It’s not an understatement to say that the Phoenix Suns face one of the most critical summers in their franchise history. The numerous, difficult decisions that lie ahead may shape not only the way next season turns out, but the next several. And they will largely be made by second-year general manager Lance Blanks.
The organization as a whole seems to be revamping many of its internal operations — from increasing personnel relating to scouting and player development, to looking at its front-office evaluation process. The upcoming NBA Draft will be its first, if not most important test — the latter will come in free agency, of course, where Steve Nash, Grant Hill, and four others on the team’s roster are all unrestricted.
The Draft comes before the free agency period begins, however, so that’s what Blanks wanted to focus on during an informal lunch session with media members on Monday. Blanks was personable and open about the team’s needs during the Q and A portion of the afternoon that lasted a little more than 30 minutes, and began by acknowledging that the Suns need to get younger and better defensively, particularly at the wing positions.
“You look at our roster, we feel that this year, our perimeter is an area that we’d like to add a little youth,” Blanks said. “Whether it be the one (point guard), two (shooting guard) or the three (small forward). We want to inject some youth in that, and when you look at our roster and compare it to the draft, we feel like we’ll be able to do that in a big and impactful way.”
Two of those spots currently feature aging veterans Nash and Hill, and while both are capable of playing at an extremely high level when healthy, they would certainly benefit from having a reduced workload on a nightly basis.
If the talent level available at the wing positions isn’t where the team feels it needs to be by the time the Suns’ 13th pick in the first round comes, Blanks isn’t afraid to look at other options.
“It’s a little bit of both, and somewhat of a sliding scale,” Blanks said, when asked if he philosophically prefers to draft for need, or simply grab the best available player regardless of position. “If you’re at a point in the draft, and it’s not necessarily the player or the position you’re looking for, but the player is so good that it doesn’t matter, then you’d have to go that way. All things being equal, you go with what the need is for the team. You owe that to the fans, the organization, ownership, to your coach to fill that need. It is difficult to find players or have an opportunity to get players that can impact your roster, regardless of how you do it. So whenever there’s an opportunity to fill a need, you want to take advantage of it.”
The plan for the immediate future is for Blanks to attend the upcoming pre-draft camp in Chicago to see and talk to players, before hosting private workouts in Phoenix in the days leading up to the Draft. He expects the team to keep the pick at this point, but acknowledged that given the way last season ended, he’ll have to be open to all opportunities.
“I can tell you that it’s likely we’ll have our pick and keep it,” Blanks said. “Unless there is something unforeseen that I can’t see. With that being said … we didn’t make the playoffs. So we’re not in a position to say there’s nothing that we wouldn’t do. The goal, again, is getting back to being successful, and playing well into the spring. And in order to do that we’ve got to be willing to make change, which we are.”
The needs are many for this Suns team, and wholesale change to the roster before next season seems inevitable. And though free agency talk was set aside for the time being, it’s impossible for the team to assess where it goes from here without taking it into consideration.
