Oh, Jalen Green. What are we going to do with you?

There are only two years left on your contract, but I feel like we barely know you. You surprised us with that injury. That was pretty sneaky. To be real, I can’t quite figure you out. Some plays, I’m shouting, “MVP.” Some plays, I’m shouting, “Why did you shoot that?” Sometimes I’m shouting, “Man, if only…”

If only Jalen could finish at the rim, he’d be an All-Star. If only Jalen could improve his playmaking, we’d have an open three instead of a turnover. If only, if only, if only. But it was only two seasons ago that Jalen Green was the leading scorer on one of the best young teams in the NBA. He led the Rockets in points, field goal attempts, and three-point attempts. On the Suns, he ranked third in all three categories, and that makes me wonder. Were the Rockets a better fit for Jalen Green?

The pre-KD Rockets were young and athletic, stacked with long, rangy defenders that were developing their offensive games, and they relied on Jalen to do what Jalen Green does best. Get up shots. Create off the dribble. Attack the paint. Jalen Green led the Rockets in FGAs every single season he played for them.

That’s not what the Suns want from Jalen, at least not on that volume. The Suns have too many shooters for Jalen to stop the ball and go to work. The Suns want ball movement and open threes. The Suns want Devin Booker to go to work, and Jalen Green to be able to work off of him. For many of the Suns players, that was a recipe for success. Dillon Brooks took advantage of the spacing by posting a career high in points. Yet Jalen had a bumpier road. Derailed by an injury at the start of the season, Jalen returned to the Suns tentatively, clearly struggling with the mental aspects of returning from the first significant injury in his career, which underscores an important aspect of Jalen Green that needs to be considered. Jalen Green is still a young player.

There’s room for growth in Jalen Green’s game. The offseason has just started, and Jalen Green is already putting in the work. As is evident from the videos going around on social media, Green is developing that midrange game. And there’s room for improvement there. Last season, he struggled to shoot in traffic, posting his lowest FG% on shots between 3 and 10 feet, and in the workout videos I’ve seen, that’s where he’s shooting it from.

But I can’t help but notice as he puts up shots from the elbow, that’s the same space Booker likes to shoot it. So while improving those shots will make Jalen Green a better scorer. It may not make him a better fit for the Suns.

That doesn’t mean that Jalen Green doesn’t fit in with his teammates. He’s positive and energetic even through his injury. The same was true for the Rockets. Jalen Green is a great guy. It’s not a chemistry issue. 

It’s not a buy-in issue either. Jalen Green gives the effort and energy Matt Ishbia has demanded from the Phoenix Suns going forward. Defensively, he’s not locking anyone down, but in the play-in game against the Warriors, he showed just how disruptive he could be, posting three blocks and two steals. He shot it 20 times that game, going 8-of-14 from three and scoring 36 points. His best all-around game of the year. He led the Suns in FGAs that game.

Jalen came to the Suns, tacked onto the deal to make the salaries match. It’s like if you had a pot that you loved to cook with, but the lid broke. So now you gotta buy a whole new pot to replace the lid, but you like your old part. This new one’s just taking up space. What you really need is a pan.

This isn’t a knock on Jalen Green or a call to trade him. I don’t think there’s any question that the injury affected Jalen. On dunks this past season, he recorded a 64.6% field goal percentage. The year before in Houston he dunked it home 82.9% of the time. There’s plenty of reason to think he can put up the type of numbers he did in Houston with a healthy year.

But Houston traded him because he had plateaued. Can he add to the non-scoring related elements of his game, specifically his playmaking? Can Booker and the Suns coaching staff make adjustments to help unlock his scoring and improve his efficiency? As I mentioned earlier, he’s a young player with room for growth. But growth is not the same thing as change. Jalen Green will become a better Jalen Green. What the Suns need him to be is a different Jalen Green. And that might not be in the cards.

I do know the Suns have to decide if they want to re-sign him. Maybe they’ll have a better idea of whether Jalen Green fits what they want to do by the trade deadline. Some early-season success might improve his trade value. There are teams out there that need a primary scorer. The Suns already have one. They picked up Jalen because they had to get a lid for their pot, but if they really want to start cooking again, they don’t need a second pot; they need a new pan.

So Suns fans, do you think Jalen Green will be a part of the Suns’ long-term solution? Let me know in the comments.