What the Phoenix Suns Can Do to Bring Fans Back

Interest surrounding Phoenix Suns basketball has continued to dwindle in the midst of an abysmal season. It’s time for a once-proud franchise to flip the script, and get fans back in the process.

After reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2010, Phoenix missed the playoffs for two consecutive years after Amar’e Stoudemire left. When Steve Nash joined the Los Angeles Lakers last summer, the Suns truly fell off the NBA map.

The Suns are 23-45, in second-to-last place in the Western Conference with the New Orleans Hornets just one game back.

As if that isn’t bad enough, the Suns are on pace to have the second-worst year in franchise history and the worst since the franchise’s inaugural NBA season in 1969 (when Phoenix finished 16-66).

As it stands, the worst Suns season since 1969 came during the 1987-88 campaign, when Phoenix finished 28-54. With just 23 wins and 14 games remaining, the lowly Suns may not even match that mark.

Phoenix is entering a rebuilding stage to replace the star power of Nash and Stoudemire. It’s not something that can be fixed overnight, so the franchise needs to make some changes in the meantime to keep hope (and loyalty) alive in the hearts of Suns fans.

5. Lower Beer Prices

It’s no secret that Robert Sarver has a negative reputation as a cheapskate NBA owner. Bill Simmons of Grantland.com called him out on it in this column not once, but twice in the same paragraph.

There are numerous reasons for Sarver’s reputation, but one of the most egregious is the price of a beer at U.S. Airways Center.

According to an article by Kelly Dwyer of Yahoo! Sports, the average price of a beer at a Suns game is $9. That’s the highest average beer price in the entire NBA, tied with the huge market (and winning atmosphere) of the New York Knicks.

Want to spring for a Blue Moon with an orange slice? That will cost you a ridiculous $10.50. To put that in perspective, a 12-pack of 12-ounce cans of Blue Moon at Total Wine costs $11.99.

So one “specialty” beer at a Suns game costs you nearly as much as what 12 of those beers would cost you at a leading liquor store.

Considering that the Suns are one of the worst teams in the Western Conference—and taking in a game would be much easier while inebriated—they should have some of the cheapest prices in the league to make up for a lackluster on-court product.

That’s simply not the case.

Honestly speaking, what is enticing a Suns fan to attend a game with those prices? If that fan could find an entrée at a restaurant that costs as much as a beer at the stadium, going out to dinner is a better way to spend their evening.

The current beer price for Suns fans is not only unacceptable; it’s downright insulting.

4. Lower Ticket Prices

During the “Run-and-Gun Suns” era when Phoenix was a threat to score 130 points on any given night, or during the 2010 Western Conference Finals run with Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire running the show, having ticket prices near the top of the league was a fair deal.

For mindless reasons, however, Phoenix Suns ticket prices have continued to go up, while the level of play on the court has gone down.

For the 2012-13 season, the Suns have the eighth-most expensive ticket price in the NBA, according to Statista.com. Additionally, the Suns’ average ticket price of $57.28 is the most of any team bound for the NBA draft lottery by nearly a $10 margin. The next-highest team on the list outside the playoff picture is the Portland Trail Blazers with an average ticket price of $48.40.

The New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Clippers and San Antonio Spurs are the seven teams with higher average ticket prices than the Suns. In 2013, those seven teams had 15 All-Stars. By contrast, the Phoenix Suns didn’t have any All-Stars.

Also, the Suns have just eight more wins than the Charlotte Bobcats this season, but their average ticket price is nearly double the $29.27 average in Charlotte.

The stadium will remain vastly empty because Suns fans aren’t going to pay the eighth-most money in the league to see the fourth-worst team. It’s not rocket science.

If the team isn’t winning or playing to a previous standard, ticket prices should not go up. But perhaps that’s too logical.

3. Get a New Head Coach

Part of being in a transition year means that the Phoenix Suns should look to make big changes in as many areas as possible. The head coaching spot is not exempt from that process.

Phoenix already made a big change by firing head coach Alvin Gentry after a 13-28 start, even though Gentry led the team to a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2010.

