The Phoenix Suns are in the midst of a season that seems more likely to end up in the lottery and not the playoffs for the seventh consecutive year. Right in the middle of that run of futility, Phoenix overachieved by a wide margin and just missed the playoffs, but the rest has been pretty ugly. For a franchise that once made the playoffs every season for over a decade and rarely missed since the ‘70s, where did it all go wrong?

Let’s go back to that scrappy team that won 48 games and just missed the Western Conference playoffs in 2014. That group was led by the dual point guard duo of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe. Jeff Hornacek built a fun offensive system that pushed pace and revolved around the drive and kick games of his two point guards. Instead of trying to balance the two talented ball handlers, Hornacek simply put them together and let them go. Around the guards were a collection of role players who fit their responsibilities very well. Channing Frye made a living by spotting up at the three-point line. Gerald Green was an inside/outside weapon and the Morris twins were productive off the bench. Even Miles Plumlee burst on the scene simply by playing defense, rebounding and diving to the rim off penetration by the guards.

Immediately following that season, things went downhill. Frye cashed in and left in free agency. Instead of replacing him, Phoenix handed his role to Markieff Morris, who responded with a good season but in a completely different style. Green and Plumlee regressed, the team didn’t score as well (falling from 8th in offense to 16th) and the entire team struggled. The single biggest move was doubling (maybe tripling?) down on point guards, as the Suns used their cap space to add Isaiah Thomas to the mix. If two ball handlers were good, wouldn’t three be even better? It turns out that three isn’t company when it comes to lead guards and Thomas didn’t even finish the year with Phoenix before being traded away to Boston.

The Suns then went a step further and said “Let’s really blow things up!” and traded Dragic away to Miami. The same day they made another trade that netted them Brandon Knight, while Plumlee was sent off to Milwaukee. All of a sudden, in less than one year, that fun team was disassembled and the Suns were back to rebuilding.

Sometimes when a rebuilding process takes an unexpected leap forward, teams push their chips to the middle of the table and try to fast forward things even further. Phoenix did this and, in the span of a year, everything they built had come crashing down. Lesson learned, right? Not so fast.

The Suns hit the summer of 2015 armed with cap space and big dreams. LaMarcus Aldridge and Tyson Chandler big. Phoenix jettisoned Marcus Morris off to Detroit to clear space to make a run at Aldridge. In the process, the Suns angered his brother Markieff so much that the damage was irreparable. The Morri had taken less money to stay in Phoenix and signed creative contracts to give the Suns some cap advantages in the coming years. Now, not only were they being split up, but Phoenix was openly chasing a player who would replace Markieff in the lineup.

Ultimately, it was all for naught, as Aldridge chose San Antonio. Phoenix still signed Tyson Chandler, but his veteran presence wasn’t anywhere near enough to salvage the disharmony. Bledsoe and Knight both missed a large chunk of the season with injuries. And Markieff Morris sulked through the entire year until he was traded to Washington. That deal thankfully put an end to what had become a toxic situation for all parties involved.

Despite the setbacks, Devin Booker looked like a steal after an impressive rookie season. T.J. Warren had improved quite a bit before getting injured and the Suns were looking at extra draft picks from the prior trades and a bunch of cap space. Had they learned their lesson from previous season about duplicating at positions and chasing veterans in free agency? Not so much.

After picking Dragan Bender with the fourth overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, Phoenix worked a trade with Sacramento to move up to the eighth pick. With a new young power forward already drafted earlier in the night the Suns drafted…another young power forward? Then in free agency, after chasing veterans the previous years that weren’t perfect fits, the Suns went out and spent a combined $14 million on Jared Dudley and Leandro Barbosa. Dudley and Barbosa’s best positions? You guessed it, power forward and combo guard. Once again the Suns were duplicating positions and investing resources questionably.

Where does this leave Phoenix today? They have a confusing mix of very young players (Booker, Bender, Chriss), older veterans (Chandler, Dudley, P.J. Tucker, Barbosa) and the guys in the middle have all missed considerable time with injuries (Bledsoe, Knight, Len, Warren). Asset-wise, the Suns still have a lot of cap space and they’re likely looking at another high pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Before then, there is still work to be done. The building blocks in Phoenix are Booker, Bender and Chriss, and to a somewhat lesser degree, Warren. At some point this season, it would be great to see the Suns roll out a lineup that includes all four of them with either Bledsoe or Knight. Booker and Chriss are already starting while Warren was a starter before getting injured. Bender has looked his best when playing as a stretch 5. Getting all four on the court together would be the first sign that Phoenix is building around their young talent.

How do they commit that many minutes to all the youngsters with veterans like Chandler, Dudley and Tucker around? The first order of business should be to find a trade that is amenable to Chandler. There is no reason for him to play out his remaining years on a rebuilding team. If Phoenix is reasonable in what they would take in return, they should be able move Chandler to a playoff team. Teams are always looking for centers who are content to rebound and block shots and Chandler’s contract is no longer quite as onerous as it once was as recently as the offseason. A package of expiring contracts and a low level first round pick and/or young player needing a change of scenery should be enough.

Tucker should be the next to go. As a 3-and-D wing, Tucker is another player that many teams would have interest in. His small contract (only $5.3 million) makes matching salary fairly easy. Again, a package of expiring contracts and/or younger players should be enough. It isn’t necessarily about gaining assets for the Suns, but freeing up playing time for the young guys.

The rest of the veterans can stay. Dudley wants to be in Phoenix. Barbosa is on a de facto expiring contract. And the two point guards, Bledsoe and Knight, should both stay unless someone overpays in trade for either player. Both are adaptable enough to play off the bench and fill a need where the Suns actually don’t have great young options.

This would leave Phoenix with a roster that looks like the below:

C: Alex Len/Dragan Bender

PF: Marquese Chriss/Alan Williams

SF: T.J. Warren/Jared Dudley

SG: Devin Booker/Leandro Barbosa

PG: Eric Bledsoe/Brandon Knight

Now you have a group that looks like a team that knows it is rebuilding and has another high pick coming and all sorts of cap space this summer. In addition, they’d be a more exciting team to watch while the young players develop. Add in a young point guard (this Draft is loaded with PG prospects) and you have the start of something special.

Most important of all, don’t push those chips back in this summer. There is no need to chase free agents and make “all-in” moves. We’ve all seen that story before. Let things develop organically and see what grows in the Valley of the Sun.