NBA Free Agency: Brandon Knight, Suns to agree to a five year, $70 million contract

The Phoenix Suns point guard was traded at midseason from the Milwaukee Bucks, where he was enjoying a borderline All-Star season.

Inspired by the small-ball display of the NBA Finals, the Phoenix Suns appear to be enacting their plan of turning their team into an army of elves. After experiencing the wonder of the three guard system with the sprite-like Eric Bledsoe, Goran Dragic and Isiah Thomas, the team appears to have decided to bring back Brandon Knight, who is short, pointy-eared and loves to create.

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From Gery Woelfel at the Racine Journal Times:

"I’ve been told by an NBA official that Knight, who’ll become a restricted free agent on July 1, will sign a five-year, $70 million contract with the Suns."

In 11 games with the Phoenix Suns, Brandon Knight shot an abysmal 36%, scoring 13 points per game and shutting down any offensive flow for the Suns. Otherwise, he was off the court with an ankle injury.

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The trade that brought Knight over to Phoenix was a large piece of the massive roster turnover the Suns spearheaded in Boston, particularly in the backcourt. Only Eric Bledsoe stayed; Goran Dragic was traded to the Miami Heat for Danny Granger and role players, Isiah Thomas – who was wonderful coming off of the bench for the Boston Celtics but played 1-on-5 in Phoenix – went to Boston in exchange for a 2016 first rounder and contract monster Marcus Thornton, and Brandon Knight was acquired from Milwaukee for a shiny, ripe Plumlee (Miles, that is) and Tyler Ennis.

These trades seemed perfect for the Suns. Thomas was obviously not happy in Phoenix, Dragic was going to be a cap issue at a crowded position and Knight was an under-appreciated borderline All-Star in Milwaukee, elevating a team that was scraping the cellar of the NBA to lower-end playoff contention. Knight would be easier to resign than Dragic, and easier to handle for the team chemist than Thomas.

Ideally, these moves would have left the Suns in a position to push for the last playoff spot in the West while having cap flexibility for future years. Even after finishing the 2014-15 season 39-43 and outside of the playoffs in the West, the Suns still accomplished one of those goals.

What exactly does this signing mean for the Suns?

The Suns got themselves a fantastic deal on Knight. Knight’s performance in Milwaukee is more indicative of who he is as a player; he is not a dynamic scorer with flashy athleticism but a player with a high basketball IQ who will produce offense just based on his presence. It’s doubtful that he will be so inefficient in years two through six (if it gets that far).The Suns were able to buy low on Knight, and combined with Eric Bledsoe’s identical contract signed one year ago, Phoenix will have a legitimate – if somewhat undersized – backcourt long term for a very reasonable price, especially considering the salary cap increase in 2017.

With that being said, what exactly is the plan supposed to be in Phoenix? The Knight signing looks good in a vacuum when just looking at value, but having the team based primarily on the production of Knight, Bledsoe and a committee of role players allows the Suns to simply tread water for the next few seasons.Both Knight’s and Bledsoe’s skill sets make them ideal candidates to play second or third fiddle to a primary scorer, but without that scorer, and without a high end rim protector or a few more space creating three-point shooters, the Suns will be forever stuck in the NBA middle class. Maybe the Suns are looking to trade Bledsoe, but the returns on a Bledsoe trade would not likely be as effective to improving the team as simply keeping him onboard.

This move doesn’t make the Phoenix Suns any better. It simply doesn’t make them worse than average. And I guess it keeps them a bit elvish.

[H/T: Racine Journal Times]

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