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Phoenix might be perfect fit for Oriakhi

First, Oriakhi, the 57th pick by the Phoenix Suns in Thursday’s draft. The Suns are undergoing a major rebuilding effort in the desert. A new coach in Jeff Hornacek. A new general manager in Ryan McDonough. They drafted Maryland 7-footer Alex Len to be the new centerpiece to their frontcourt. The Suns even have new logos.

In Oriakhi, they have a 6-9 rebounder who adds some muscle in the paint and a soft shooting touch. McDonough, who came to the Suns from the Celtics front office, was familiar with Oriakhi, a native of Lowell, Mass., who played three seasons at Connecticut.

“I've watched Alex over the course of his career, he's a Boston guy," McDonough told reporters Thursday. "So, I've seen him play since high school. Watched him a lot at UConn, you know when I was with the Celtics that was a local team for us. I was at a bunch of their games. And once saw him play this last year at Missouri.

"Alex was a key part of the UConn team that won the national championship (in 2011). He's got good size and strength. He's a good rebounder. He plays hard, and he's a good kid."

Here are the players the Suns have under contract for 2013-14

Name, position, age, (HT, WT)

Marcin Gortat, C, 29 (6-11, 240)

Hamed Haddadi, C, 28 (7-2, 265)

Channing Frye, PF, 30 (6-11, 245)

Marcus Morris, PF, 23 (6-9, 235)

Markieff Morris, PF, 23 (6-10, 245)

Luis Scola, PF, 33 (6-9, 245)

Michael Beasley, SF, 24 (6-10, 235)

P.J. Tucker, SG, 28 (6-6, 224)

Jared Dudley, SG, 27 (6-7, 225)

Malcolm Lee, SG, 23 (6-5, 200)

Goran Dragic, PG, 27 (6-3, 190)

Kendall Marshall, PG, 21 (6-4, 195)

Shannon Brown, PG, 27 (6-4, 210)

The Suns also acquired the rights to Kentucky 6-5 guard Archie Goodwin in Thursday’s draft, in addition to Len, the 20-year-old lottery pick from the Ukraine.

Former All-Star center Jermaine O’Neal, 34, played with the Suns last season but is an unrestricted free agent, as is 6-7 small forward Wesley Johnson, a first-round pick by Minnesota out of Syracuse in 2010.

By some measures, Phoenix might be the perfect team for Oriakhi. Why? The Suns arguably had the league’s worst power forwards last season.

Looking further at the Suns’ frontcourt at the website 82games.com, power forward was the team's worst position last year for net production, mostly for defensive reasons. The Suns’ power forwards posted a 14.1 Player Efficiency Rating for the season. (Don't be scared by the PER stat, a creation of former ESPN analytics guru John Hollinger.) But their opposing power forwards posted a 19.1 PER, giving the Suns’ PFs a net PER of minus-5. Across the entire NBA, only the Charlotte Bobcats’ power forwards had a worse net PER.

Here are the Suns’ power forward rankings for some other stats among the 30 NBA teams, as measured by 82games.com:

Field goal percentage: 29

Offensive rebounds: 25

Turnover-assist ratio: 25

Points allowed: 29

Defensive field-goal percentage: 30

Offensive rebounds allowed: 26

Translation: The Suns need some major upgrades at power forward.

Among the Suns’ under-contract frontcourt players, Scola started the most games last year (67), followed by Gortat (61). Markieff Morris (32 starts) and Marcus Morris (23) were also regulars in the rotation and occasional starters.

Scola was the Suns’ leading scorer in the frontcourt, averaging 12.8 points per game, while Gortat (11.1) and Beasley (10.1) both averaged double figures. Gortat was the top rebounder, averaging 8.5 per game. Using the Player Efficiency Rating, Scola (16.8) had the best score among the under-contract big men, followed by Gortat (15.5), Markieff Morris (12.7) and Marcus Morris (11.3).

The Suns expect to get Frye back healthy next season — he missed the entire season after being diagnosed with a virus caused by an enlarged heart — but he’s more of a 3-point shooting big man, not a low-post banger.

Here’s where Oriakhi can find his niche with the Suns: They’ve been among the bottom half of the league’s rebounding teams by most measures. The Suns were minus-143 in rebound differential last season, which ranked 23rd in the league. They’ve been ranked 23rd or lower in that category each of the last three years.

It’s impossible to know what the Suns will do in free agency or in the trade market, but assuming they don’t resign O’Neal, Oriakhi will be competing for playing time with Len, Scola, Gortat, Frye, the Morris twins, Beasley and possibly Haddadi, a 7-2 Iranian who came off the bench 17 times for the Suns last season.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/college/ ... a447f.html

bwgood77 wrote:
I think we should just start Frye if he is healthy and let him audition for other teams....have him shoot 3s, rack up stats and give him major minutes and then trade him....then we can move on to the Morris twins and do the same with the Morris twins.

sunsfan88 wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:
I think we should just start Frye if he is healthy and let him audition for other teams....have him shoot 3s, rack up stats and give him major minutes and then trade him....then we can move on to the Morris twins and do the same with the Morris twins.

I think we need to give our rookies as many mins as possible so they can develop, make mistakes and then learn to correct them.

If we give them the Earl Clark treatment of sitting on the bench for most of the time and sending them around the D-League and such, they won't develop just like Clark didn't.

bwgood77 wrote:

sunsfan88 wrote:

bwgood77 wrote:
I think we should just start Frye if he is healthy and let him audition for other teams....have him shoot 3s, rack up stats and give him major minutes and then trade him....then we can move on to the Morris twins and do the same with the Morris twins.

I think we need to give our rookies as many mins as possible so they can develop, make mistakes and then learn to correct them.

If we give them the Earl Clark treatment of sitting on the bench for most of the time and sending them around the D-League and such, they won't develop just like Clark didn't.

I agree. But we don't have any rookie power forwards unless you want to start Oriakhi, but I doubt he is a long term solution as a starter, and if Frye is healthy, he won't have any trade value unless other teams are able to see that he still can play.

LV-Suns wrote:He has the potential to be the next Dwayne Collins or even Gani Lawal.