If the Suns had any good fortune, they would have drafted first and 14th on Thursday night.

The lottery balls would have gone their way for a No. 1, and the last night of the season would have kept the Lakers out of the playoffs, giving the Suns a No. 14 pick.

It turned out there was good fortune after all. Picking fifth, the Suns drafted Maryland 7-foot-1 center Alex Len, who the Suns scouts unanimously ranked first. With the No. 30 pick, the Suns felt urgency when Kentucky point guard Archie Goodwin was available late in the first round despite being in their top 15. They traded up a pick by taking on Malcolm Lee’s $834,000 contract to beat teams to Goodwin.

Len and Goodwin held up jerseys that pieced together their year on the front and back, with the 13 being reminiscent of a two-time MVP who the Suns drafted when Goodwin was 22 months old.

The post-Steve Nash rebuild is taking root with seeds like Len and Goodwin, who the Suns believe have work ethics as high as their talent ceilings. At No. 5, more will be expected of Len. Mark Turgeon, his Maryland coach for two years, said the NBA suits his game better because his defense can help immediately, his athleticism fits an uptempo system and his offense will get to breathe.

“In college, spacing sucks,” Len said, explaining his 11.9 scoring average.

Turgeon acknowledged that Maryland’s weak guard play and seven new players had much to do with Len’s inconsistencies and low shot totals.

“He’s got the whole package,” Turgeon said. “He can go left hook, right hook, turn and face on the block, turn and face from 15 feet. He’ll be able to shoot 3s for Phoenix in time.”

Len grew up in gymnastics because of his love for Jackie Chan movies but was pulled into a gym at age 13 by his school’s basketball coach. He made his first shot.

“See, you belong here,” the coach said.

Len never left, and Turgeon said he might not leave again now that it is his career. His overall dedication is shown in how he is taking two summer courses just to help Maryland’s academic progress rate.

Len is no Nerlens Noel defensively, but he blocked 2.1 shots per game and innately takes body blows while getting the swat. He still might grow, but Turgeon said Len could play at 265 pounds without losing speed.

“The best barometer of how a guy is going to play in the NBA is how he does against other NBA players, and I thought Alex did extremely well in those matchups,” said Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough, one of about 30 people in a Lithuanian gym in 2010 when Len played there in the under-18 European Championship.

Just as the Suns tried to move up to land Len, they were active later for Goodwin because of the gap between him and the next player available on their board. They took on Lee, who could be a factor if healthy, to go from No. 30 to No. 29 for the draft’s second youngest player.

“My phone started blowing up (after the pick) — a lot of calls and texts from other teams around the league, saying, ‘Darn it, that was our guy. We were trying to get a pick. We were right behind you,’ ” McDonough said.