The Phoenix Suns player shaping as a must in next season’s rotation

The Phoenix Suns have a reasonably balanced roster heading into the 2022-23 season, aside from perhaps one too many bigs and a lack of point-guard depth.

Still, it’s a roster that’s expected to contend again next season as they seek to right the wrongs from the 2022 playoffs. One player that should be given an opportunity to aid that is Ish Wainright, the strongly-built forward who recently re-signed with the franchise on another two-way contract.

27-year-old Ish Wainright presents as an unlikely rotation option should Monty Williams utilise him effectively.

Let’s look at the Suns current 14-man roster, plus Wainright and fellow two-way player Duane Washington Jr. It’s widely acknowledged that Phoenix have a clear top six – Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, Jae Crowder, Deandre Ayton and Cameron Johnson.

For the sake of this topic, let’s assume that the coaching staff want to consistently run with a 10-man rotation on a game-by-game basis. By the current roster, Cameron Payne is the obvious backup point-guard, Landry Shamet or Damion Lee will be the backup two, Johnson or Crowder (depending on who starts) is one backup forward, while Bismack Biyombo, Dario Saric and Jock Landale can share the load as backup centers.

That leaves another forward spot up for grabs. Now, Williams could always shorten the rotation to nine and have the minutes filled by Johnson, Crowder and Bridges, or go small by playing Payne, Shamet and either Booker or Paul. However, that does extend a heavier workload which they may want to reduce given the flameout in the playoffs that followed a dominant 2021-22 regular season.

So, let’s look at other options, even if it’s just for ten minutes per game. It’s entirely possible Shamet and Lee both play, however that would open up some defensive holes if one is asked to slide down to the small-forward position. Realistically, that leaves three options – Torrey Craig, Josh Okogie or Wainright.

Craig and Okogie have had much more prominent careers, with Wainright having appeared in just 52 NBA games to this point. However, I’d argue he’s the one most ready, and the one best equipped to take this role.

This should be a fairly basic function – defend hard on one end, then stand in a corner and shoot the occasional open three or cut to the rim when required. Craig and Okogie may be slightly better defensive players, but Wainright’s 6’5″ strong frame means…