Phoenix Suns 2021-22 player previews: What does Chandler Hutchison have to offer?

It’s not often a guy on a two-way contract will get 13 minutes to speak at his team’s Media Day. But hearing Chandler Hutchison talk so knowledgeably about the Phoenix Suns, his new teammates’ skill-sets and where he might fit in, it was hard not to buy into what he was saying.

The odds may be stacked against him to provide meaningful minutes on a team that just went to the NBA Finals, but Hutchison seems pretty self-aware of what he brings to the table and where he might be able to contribute.

“I just feel like with some of the guys moving around from last year, with Torrey [Craig] and E’Twaun [Moore] and some of those dudes that played on the perimeter and on the wing, there was a fill for that kind of wing-athleticism-defender,” he said. “Run the floor, get out in transition, things like that to be able to play with these dudes that really kind of lacked a little bit of athleticism in the past. Some of these guys, you kind of saw that in the playoff run, obviously, making it to the Finals. But a big piece that these guys have talked to me about and wanted to improve on is that athleticism piece, and I feel like that’s gonna be there for me.”

Now entering his fourth year in the league with his fourth different team, Hutchison is hoping to find steady footing for the first time in his career. With averages of 5.7 points and 3.8 rebounds in 18.2 minutes per game over his first three seasons, the 25-year-old wing only has 97 NBA appearances to his name.

Despite being the 22nd overall pick in the highly vaunted 2018 NBA Draft class, Hutchison has had a hard time sticking in the pros. He spent the first two-and-a-half injury-riddled years with the Chicago Bulls before being traded to the Washington Wizards in March. He played 18 games in D.C., got traded to the San Antonio Spurs in August and was ultimately waived a month later before Phoenix came calling.

Even so, Hutchison thinks this latest change of scenery will yield different results. Now that he’s on a winning team and doesn’t have to go out of his way to try and do too much, he believes he’s in the right environment to contribute.

“Really, just whenever my number gets called,” he said. “I’m coming into this situation to do just that, to not really take a step back but to understand there’s a lot of returning guys that are valuable pieces to a really good team. But that’s exciting for me, because I feel like I haven’t been at this level in the league. I feel I’m a winning player and to be able to fit in on a team that wins, I feel like doing that with guys that understand winning and are willing to sacrifice things to win is exactly where I fit in.”

A LOOK AT CHANDLER HUTCHISON SO FAR

To this point, Chandler Hutchison hasn’t really shown much in the NBA. Last year, he averaged just 4.3 points and 3.1 rebounds in 13.9 minutes per game over 25 appearances split between two teams. And although he brought his 3-point shooting up to a respectable 36.4 percent, he’s still only shot 44.1 percent from the floor and 30.1 percent from long range for his career.

But the flashes are there, especially with how he’s able to slither his way to the rim off the dribble:

Or flat-out punish defenders who give him too much of a runway:

Hutchison only shot 26-for-66 at the rim last year, for a dismal 39.4 percent conversion rate. But there is potential. As a 6-foot-6 wing who can play either the 3 or the 4, that athleticism and positional versatility may give him an opportunity to fill the Torrey Craig or Abdel Nader role if Nader gets off to a rough start. He won’t be playing much small-ball 5 like Craig and he’s not as polished as Nader, but there is a small window to playing time if he can prove himself as capable.

“He’s athletic, that pops out right away,” Monty Williams said. “The way he moves is different than most guys that size. At the same time, he’s in a new program. It’s been a whirlwind for him, with as many teams as he’s been on and the injuries. We’re hopeful that this is a place where he can settle down and just kind of figure out what his game is going to be.”

Signing a more experienced, former first-round draft selection to a two-way contract just enforced what we already know about general manager James Jones’ team-building strategy. Jones is constantly on the hunt for mature, experienced players who can contribute in winning environments, and that approach even extends to two-way slots now as well.

For Chandler Hutchison, his first conversation with Jones had him sold on the idea of coming to Phoenix — not just because of the team’s success last year, but because of Jones’ players-first mentality. Hutchison called it “rare” and claimed that conversation was unlike any he’d had with someone at that level in the NBA.

“Everyone thinks that it starts with the front office and that’s where things kind of go from the top down, but early on, he mentioned to me how this is a players’ league. And not even that, but like, it’s a players’ organization too. He prioritizes guys to try to get them to fulfill their potential. And it’s not a trade-off for him. It’s not, ‘Okay, we help these guys so they help our team.’ Right away he mentioned how — he didn’t even talk about really much about Phoenix’s success. He just wanted to help me become the player he knows that I can be.”

CAN CHANDLER HUTCHISON FIND HIS NICHE?

Just a few years ago, Hutchison was sitting in the same green room as his new teammates Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges. His name wasn’t called until the 22nd pick — four spots before another new teammate, Landry Shamet, heard his name called — but through his friendship with his Bulls teammate Ryan Arcidiacono in Chicago, Hutchison got to know Bridges well. Arcidiacono and Bridges played together at Villanova, and as time went on, Hutchison found himself scouring box scores on a nightly basis to see what Bridges — someone he said he’s been “chasing” from his draft class– was doing.

Now he’ll be Bridges’ teammate, hoping to pick up on winning tendencies from his fellow 2018 draft selection after spending his first few seasons on losing teams.

“For me, I just feel like, being also young, being 25 and seeing how to do things maybe the wrong way on other teams and what’s not successful, and then just trying to be a sponge here being around guys that have won and Hall-of-Famers,” he said. “From the short time I’ve been here, everyone’s just — they seem extremely close and willing to sacrifice and just learn.”

Whether he gets that chance remains to be seen. He may wind up spending more time in the G League than he does in Phoenix, and the Suns no longer have their own G League affiliate to groom him up into their system.

Yet none of this seems to deter Chandler Hutchison, who knows this roster well and sees a recurring theme with each new step of his career.

“It always kinda seems like it takes a couple years for me to get acclimated to the level, to just continue to push through and keep my work ethic churning in the right direction,” he said. “Then an opportunity shows up, and I always take full advantage of it. At this level, maybe it’s taken me a little bit longer, but it’s because the level is so much higher than college. And for me, obviously I’ve had to overcome some things with a few injuries early on in my career. But my work ethic and my talent, it just feels like the momentum right now for me is turning in the right direction similarly to like college, and I know where that can take me.”