Eric Bledsoe gathered his new super-young teammates for workouts

Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe, a 26-year old about to enter the prime of his career, needs to make this right.

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Bledsoe has undergone three meniscus repair surgeries in his short NBA career, and he was unable to play a single game in the “2016” part of the 2015-2016 season due to an operation on his left knee. In recent years his Suns have dealt away veteran helpers like Goran Dragic and All-Star Isaiah Thomas for younger assets, and last February teammate Markieff Morris was sent to Washington for that team’s eventual lottery pick.

In return, the Suns took in a series of draft picks ranging from years 2016 to 2021. And, because this is how the NBA draft apparently works now, the team’s first round cash-in resulted in a series of teenagers hearing their names called by the Suns: Dragan Bender, and Marquese Chriss. Combined age? Don’t ask.

Bledsoe, anxious to accelerate the learning process, is apparently wasting no time in pushing his new teammates into NBA shape. Reportedly, some three full months before players have to report to training camp, the Suns hybrid guard is pulling the kids in for a series of workouts. Via NBA Reddit:

One of the tweets listed above is from Devin Booker, an NBA “veteran” that will not turn 20 for four months. He was recently reunited with his former Kentucky teammate Tyler Ulis, a 2016 second round draftee, whom Suns general manager Ryan McDonough recently reminded us in his podcast interview with The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, is the fourth-youngest Sun on the team’s roster right now:

Alex Len just turned 23. Brandon Knight feels like a graybeard at 24 – he’s been around since Dwight Howard played in Orlando some several decades ago. Lottery selections Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss are both just 18.

This is why you can probably read into Eric Bledsoe’s motivation – as a man coming off three knee surgeries and also knowing what life was like before YouTube – in bringing the kids together for a run-through. You usually don’t see these sorts of things in July or August even, much less June, but Bledsoe’s immediacy is as pragmatic as it is understandable.

The Suns were NBA darlings in 2013-14 when the team nearly made the Western playoffs during what was expected to be a rebuilding year under rookie head coach Jeff Hornacek. Two seasons of woe and frustration followed, Hornacek is no longer with the team and Bledsoe will enter 2016-17 with just two teammates (P.J. Tucker and Archie Goodwin) that shared the court with him during 2013-14’s 48-win turn.

This hasn’t stopped McDonough from trying to add teammates. Which, despite good intentions, hasn’t gone well.

The since-traded Thomas hopped on board during the 2014 offseason, and Tyson Chandler became a Sun last summer. The former is an All-Star in Boston now and the latter remains one of the league’s most-respected players, but due to a confluence of events (and, again, that wicked West) the Suns just haven’t been able to turn a corner.

The team will, once again, have significant salary cap room to work with during this offseason, as will most teams, but one Phoenix backer wouldn’t mind the squad just taking a little free agent breather this time around.

From Bright Side of the Sun:

That pointless, barely-negotiated Childress signing from 2010 sits as an example of why the NBA owners needed to embarrassingly lock their own players out in 2011 in order to save themselves from themselves – and the “themselves” in this instance still owns the Phoenix Suns.

Childress signed for five years and $34 million that summer, he was hardly a missing piece and far from the “three-and-D with point forward handle”-type that the team apparently presumed he would turn into after two years out of the NBA. As a result the league took in a terrible, truncated 2011-12 season that altered player careers and franchise arcs.

This is why the 2016 free agency period, which starts on Friday, will be so fascinating to watch.

This isn’t the worst free agent class in years – technically it might be one of the strongest ever considering Kevin Durant and LeBron James rank at the top of it, with Dwyane Wade not far behind – but once everyone decides to stay home the pickings might be rather slim. Mike Conley and Al Horford will be paid quite a bit of money to work into their 30s, Joakim Noah will probably receive the same final wish, and all manner of third-tier free agents will take in large paydays as the league’s salary cap inches its way closer and closer to $100 million.

We’ve had nearly two years to prepare for the windfall, so nary a peep will be raised when a seventh man starts to make nearly as much as John Wall. The league can still choose to cry poverty and opt out of the collective bargaining agreement next summer, however, when the cap is set to run to $110’ish million. Identifying this generation’s Josh Childress, and the “it’s July 3rd, we’re all tied for first!”-owners that will talk themselves into the hole, is key.

A lot has changed – a few of the owners have changed – since the years before the 2011 lockout. However, these are still competitive types that think they can change things with the swipe of a pen before running to the league office in a desperate bid to bring some of those coins rolling back home. Things get crazy in the summer.

Collusion to limit salaries is illegal, it isn’t an option, but it would be nice to see some form of negotiation hit. The players shouldn’t have been asked to accept the league’s proposal to smooth in the cap increase – these players deserve this money, and in many cases a lot more than they’ll sign for – and it’s good that we’ll see an improved middle class at the expense of players like Durant and James making less than they should – even though Durant could take in what could be an average of over $40 million a year between now and 2022.

Still, in a weak free agent class, it would behoove teams and owners to sit a few plays out. Not every NBA free agent negotiation has to be a max deal, an overpay, or a restricted free agent staredown that lasts until the leaves change color. We’d say as much even if the 2016 and 2017 free agent classes, because next year’s class is deeper and stronger than this one, were switched.

Of course, all it takes is one team. One owner.

The next week, if even that, will be telling. The NBA could just about be done with its offseason by July 7 or 8, when Kevin Durant (in advance of a promotional trip) sits for a press conference prior to jetting away for the summer. In the meantime, the league’s collective of players, agents, general managers, owners and especially fans have to consider just how crazy they want to get.

And Eric Bledsoe has to learn how to relate to some kid that never had to buy a ‘Chappelle’s Show’ DVD.

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Kelly Dwyer is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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