The Phoenix Suns were supposed to be a non-playoff team last season… and they were. Yet, the way the Suns missed the playoffs was very different from what most NBA experts expected.
What Went Wrong Last Season?
The Suns didn’t make the playoffs, and yet very little went wrong. The Suns were near the bottom of the West after the 2012-2013 season. Even a small level of improvement would have been accepted by the franchise, especially since its top draft pick, big man Alex Len of Maryland, had to deal with multiple medical procedures for his balky legs and ankles. A more recent injury to his pinkie finger has further limited his ability to train and stay in shape. The team’s other draftee, Archie Goodwin, averaged only 3.7 points per game and was not able to make much of an impact. With the team not getting much from its two main draft selections, you probably would have thought that the rest of the season wouldn’t have taken off.
However, it did. Goran Dragic became, if not a star in the league, something close to it, cracking the 20-points-per-game barrier in a sensational season. The Morris brothers, Marcus and Markieff, meshed together and created more of a positive impact than a lot of basketball analysts anticipated they would. Miles Plumlee was not a complete liability as a big man.
The team gained a measure of cohesion on the court, all because first-year head coach and former Suns player Jeff Hornacek did a brilliant job, easily one of the five best in the league and very probably one of the top three performances by any NBA coach in 2014. The Suns came farther in a shorter period of time than just about any other NBA team with the exception of the Portland Trail Blazers, and in Portland’s case, two superstars named Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge were there to power Portland to a playoff series win for the first time in roughly a decade and a half. Phoenix did not have a single star player on the team at the start of the season. Dragic developed into one, and Hornacek deserves a lot of credit for that.
If there was anything that truly did hold back the Suns, it was an over reliance on one-on-one play. The team was next to last in the league in assists and in the bottom five in terms of turnovers committed. The Suns have to be better about not giving away possessions next season, making the extra pass when necessary and also committing themselves to the simple play.
Offseason Changes
The Suns made a number of marginal additions such as picking up veteran power forward (a stretch four, really) Channing Frye and letting go of longtime Sun Leandro Barbosa. The eye-opening move this team made was to draft T.J. Warren, one of the very best scorers in college basketball last season. Warren should be able to produce instantly and give Phoenix a real boost on offense. As long as his defense is serviceable, Warren should improve the Suns in year one.
Projected Finish
The Suns accomplished too much last season to fall back this season. This is a forward-moving team that should be able to displace one of the bottom three Western Conference playoff teams from last season and make the playoffs in 2015. As long as Phoenix can achieve that and put up a decent fight in the first round, this season will be seen as a success.
Pick: Eighth in Western Conference
