If you remember before the draft, the Suns preferred Ja Morant over Zion Williamson. In usual fashion, the rest of the NBA ridiculed the Suns. Now, it doesn’t seem as crazy, and when I really think about it, the Suns were making the right decision.
If you read my article from a couple of days ago on what is stopping the Suns from being good, you would have read that they desperately need more guards or just one backup guard for them. Outside of Ricky Rubio and Devin Booker, they practically have no guards for the bench. Now with Zion Williamson being a Forward, it just wouldn’t be a good fit for the Suns. They already have Oubre Jr, Kaminsky, Baynes, Saric, and Ayton if he plays the 4. That’s a solid core of players that can play forward. Drafting Zion Williamson wasn’t a good fit for that team.
I was among those that made fun of the Suns, but in reality, they were right on this one (shocker). Not only is Ja Morant a better fit than Zion Williamson, at least Ja Morant is playing! I’m still not sure what is wrong with Zion Williamson. There are reports of his injured knees, there’s speculation that the Pelicans are having him lose some weight and everything in between. I’m not sure what it is. But the Suns would be way better with Morant than Zion Williamson. With Zion Williamson out, Ja Morant has had no competition for the Rookie of the Year conversation. It’s his award to lose. He’s currently averaging 17.8 PPG on 48.5% shooting, 6.6 APG, and 3.2 RPG. Not only are his stats great for a rookie, but the Grizzlies are also only 1 game out of 8th place in the Western Conference.
The Suns are totally off the hook though. Despite doing the right pick in Ja Morant over Zion Williamson IF they had the chance, they still completely whiffed in this draft. However, given their draft history, this isn’t necessarily new for the Suns. They drafted Cameron Johnson. In 20 minutes, he only averages 8 PPG, 3 RPG, and 1 APG. May I remind you that he was the 11th pick in the draft (after the Suns traded down). Not exactly eye-popping for a lottery pick. All in all, I’ll give Suns props for picking the right rookie out of the top 2 for their organization. But that’s about it.
