DENVER, CO – FEBRUARY 25: Head coach Jeff Hornacek of the Phoenix Suns leads his team against the Denver Nuggets at Pepsi Center on February 25, 2015 in Denver, Colorado. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
(We feel your pain, Jeff).
The dream is over. It was a far-fetched one to begin with, but now it is dead in the water. The Phoenix Suns aren’t making the playoffs in 2014/15. This marks the fifth year in a row that they have failed to make it to the NBA’s second season. But this was a predictable outcome, despite the team holding down the West’s last playoff spot for large chunks of the season.
This Suns team had no real chance of making the playoffs this year, especially after their (panicked?) trade deadline deals that shipped Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas out of town. You see, in the NBA’s Wild, Wild West you need stars. Lots of them. Behold the teams and their respective (super)stars who are going to end up ahead of Phoenix in the standings out west:
Golden State: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson
Memphis: Marc Gasol, (Mike Conley and Zach Randolph to a lesser extent)
Houston: James Harden, Dwight Howard (when healthy)
Clippers: Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan
Portland: LaMarcus Aldridge, Damian Lillard
San Antonio: Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard
Dallas: Dirk Nowitzki, Monta Ellis
Oklahoma City: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka
New Orleans: Anthony Davis
Phoenix just can’t match up to this level or firepower. Even with Dragic, who is an All-NBA performer, the Suns still aren’t on the talent level of the top nine teams in the West. And don’t say Eric Bledsoe is a star. It’s become apparent, especially since Dragic has left town, that Bledsoe isn’t the answer. He’s a nice player, but he’s no star and definitely not a championship cornerstone. Just look at the past few championship teams for proof – San Antonio and Miami. Where would Bledsoe have ranked in the hierarchy of these teams? He’d be the fourth or fifth option. And at age 25, with over 300 NBA games and almost 8,000 career minutes under his belt, he’s not going to take a big leap to the next level. What you see if what you get with Bledsoe. A complimentary piece at best.
So where do the Suns go from here? That’s a scary thought, as the team is in no better shape today than they were last year, or the year before that, or the year before that, or…. There are currently nine (!!) teams out West better off than they are, and none of these teams are really primed to take a big step down anytime soon. Even scarier, as the team’s flurry at the trade deadline exposed, the Suns management don’t seem to have a plan on where the team is headed either.
There are no saviors on the Suns roster. And, barring an earth-shattering trade or a very fortuitous bounce of an NBA lottery ping pong ball, none are on the horizon either.
