Ryan McDonough, Phoenix Suns must choose wisely

Which statement is true?

1. The Suns are in the playoff race.
2. The Suns are the third-worst team in the NBA.

It’s both!

If the Suns sweep Denver in their home-and-home series that starts Thursday night in Colorado, Phoenix could be only 2.5 games out of the No. 8 seed. As it relates to the Suns’ future, they can’t lose. That doesn’t mean they can’t lose to the Nuggets. It means any scenario over the next few weeks means a win for Phoenix.

As GM Ryan McDonough decides what to do going forward with potential trades of Tyson Chandler, P.J. Tucker, Jared Dudley and Brandon Knight, the results of this season shouldn’t affect any of those decisions. McDonough can make any trade through a basketball prism only, without worrying about so many other factors that normally complicate trades. The salary cap isn’t a problem. With the way Chandler his playing, his contract isn’t a problem. Since Jared Dudley is such a high character guy, a veteran rotting on the bench isn’t the drama problem it normally is. All the “clear cap space” reasons to trade don’t exist. Phoenix could even absorb a bad contract guy for future picks or current good players and cut the bad contract guy without hurting their own cap.

Making the playoffs would be a great thing for this team. Sure, they’d play Golden State in the first round and be out in four or five games. Lessons would be learned. Devin Booker would experience playoff intensity at age 20. Chandler would show off his championship leadership to guide the short trip to elimination. Eric Bledsoe’s growth in future playoffs as the main point guard of the team would start this year versus future years.

If the team makes a strong push to the playoffs and falls short, the Suns still have a huge carrot for 2018 but they get the gift of a lottery pick in a stacked draft. Any pick will fit right in to this team because he’ll be about the same age as Booker and Dragan Bender. It is highly likely every NBA lottery pick will be under 20 years old. Almost every mock draft reads with some combination of the word “freshman” or “international” and the potential “internationals” will be 18 or 19 years old at the time of the draft.

The Suns are young enough so they don’t have to “get younger.” Phoenix could trade the picks in a package with one of their veterans to get someone special they like from another team. It’s completely conceivable to keep the pick, even if it’s in the 10 or 11 range, and still come away with an excellent player to be brought up in Earl Watson’s system of love and nurturing.

The last scenario is the Suns stink it up for the remainder of the season. Although it would stink as a fan, the ping-pong balls would sing. Right now, the Suns would be guaranteed a top-6 pick but more than likely would be in the top 4. Since this is a point guard-heavy draft, they could take a PG as their developmental guard off the bench and have leverage when Bledsoe is a free agent or trade down for future picks and draft for a different position.

The main goal of this season has already been accomplished: Booker and Bledsoe have clearly established themselves as the starting backcourt for the present and future Phoenix Suns. From this point forward, Ryan McDonough is in an unbelievably positive position to move the Suns forward. The Bledsoe trade and Booker draft choice may turn out to be his crowning achievements, but the decisions he makes over the next three months will actually define his tenure as the Suns’ general manager.

McDonough has put himself in a position of outstanding options. Choose the wrong path, and the Suns will end up going back to a rebuild. Choose wisely, and we may be talking about the Spring of 2017 as the turning point for the Suns returning to true contender status.

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