Gentry was replaced by Lindsey Hunter, who had no prior coaching experience. This angered assistant coaches Elston Turner and Dan Majerle enough to force them to resign from their duties.

The Suns are 10-17 since Hunter took over. Although that’s better than what Gentry did this season, it’s still not good by any stretch of the imagination.

Hunter came to the Suns preaching defense. His intentions are in the right place, but a recent blowout loss to the lowly Washington Wizards, in which the Wiz had 94 points with time remaining in the third quarter, is disconcerting.

Couple that with Hunter cutting P.J. Tucker’s minutes of late (19.8 minutes per game in March versus 27.3 minutes per game in February) and even benching him altogether against the Atlanta Hawks. That is simply inexcusable for a coach who is preaching defense. Tucker is the Suns’ best defender by far, and not playing him at all after he carved a niche as a starter is a head-scratching move.

At the end of the day (or perhaps end of the season), Hunter is still the interim head coach.

With a young and inexperienced team, having a coach with those same qualities isn’t usually a recipe for success. Phoenix needs to bring in an experienced coach to teach a young squad poised to get even younger through the 2013 NBA draft.

2. Get New Front Office Personnel

The public relations nightmare that ensued after Lindsey Hunter was promoted as head coach was ugly to say the least. The fallout that forced Dan Majerle and Elston Turner out of town angered a good deal of the Suns faithful.

This transcript from the Dave Burns and John Gambadoro radio show, when they talked with Robert Sarver, should tell Suns fans all they need to know. The key takeaway, however, is Sarver saying, “Lance Blanks, he’s not good at public relations.”

If you are a general manager of a professional basketball team, as Blanks is, public relations are a big part of the gig. You have to be able to defend and explain the moves you make to maintain confidence from the fanbase. When you lose that confidence, even the most faithful season ticket holders will jump ship.

Someone who would immediately have the attention, respect and admiration of Suns fans, though, is Charles Barkley.

Sir Charles has expressed interest in being an NBA GM in the past, and Phoenix is his basketball home. Bringing in Barkley as GM is something that columnist Dan Bickley of AZCentral.com wrote about earlier this year, and it’s a move that makes a lot of sense.

Barkley is one of the most respected basketball personalities in the entire league, let alone in Phoenix. Even if he were to take over as GM and fail, it would be impossible for Chuck to lose favor in the eyes of Suns fans.

The bottom line is that the Suns franchise needs to return to its respected roots, especially after losing Majerle to Grand Canyon University.

1. Gain an Identity

The Phoenix Suns are very much in limbo right now.

They struggle on offense. They struggle on defense. They fired a successful coach and replaced him with a guy who had no prior coaching experience. They have a revolving door of a playing rotation, and a roster loaded with similar talents.

The Suns' roster full of role players was destined for mediocrity from the start. That’s become apparent since the team couldn’t make the playoffs even with Steve Nash leading those role players. Phoenix simply needs to add a superstar to the mix to flip the script.

Obviously that’s easier said than done. It doesn’t help that the 2013 NBA draft is shaping up to be one of the weakest drafts since 2000 (when Kenyon Martin, Stromile Swift and Darius Miles were taken with the first three picks). There doesn’t appear to be a franchise cornerstone talent available, and the Suns are unlikely to land the first or second overall pick.

The Suns need to rebuild from the ground up. That starts by scouting well and hitting home runs in the draft (like Phoenix has done in the past with Amar’e Stoudemire and Shawn Marion).

Phoenix Suns basketball is facing a long road back to glory. However, if the Suns manage to pick the correct talents in the draft both this year and next, they could speed up the rebuilding process and change the culture.

Hoping to land a superstar talent is truly all Suns fans have to lean on at this point, because picking up guys in quantity rather than quality (i.e. Michael Beasley, Shannon Brown, Luis Scola, etc.) hasn’t worked out.

Save up those birthday wishes, Suns fans, because this franchise will need as many as we can provide.

Feel free to ask me questions about the NBA and the Phoenix Suns on Twitter: @BenLebo