ESPN Insider: Suns Struggles Littered With Flaws

Starting the week the Phoenix Suns have the worst record in the NBA (19-55) and sit 40 games behind the Western Conference-leading Houston Rockets.

Forty.

As in, four-zero.

The Suns are the only team in the league with single-digit home wins (nine) and are an NBA-worst 9.9 in point differential. The narrative may have changed a bit from last season but the script has mainly stayed the same: bad basketball from start to finish with the tank-a-palooza in full effect.

Life on Planet Orange has been especially rough this spring. The Suns have lost 21 of their last 22 as they open a quick two-game homestand against the Celtics (Monday) and Clippers (Wednesday).

“They’ve been unable to take advantage of Phoenix in terms of free-agency,” ESPN NBA Insider Brian Windhorst said to Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat referring to Phoenix’s nearly eight-year playoff drought. “They have drafted repeatedly in the lottery…but generally they have not been able to hit home runs. The combination of those two things has resulted in a team, quite frankly, that does not have much talent on it.”

While Devin Booker is a cornerstone and rising star and rookie Josh Jackson has shown flashes at times, the collective team skill level ranks far below even some of the other league bottom-feeders.

Many around NBA inner-circles believe the incompetence starts at the top.

“It’s not a hot take to say Robert Sarver is not well-regarded in the league,” Windhorst explained. “I think if you look at what happened last year as an example. [Free-agent] Blake Griffin completely used the Suns. He threatened to go there to squeeze money out of the Clippers which he ended up getting. He never even went to the [Phoenix] meeting. That right there is what the Suns have become.”

One of the biggest upcoming moves is deciding on a permanent head coach. Some believe interim coach Jay Triano deserves a look, while others are hoping for a bigger name and, hopefully, bigger splash in the win-loss column moving forward.

“It’s going to be a hard sell for a quality coach to trust the organization,” Windhorst said to Cesmat. “That’s just reaping what you’ve sewn.” 

It all adds up to a sad equation for the once-proud franchise.

“It’s unfortunate because when the Suns are good it’s good for the NBA,” Windhorst said. “It’s a wonderful place to be in the season. Players like playing there. They have great fans.”