Flynn is worth the Suns’ No. 13 pick
Jun 2, 2011, 10:30 PM | Updated: 11:38 pm
With the news that Ricky Rubio will be trading in the sun and fun of Spain for the cold and well, less fun of Minneapolis and joining the Timberwolves this fall, Minnesota now has a logjam at the point guard position. Rumors emerged Thursday morning that more than a few teams are willing to help David Kahn and his staff solve that problem. Those teams include the Phoenix Suns who are interested in Jonny Flynn who is entering his third year in the league.
Would Flynn be a good option for the Suns as their point guard of the future? That all depends on the organization’s view of Aaron Brooks who they acquired from Houston at the deadline back in February.
“They don’t like Aaron Brooks that much,” Sports 620 KTAR’s John Gambadoro said Thursday on Gambo and Ash. “They clearly aren’t going to pay Aaron Brooks the kind of money he’s going to want. If you don’t bring back Brooks why not Jonny Flynn? He’s a third year player coming in to be an apprentice under Steve Nash. I’d like to see them make that move. I think it makes a lot of sense.”
Flynn had a great rookie season averaging 13.5 points and 4.4 assists a game. He took a step back in his sophomore season as he missed 28 games due to a nagging hip injury and struggled with the complexities of Kurt Rambis’ triangle offense.
That doesn’t deter Gambadoro from saying the Suns should pursue a deal for the guard regardless of the high price tag.
“[Flynn]’s better than almost everybody in this draft,” Gambo said. “You might make the argument that Kyrie Irving could end up being a better player but he’s better than everyone in this draft. He’s young, he’s athletic and he can defend a little bit. Would I give up the 13th pick to get Johnny Flynn? The answer is yes. I would definitely do that because I don’t think you’re going to get anybody at No. 13 that is half as good as Flynn.”
It would be difficult to argue that the Suns could find a player of Flynn’s talent level at No. 13. Players like Jimmer Fredette, Klay Thompson and others that the team has shown interest in drafting all have a great deal of question marks attached to them.
They say where there’s smoke there’s fire and based on Thursday’s rumors there may be something going on when it comes to the Suns and the Timberwolves. The question is, does it involve Flynn, Steve Nash, the second pick in the draft, or all of the above? We’ll likely find out before the end of the month.
