Can the Phoenix Suns Recapture Last Year's Magic?
On the whole, the script for this year’s Phoenix Suns isn’t much different—in terms of cast or mechanics—from last season’s.
If anything, the biggest change has come from everyone else, borne out of a shared interest in not letting these plucky upstarts crash the awards-season party.
To recapture their upstart magic, the Suns must once again use their doubters—those who see them as nothing more than a flash in the pan—as fuel for the sequel.
That’s not to say Phoenix is somehow resting on its laurels. At 10-8, the Suns currently command a half-game lead for the conference’s eighth and final playoff spot.
Given the team’s helter-skelter schedule, punctuated by a seven-game-in-10-day road trip, that’s hardly disappointing.
Still, the Suns aren’t without their early-season concerns. Chief among them is the play of Goran Dragic, whose offensive struggles in many ways mirror those of his team, which is slightly off the pace from last year’s eighth-ranked efficiency.
| Season | Minutes | Points | Assists | PER |
| 2013-14 | 35.1 | 20.3 | 5.9 | 21.4 |
| 2014-15 | 30.8 | 14.4 | 3.2 | 14.5 |
The reason for Dragic’s reduced role—and production—isn’t hard to glean. After acquiring pint-sized pinball Isaiah Thomas from the Sacramento Kings this summer, the Suns—with Dragic and Eric Bledsoe still in the fold—are awash in point guards.
Asked recently by AZCentral’s Paul Coro to pinpoint the biggest reason for Phoenix’s early struggles, Dragic put it about as bluntly as possible:
"Because there's only one ball and we're all point guards. That's an easy answer.
It's hard. That's sacrifice. If Isaiah's playing well, he's going to stay in. Me and Eric, it depends who is playing better and who is going to be on the court. The other guy is going to be on the bench. It's the way it is. We need to embrace that.
"
It’s not exactly an alien narrative for Phoenix. Indeed, concerns abounded entering the 2013-14 season over whether Dragic and Bledsoe would be able to forge something resembling coherent identity.
The results were resounding: The Suns registered a scintillating offensive rating of 108.1 (along with a net rating of plus-11) during the two’s 885 shared minutes (subscription required).
Those numbers have been down somewhat over the last month (subscription required), with Dragic and Bledsoe charting a respectable 104 offensive rating, but a net rating of just plus-0.3.
Meanwhile, the Bledsoe-Thomas pairing (subscription required) has been something of a revelation, yielding an offensive rating of 111.5 and a net rating of plus-5.6 over 120 minutes.
Obviously, when you’re talking about an experiment this grand—“I didn’t know what the hell they were doing,” Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers was quoted as saying—patience and time are of the utmost importance.
That would all be well and good, if it weren’t for this fundamental fact: In such a loaded conference, where the next upstart is waiting in the wings to fell you where you stand, time becomes a laureled luxury. To make good on last year’s near-playoff miss, Phoenix’s principals need as many shared reps as possible.
Recently, Bleacher Report’s Stephen Babb took aim at the dangerous high-wire act the Suns have committed to walking:
"Phoenix won't have an easy time claiming the No. 8 seed from the Sacramento Kings and New Orleans Pelicans—both of whom also reason to be in the running.
The Suns know all too well how pivotal one or two games may be in what's destined to remain a three- or four-team race for the last postseason spot. Despite the significant strides they've already made, the Suns are in no position to settle.
Put in that context, Phoenix's offense could be better. And with a middle-of-the-pack defense that currently ranks 11th in efficiency, this offense probably needs to better.
"
That line has been taut even further by Thomas’ recent ankle injury, which has kept the speedy guard out of commission for four straight games.
Phoenix’s prospects are about far more than just its backcourt, of course. Depth and rim protection being just two areas where the team could stand to see some improvement between now and the season’s stretch sprint.
Ditto for the rest of the team’s young core. Miles Plumlee, Markieff Morris, Gerald Green—none of them have managed the production of a season ago.
For Phoenix to truly solidify its place among the Western Conference brass, it will require these three to exceed rather than merely meet expectations.
But as a matter of identity, both now and in the seasons immediately to come, establishing some modicum of backcourt consistency and cohesion remains Phoenix’s cause celebre—the strategic impetus for continuing with its truly unique NBA ascendance.
The alternative, of course, being that the screenplay peters out completely.
Last year's Suns were the doomed darlings of the West, a band of basketball misfits too scrappy and stubborn to stick to the lottery script. However, the studio fates would eventually have it that way.
To tempt them anew—and to better ends—will demand Phoenix somehow reclaim the moxie that made it such a feel-good farce a season ago.
More than anything, that means the Suns' trio of lead actors not only turning in award-winning efforts themselves, but spurring their ensemble cast to their own praise-worthy performances.
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