While there is excitement surrounding the Suns’ additions from this summer, and justifiably so, it is going to take time for their players to develop. It would be a good idea for Phoenix to embrace that. However, there is some positional overlap on the perimeter, and it may require one of their prospects like Josh Jackson to develop into being a small ball power forward.

The Suns basically won’t be able to play Jackson and Mikal Bridges at the same time unless they either are willing to use Devin Booker at point guard or if either Jackson or Bridges were to be used as a small ball power forward. At least one of those things will need to happen for Booker, Jackson, and Bridges to share the floor.

While their best option for the small ball power forward role probably is Jackson, he still has a significant amount of improvement to make as a player. They theoretically have other power forward options with Dragan Bender and Marquise Chriss, but I do not believe that they have the potential to be what a team needs on both ends of the floor.

The Suns are not going to be pressed to receive excellent results from a small ball power forward outside of Ariza unless if he were to get injured. However, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a small ball four option in addition to Ariza, but since they have him, it doesn’t force Phoenix to play someone like Jackson exclusively at the four, only in stretches.

The most intriguing units that the Suns could use during the upcoming season have a chance of not becoming net positive, especially in a tough Western Conference. Ultimately, that is not much of a concern since team building is a process and they are still in the early stages. The future is what matters and giving players experience at positions that they may eventually need to play would help Phoenix.

Regardless of what the results could end up being, I do believe that this group is the best chance for Phoenix to give valuable playing time to their top young players together if Booker playing the point guard spot isn’t what they are seeking. It’s worth experimenting with different combinations because unexpected results could come from players with strong potential.