Sports Illustrated gives Suns signing of Tyson Chandler a B- grade
Jul 18, 2015, 3:34 PM | Updated: 3:37 pm
NBA free agency has died down with just a handful of players left to be signed.
The Phoenix Suns had one of the more eventful free agency periods among NBA teams, signing Tyson Chandler, Ronnie Price, Sonny Weems and Mirza Teletovic, while resigning Brandon Knight.
Oh, and don’t forget about the near home run deal of getting LaMarcus Aldridge, who choose the San Antonio Spurs over the Suns.
Now that the fun is over, it’s time for the reviews to come trickling in.
On Friday, Sports Illustrated came out with a letter grade for every player that signed a deal during free agency, and gave the Chandler deal a B- grade.
Both parties found a smart fit in their opportunism. Phoenix had previously run a patchwork center rotation based on short-term competence and long-term prospecting. Chandler gives the Suns their best option at that position in years—an outstanding pick-and-roll target and master of defensive positioning. His addition brings backbone and basketball intelligence to a team that could use a bit of both, not to mention a clear upgrade in terms of basic defense, rebounding, and finishing ability.
The 32-year-old center received a four year, $52 million deal from the Suns.
Chandler has earned a NBA Defensive Player of the Year award and three NBA All-Defensive team selections.
He also owns a career field goal percentage of 59.1 percent, possessing the second-highest field goal percentage in NBA history among those with at least 2,000 makes, trailing only Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore.
Despite the strong pedigree Chandler brings, the B- grade the Suns received is actually kind of low compared to other grades.
For example, Sports Illustrated gave the Memphis Grizzlies an A+ for their signing of former Suns Brandan Wright, who received a three year, $18 million deal.
Gerald Green going to the Miami Heat for the veteran’s minimum also earned an A grade from the website.
The Suns highest grade they received was a B+ for bringing back Brandon Knight.
