I own a Charles Barkley jersey. One of those cheap, ultra-retro Champion jerseys. The ones with the screen printed logos, numbers and letters. If this still isn’t ringing a bell, imagine you’re at a Bon Iver or Drake concert and you see all those white dudes in brightly colored sleeveless shirts with big numbers on them that are actually somehow more warm than a regular t-shirt because the material is definitely anything but breathable. That’s what I’m talking about. The Barkley jersey I have is purple, it’s a Phoenix Suns jersey.
Yes, I own a lot of ironic things, such as Yeezys and used crewnecks of sports teams that I don’t actually care about. However, I am old enough to own a Charles Barkley jersey absent the irony. I’ve lived through multiple iterations of dominant Suns basketball. I still have all of my sports cards from when I was a kid, among them dozens of Upper Deck basketball cards featuring the Chicago Bulls toasting the likes of Dan Majerle, Kevin Johnson and Barkley.
One of my best friends during my early twenties owned a Steve Nash jersey, same shade of purple. I can remember how good they were, those Suns that ran the floor, gunned the ball, and pushed for a title that had eluded the Barkley and KJ generation. We sat through the disappointments of Amar’e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Nash.
It’s been a long time since good things came from the desert. This cycle between great teams is a lot longer than the last one. There are some pieces in Phoenix, now. Still, what they have looks to be years from contention, or however long it takes for Golden State and San Antonio to take a year off.
The whole scenario has been quite ugly both on and off the court. Suns owner Robert Sarver stands like a beacon for a tone deaf generation, aging and trying to walk across the heads of the next in line while trying to stay afloat. Among the least egregious of his actions, publicly calling out an entire generation of young athletes and millennials as individuals who can’t deal with setbacks.
When a problem exists at the top level of an organization, such as a CEO or owner, there tends to be a trickle down. GM Ryan McDonough has had his ups and down, but for several transaction windows in a row he has had a lot more downs than ups.
Among their many moves, Phoenix elected to sign a pretty clearly disengaged Tyson Chandler to a big money deal for more years than he should have been able to command on the pre-salary cap boom market. The Suns also traded away future All-Star Isaiah Thomas, guard Goran Dragic, the rights to a Los Angeles Lakers first-round pick, and the Morris brothers.
The Morris brothers situation spiraled, as Markieff Morris felt betrayed by the team when they traded his brother, Marcus Morris. It wasn’t long after that trade when Markieff demanded to be moved and began to openly clash with head coach Jeff Hornacek and had an in-game spat with teammate Archie Goodwin. Eventually, he was traded. And Hornacek’s assistants were fired. Before Hornacek was fired. All of it was a mess.
So can Phoenix build on all of this destruction?
In short, yes. But it is going to be a long road out of the desert.
Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight are talented guards, but they will need to learn to better coexist. They also both need to stay healthy. Bledsoe has played more than 43 games just three times during six seasons in the league. He made it just 31 games last season. It was discouraging for team and player alike, Bledsoe was having his best scoring season as a pro and all of his other numbers were at or near his career best.
Bledsoe can’t be held liable for his body’s limitations any more than we can blame Brandon Roy or Derrick Rose or any other player who managed to carry out careers constantly in peril. Still, he needs to be healthy. And they need the rest of their roster to be healthy, too. Phoenix was decimated by injuries last season. At one point, Bledsoe, Knight, Ronnie Price, Jon Leuer, Morris, Mirza Teletovic, and P.J. Tucker were all banged up, missing games during the same stretch of the season. It would be tempting to call them Bulls East, but their injury situation appeared to be worse.
The Suns have to believe that Bledsoe and Knight can be healthy this year. Once you build out from there, the roster has attractive upside. Phoenix picked up one of the most entertaining talents in the 2015 draft with guard Devin Booker. His shooting percentages need a lot of work, but his athleticism and scoring ability are incredible.
Booker is just one of many young players on the Suns roster. The Suns made some moves in the 2016 draft and walked away with Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss and Tyler Ulis. This youthful squad isn’t quite the Timberwolves, but they aren’t more than a season or two behind.
Of course, they don’t have their Karl-Anthony Towns. That problem should be remedied in the 2017 draft. For the 2016-17 season, the Suns project as one of the worst teams in the league, positioning themselves well for the 2017 draft class that is projected to feature no less than five players with franchise-altering ability.
A core of Booker, Bender, Chriss, perhaps Ulis, and a top five pick next year puts them in great position. Not for this season, not for next year, but for when the Warriors finally regress, Popovich leaves the Spurs, and the Clippers crumble. That is a future that isn’t certain, but could be very real. An NBA with the Wolves, Suns, and Jazz running the West. This plan could be sped up if they get healthy years from both Bledsoe and Knight, then explored options on the trade market for both. They’ll also have to make a decision on improving center, Alex Len.
Phoenix is being overlooked right now, probably rightfully so, but their trajectory is upward. If ownership and management can stay out of their own way, maybe turn a mid-tier asset into other pieces and draft well next summer, this team could be following in the steps of other West teams on the rise. After all, the Suns are due to rise to the top again. There was Barkley, Majerle, Johnson. There was Nash, Marion, Stoudemire. Is Booker, Bender, Chriss next?
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
