2018 NBA Mock Draft: Where did the prospects go?

This USC season has to be one of the more difficult ones to swallow for any fan base in the country, beginning with assistant coach Tony Bland’s arrest and Melton’s suspension and ending on the outside of the NCAA tournament looking in.

Hoping to build on a surprise run, including a victory over Providence, in last year’s tournament, coach Andy Enfield returned nearly every core player from the 2017 squad. Melton was supposed to join Chimezie Metu and Bennie Boatwright to create a spaced-out, versatile offense with Metu at the center and Melton running things on the outside. Of course, the FBI’s investigation into college basketball fraud derailed things for a lot of teams, but ultimately it meant the Trojans would not grow from last season.

Finally, Melton left the team in late February to focus on the draft, two weeks before the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee left USC out despite their No. 34 ranking on ESPN’s Basketball Power Index. Melton had no opportunity to play or show improvement.

Melton looks like Toronto’s Delon Wright or the Knicks’ Frank Ntilikina, long-armed and focused on defense. The Suns need a complementary defender/play-maker in the other guard spot opposite Devin Booker, making Melton a possible target for the tank race’s leader. The Suns also need defense badly, another area where Melton projects to be better than his young counterparts right away

It may be a reach, but the Suns know what they need, and have expressed desire all year to lessen Booker’s burden as a ball-handler and find someone to take away some of the pressure. In Melton, they find someone who fits with Booker on both ends as a creator and bigger defender.