EMPIRE OF THE SUNS

Cal’s Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb are both possibilities for the Suns in June

Mar 8, 2016, 9:30 AM

California's Ivan Rabb, left, and Jaylen Brown run in the first half of an NCAA college basketball ...

California's Ivan Rabb, left, and Jaylen Brown run in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Rice Friday, Nov. 13, 2015, in Berkeley, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

(AP Photo/Ben Margot)

If there’s one college basketball team for Phoenix Suns fans to watch in March, it’s California.

With their most predominant basketball assets tied to the guard positions and center, the Suns will be looking to add some forwards this summer.

That makes California a fascinating team to watch for the Suns, as small forward Jaylen Brown and power forward Ivan Rabb are both projected to go in spots where the Suns could be picking in June’s NBA Draft.

Brown is currently slotted to be anywhere from 3-to-6 (the Suns’ own pick) and Rabb is around the 10-to-20 range (the Wizards pick from the Markieff Morris trade).

Let’s first look at Brown.

The first thing that jumps out about Brown is his athleticism. At 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds, Brown is one of the fastest and strongest players in this draft class. He also might be the highest leaper, something that features heavily into his game.

Brown’s main function on the floor is as an attacker. He has a ridiculously quick first step, which has accelerated his learning process of where help defense comes from.

With that, Brown is growing accustomed to knowing when he can finish, draw fouls and more.

His combination of power and speed is remarkable. Not many guys want to step in front of him when he reaches top speed.

A very encouraging sign for Brown is his jump shot. While he’s only shooting 31 percent from three in college, he’s taking over three attempts a game from there and has shooting form that can easily be corrected by NBA coaches.

Brown’s defense and athleticism directly translate to an All-Star level potential as a defender and rebounder.

On defense, Brown shows a good understanding of how to maximize the most out of his movement laterally, something that escapes many players with his type of speed and agility. His strength is crucial, as he can body players up when he beats them to their spots and force them back. This will kill a ton of possessions at the next level.

The concern for Brown is that as an attacker and slasher, he needs to take that accelerated learning and grow more from it.

He makes bad decisions too often and doesn’t even have the raw version of being a complete scorer like Duke’s Brandon Ingram — a likely top-2 pick — does. The limited amount of ways he can score with the ball will hinder him if he doesn’t add more to his arsenal.

There’s also the earlier mentioned shot form, which does need to be corrected. These are little tweaks that every team should be able to provide and it shouldn’t be a major issue, but it warrants mentioning.

The good news for Brown is that he has a very high chance of not being a flop.

His defense and athleticism will be ready for NBA minutes right away and if he takes the right steps growing his shooting and scoring, he could be an All-Star caliber player. Even if he’s not, Brown should still be a quality NBA player and that’s not a guarantee for some of the players he’s projected to be selected around.

For the Suns, Brown would give Phoenix a true two-way option on the wing alongside Devin Booker. T.J. Warren can really score the ball and has improved as a shooter, but his passing and defense remain serious question marks that are not worth skipping on a guy like Brown.

Rabb is a much more directly-defined prospect.

With a combination of great length, athleticism, finishing and touch around the basket, Rabb is a serious threat around the basket.

His build translates well defensively, where he could be a great all-around defender.

Rabb has the necessary floor awareness and passing ability to make the right play.

The main problem for Rabb — as that clip showed — is that he is very far behind in the strength and weight department and that’s going to get much worse against NBA power forwards. He only weighs 215 pounds at 6-foot-10.

Offensively, Rabb is still too raw given his main strengths. His touch is extremely effective when he gets close enough to the rim, but the consistency in him getting to his spots for a decent look is not there.

That and the strength concerns make Rabb a very raw prospect, while also considering there are limitations to his game. That’s unlike other prospects at his position, such as Washington’s Marquese Chriss and Kansas’ Cheick Diallo, who have potential for nearly every aspect of the position.

Rabb’s not that and if he can’t add the required weight and strength to solidify his post game and defensive versatility, he’s going to be in trouble.

In terms of a fit in Phoenix, Rabb gives the Suns a long-term answer at the power forward position. If the Suns wanted to re-sign one of or both Jon Leuer and Mirza Teletovic, Rabb wouldn’t be ready for playing time anyway and could continue to grow physically and improve in practice.

California starts Pac-12 tournament play at 9:45 p.m. on Thursday. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi currently has the Bears projected as a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

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