Phoenix, Arizona. The sun always shines in the desert, but now the residents of the desert state have a new reason to have a sunny disposition – their basketball team.
Let’s examine what went wrong, how they have fixed it and what the future holds for the Suns.
Decline
After making the Western Conference Finals in 2010 and narrowly missing out on making the NBA Finals on a Ron Artest last second put back, the Suns franchise started a decline that bottomed out at the end of last season.
In the 2010 off-season they made the decision to not sign Amar’e Stoudemire to a big $100 million free agent deal (a smart move in hindsight), but replaced him with a combination of Hedo Turkoglu, Josh Childress and Hakim Warrick at a cost of $80 million.
In December of 2010 they traded the newly acquired Turkoglu, revived shooter Jason Richardson and a promising Earl Clark to Orlando for Vince Carter (bad), Mickael Pietrus (bad) and Marcin Gortat (good).
In February of 2011 they traded away promising young point guard, Goran Dragic, to the Rockets for Aaron Brooks, only to sign him again as a free agent in 2012.
They made a late season playoffs push in the lockout shortened season of 2011-12 behind the excellence of Steve Nash and Marcin Gortat but fell short.
In the 2012 off-season they controversially traded Steve Nash to the Lakers for first round draft picks in 2013 and 2015, and second round picks in 2013 and 2014.
While many Suns fans saw this as a horrible decision, I think now they are glad they managed to get so much for Nash given his injury history with the Lakers.
The 2012-13 season marked a low point in Suns history, with the team struggling on the court and some questionable decisions being made off it.
Alvin Gentry agreed to leave the organisation in January 2013 and a few days later assistant coaches Dan Majerle and Elston Turner resigned – rumoured to be because of the hiring of Lindsay Hunter as interim head coach.
The Suns continued to struggle on the court as Hunter would often leave it to assistant coaches to draw up plays during time outs, seeing the Suns finish with a poor 25-57 record.
Rebuild
After one of the worst seasons in franchise history, a decision was made to clean up shop and first priority was getting rid of GM, Lance Blanks.
To replace Blanks the Suns hired Ryan McDonough and later appointed Jeff Hornacek as their new head coach. To finish up the clean out there was a raft of changes to assistant coaching positions and various front office positions.
McDonough made some smart moves during free agency, making a trade with the Pacers for a 2014 first round pick, Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee (who are both thriving this season) in return for the services of Luis Scola.
He also pulled the trigger on another trade with the Wizards when Emeka Okafor went down with a season-ending injury, sending Marcin Gortat, Shannon Brown, Kendall Marshall and Malcolm Lee in exchange for Okafor and a protected 2014 first round draft pick.
This trade was made possible by the return of a healthy Channing Frye to the starting line-up and the Suns are playing well with a limited roster.
2013-14 Season
The Suns exploded out of the blocks and surprised everyone with their unexpected play.
With no real stars on the roster, Jeff Hornacek has them playing a great brand of team basketball that is proving to be very effective.
Through 30 games they are 19-11 and according to Hollinger’s Latest Playoff Odds they have a 90.1 percent chance of making the playoffs.
For a team that everyone predicted would be tanking hard this season, it is a big turnaround and Ryan McDonough must surely be one of the front runners for GM of the Year voting.
So why are they so good?
Defence has been the big difference and also their improved shot selection.
Defensively they are rated ninth in the league – adjusted for opponent strength – and are also fifth best in opponent three-point shots attempted with opponents only making 33 percent of those attempts (third best rating in the league).
This is mainly due to the mobile front court they possess, with Miles Plumlee, PJ Tucker, Channing Frye and the Morris twins along with the back court duo of Goran Dragic & Eric Bledsoe (although their individual defensive ratings are not standout numbers).
Happily this pair makes up for their average defence with their unique offensive abilities and scoring prowess.
Along with Dragic and Bledsoe, the rest of the Suns are shooting the sixth most three-pointers in the league but still sport the ninth best three-point percentage at 37.3 percent.
Compare this with last season where they attempted the 23rd most threes and only converted them at 33 percent (good for 28th in the league) and you can see why their offence is more efficient this year.
2014 and Beyond
With the loaded 2014 NBA Draft getting GMs around the league excited, the Suns are in very good position to take advantage of the talented draft class.
It is looking likely that they will have four first round draft picks, but working against them is none of them will be lottery picks.
Currently in their possession is Minnesota’s first round pick (top 13 protected and projected to be in the low 20s), Washington’s first round pick (top 12 protected and projected to be in the high teens), Indiana’s first round pick (top 14 protected and projected to be in the late 20s) and their own first round pick (projected to be in the low to mid 20s).
I’m sure McDonough will try and work some magic and try to move up the draft order by dangling two first round picks to a team with a good lottery pick, so a franchise changing player is still a reality in 2014.
They only have $31.2 million on the books for 2014-15 but are very keen to re-sign Eric Bledsoe, so figure that number to be closer to $41-43 million if Bledsoe is brought back.
Their young core of Dragic, Plumlee, the Morris twins, Frye and Green are still under contract next season, so the chance to add to that playing group with their draft picks or via free agency makes this team very exciting.
Conclusion
Things are looking good for the Phoenix Suns and if they can make some wise moves in the 2014 Draft and free agency period then they could have the potential to be a very good team in 2014-15 and beyond.
Watch this space.
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