Once the NBA draft was over, the Suns’ offseason shopping list went something like this: size, defense, veteran leadership.
Then Phoenix signed Tyson Chandler.
Check. Check. Check.
“He really checked pretty much every box we were looking for,” said Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough.
Indeed, Chandler’s list of credentials are unlike any that has manned the center position for Phoenix before. All-Star. Defensive Player of the Year. NBA champion. Olympic gold medalist.
Yet it’s what the 7-1 center will do that has the Suns looking forward to next season and beyond.
“He knows how to play the game,” said Suns Head Coach Jeff Hornacek. “He knows how to protect his teammates, how to talk to his teammates…Tyson will be the director back there.”
Phoenix, one of the youngest teams in the NBA, needed that kind of leadership, especially on defense. The Suns ranked in the bottom five in points allowed per game and opponent points in the paint per contest.
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Some of that is youth. Phoenix’s main points of defensive resistance are guard Eric Bledsoe (25) and big man Alex Len (22). They will get better. The hope is Chandler’s presence will accelerate the team’s overall improvement.
“The first thing I think of when I think of Tyson Chandler is a winner and winning,” McDonough said. “His teams in New York won a lot. His teams in Dallas won a lot, including a championship. The World Championship [with USA Basketball] in Istanbul when I was there five years ago won the gold. He’s always won everywhere he’s gone.”
Chandler believes similar success can happen in the desert. At age 32, he has plenty of good basketball left, but he also wanted to join a team with a long-term plan and talent to match that plan. He recalled his former team, Dallas, losing to Phoenix in three of their four meetings last season. He mentioned trying to “contain” Bledsoe and Brandon Knight in the past.
All they seemed to lack, it seemed, was what he could provide.
“I’m looking forward to playing with a lot of young talent,” Chandler said. “I felt like it was a place that could come and mentor and really help to take this team to the next step.”
He wasted no time in getting started. Rouglhly 45 minute after his introductory press conference, Chandler was at the Suns practice court, taking time to briefly speak with several Suns regulars. From 18-year-old Devin Booker to veteran P.J. Tucker to the player development coaches, Chandler made sure everyone he met received one-on-one attention before he had to catch an afternoon flight.
More of those little big things are sure to follow.
“The thing about winning: it’s a full-time job,” Chandler said. “It’s not just on game days. The preparation has to start every day in practice. We have to be locked in. We have to be serious. Pay attention to details.”
For Phoenix, signing Chandler addresses a big one.