to his true ability. Jenkins has been consistently great from a step inside the line, making 47.4 percent of his 2-point attempts from beyond 16 feet, according to Basketball-Reference.com. He has enough ballhandling chops to serve as a secondary option.
The issue for Jenkins will always be defense. At 6-foot-4 and 215 pounds, he's at a size and strength disadvantage and tends to struggle when posted up by bigger defenders or isolated against quicker ones. Jenkins also struggles to get through screens, which is a problem defending off the ball.