Empire of the Suns NBA Draft positional preview: Power forward
May 5, 2017, 5:00 PM | Updated: May 6, 2017, 3:28 pm
With Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough saying during exit interviews the team will take the best player available in the 2017 NBA Draft, it’s time to run through Phoenix’s roster and the possible options with its picks currently at Nos. 2 (projected), 32 and 54.
After running through the centers, next up is power forward, a crowded position on the roster.
(Note: To make this easier, players that qualify for multiple positions are listed at their best guess and fit with the Suns. Considering Phoenix’s draft positions, there’s also a chunk of the first-round prospects not worth including.)
Power forward
Team outlook: There’s a complicated path to arrive at the Suns selecting a center, but it would add even more twists and turns if they take a power forward.
Dragan Bender said he’s the most comfortable playing the four and he played a good chunk of his minutes at small forward because Marquese Chriss and Jared Dudley have spots in the rotation.
Dudley has two more seasons on his contract, and after the way Chriss improved over his rookie year, the last thing he needs is fewer minutes.
The “best player available” philosophy would really be tested here at any of Phoenix’s three picks.
Draft outlook: Outside of point guard, the 5-10 range in the draft is the most friendly to teams that need power forwards.
Florida State’s Jonathan Isaac is a potential top-five pick that shares many of the same traits as Bender.
He can protect the rim, switch onto smaller players, hit open shots and make the right pass as a near 7-footer with long arms. That makes him project as more of a “superstar role player” than outright “superstar,” but that shouldn’t damage his draft stock.
Isaac benefitted a great deal in his freshman year, getting a little more confidence offensively by showing glimpses of a post game and being a surprisingly crafty finisher at the rim. He was also efficient, shooting 50.8 percent from the field and 34.8 percent from deep.
Also like Bender, Isaac won’t blow anyone away with his stat line on a nightly basis. Last year as a third option on the Seminoles, he took eight shots a game, averaging 12 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 blocks.
His box scores don’t read like a top-five pick, but he’s as talented as one.
While Isaac is not quite the defensive prospect Bender is with his combination of freakish size and mobility, he is a better rebounder and moves more naturally than Bender, making minutes at small forward less of an issue for him than Bender.
The argument for Issac’s draft stock has more to do with how high his floor is opposed to his ceiling, another box to check from Bender’s scouting report. How he develops his blend of skills will determine if he’s just an above average role player or one of the best hybrid forwards in the league.
The idea of a Bender, Chriss and Isaac frontcourt rotation is tantalizing offensively and defensively, with Bender and Chriss taking more of the flex minutes at center and Isaac playing small forward. The question is if the Suns have room for him, and if they see him as more of a small forward than a power forward, they just might have a role for him. He’s the wildcard pick to watch for Phoenix if it lands outside the top-3 on lottery night.
Beyond Isaac, the Suns are in desperate need of shooters, and Arizona’s Lauri Markkanen is the best one in this draft.
Markkanen, posting 15.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Wildcats, is statistically the best 7-foot freshman shooter of all time.
Since 2000, freshmen NBA prospects who have had a true shooting percentage — a statistic used to better reflect free throws and the value of the three-point shot — of 60 percent while averaging at least 15 points and three three-point attempts per game are Stephen Curry, Kevin Martin, Eric Gordon, Jerryd Bayless, Kyrie Irving, James Harden, Melo Trimble, Ben McLemore and Markkanen. Markkanen is the only player in the group that’s not a guard.
When the Fin got comfortable enough in college, he began to take his looks from deep with defenders on him, simply shooting over them with his high release. With more confidence came more of his offensive skillset being unleashed, such as shooting off the dribble or even taking it all the way to the lane and making difficult finishes.
Sean Miller’s system didn’t allow Markkanen the freedom, space or pick-and-roll opportunities to show he’s more than just a shooter offensively, but in the NBA he would be allowed to do that.
His limitations as a defender are well-documented, amounting to a laughable 19 total blocks as a 7-footer and lacking any real burst of mobility to keep up on the perimeter.
Still, he’s a top-10 pick because of his shooting, especially for a team like Phoenix. With that, there wouldn’t be any room for him to play unless the Suns got very creative.
In my opinion, if the Suns were to look for a power forward in this draft, it would have to be someone with the positional versatility as either more of a small forward wing or an interior player at center. In the beginning of the second round, a couple of options fit that billing.
Cal’s Ivan Rabb made the wrong decision to stay in school after being seen as a lock for the mid-to-late first round last year, but that doesn’t mean he should slip to the second round. Most mocks have him scattered in the 20-35 range. If he would slip, though, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he’s not the best player available at the Suns’ 32nd pick.
Rabb is a post threat offensively with a 7-foot-2 wingspan, great touch around the basket, floor sense and rebounding ability.
While his shooting accuracy dropped 13-percent from his freshman to sophomore season, his averages jumped to 14 points and 10.5 rebounds per game in a more advanced role for the Golden Bears.
Rabb is the perfect example of a player where, if you were to go into the “edit a player” feature on a video game and turn up a couple of his attributes, he’d be a surefire lottery pick. He’s not big enough to play center and not a good enough shot-blocker to make up for the lack of athleticism defending on the perimeter, but he should be playing center with no range on his offense.
His strength and weight jeopardize the consistency at which he can get in those key touch areas where he dominates as a post player. Those “tweener” concerns should have him fighting to stay in the top-25, but he’s without a doubt a talented, smart basketball player that any team, including Phoenix, should also be happy to take a flyer on.
Another early second-round option to watch is Baylor’s Johnathan Motley, who has the motor and nearly 7-foot-4 wingspan to play either big spot. Continuing to improve as he got older, Motley proved he could be the No. 1 option for a good Baylor team after shadowing Atlanta Hawks first-round pick Taurean Prince the last two seasons. He led the team in scoring (17.3) and rebounding (9.9) all while shooting above 50 percent.
Motley has developed a skilled offensive game beyond making the highlight energy plays. He has a reliable midrange jumper, an incredibly quick first step and great range all over the floor on defense to be an adequate team defender.
What Motley is good at makes him sound like a lottery pick, but over the years he has yet to completely develop his floor sense and isn’t the dominating rebounder the numbers from his junior year suggest. That, a lack of potential at 22 years old and recent MCL surgery will most likely keep him out of the first round, but it will make him an intriguing option as an energy big with scoring upside.
Lastly, Barcelona Lassa’s Aleksandar Vezenkov in Spain is a combo forward who would work best a stretch four.
Averaging 7.5 points per game and shooting 47.9 percent from three-point range in the Euroleague this year, the lefty can really shoot and features one of the quickest releases in this year’s class. It’s very easy to envision him burying catch-and-shoot threes all over the floor for a penetration-heavy point guard like Eric Bledsoe or, if the Suns get lucky in the lottery, a playmaking shot creator like Markelle Fultz.
While Vezenkov finds other ways to score, an extra year or two in Europe would best suit him, and that quest for additional skill will comfortably keep him in the second round. He’s the draft-and-stash option to watch for this position, especially with how much the Suns need shooting.
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