What in the world has gone wrong with the Suns? Phoenix has gone from playoff contenders to a franchise that is in complete disarray. They have just two wins in their last 17 games and have plummeted down the standings from a would-be playoff team to one that is tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second-worst record in the Western Conference. The only shred of good news is that they’re coming off a somewhat exhilarating win after Archie Goodwin hit a game-winning three-point shot as time expired to give the Suns a 98-95 win over the Atlanta Hawks. We’ll see if they can string consecutive wins together for the first time since November when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers tonight.
A lot has gone wrong with the Suns over the past year but there is a handful of problems that has really helped contribute to their free fall. Here is a look what has gone wrong with the Suns this season.
Morris Tearing Apart The Locker Room
It’s no secret that Markieff Morris isn’t happy about his situation with the Suns as they have refused to honor his demands for a trade after they made the terrible decision to trade his brother Marcus to the Detroit Pistons. As a result, one of the best players on the roster has slacked all year as he continues to try to force management’s hand when it comes to a potential move. Morris has averaged just 14.0 points and 5.3 rebounds through 43 games this season and until Phoenix figures out what to do with their star forward there will be more tough times ahead for a player that has become a major distraction in the locker room.
Lack Of Development For Young Players
Morris’ distraction certainly hasn’t helped with the development of the young players on the roster including most notably Alex Len and T.J. Warren. The Suns have refused to move Morris for other assets and as a result they are stuck in a position where Morris refuses to play to his potential yet the young first-round picks on the roster aren’t able to play the minutes they need to play in order to speed up their development. Over the last four games, Warren has played 16 minutes, 33, 3 and 21. He was one of the stars of the Summer League but isn’t getting consistent action in the regular season. As for this year’s first-round pick, Devin Booker, he looks like a star in the making but the Suns have only now started to use him. Len plays less than 20 minutes per game as well as other former first-rounders, Goodwin and P.J. Tucker.
Phoenix has done a terrible job with the young players expected to lead them to a bright future and the fact that they haven’t made the necessary roster changes to this point has led to a disaster that keeps getting worse.
Overall Lack Of Leadership
It doesn’t help that the Suns don’t have the necessary leadership pieces in place to get the locker room back on track. Morris has been the biggest distraction but the fact that Eric Bledsoe and Brandon Knight both play the same position doesn’t help and outside of Tyson Chandler, who was just added this past offseason, the Suns don’t have many quality veterans that can help lead this franchise moving forward.
Injuries Taking Their Toll
As if there weren’t enough problems in Phoenix already, the fact that injuries have taken such a tremendous toll on this roster this season certainly hasn’t helped. Bledsoe and Chandler have both missed significant time while Archie Goodwin and Ronnie Price have also been sidelined by injuries. The Suns faced an uphill climb to compete for a playoff spot in the Western Conference from the outset but with injuries taking their toll, a significant lack of leadership, a lack of player development when it comes to their young stars and the constant distraction provided by Morris it is clear that there are several key factors that have contributed to the downfall in Phoenix and until the franchise addresses some of those problems there isn’t any reason to expect the Suns slide to any time soon as they continue to plummet down the Western Conference standings.
