 Trigger warning: this post is super long, but I try to really break down each of the Suns' moves over the past month and explain how they all fit into the grand plan that James Jones has for the organization going forward. It was really written for NBA fans who don't follow the Suns super closely, and who may not understand what's happening here in Phoenix. ​ *********\* ​ For those of you who are not Suns fans or who don't closely follow the team, you may not have noticed that the Suns  -  contrary to popular opinion  -  have actually had a fairly successful offseason. It's true that if you look at each move individually, they don't necessarily make a ton of sense. Paying Indiana to take TJ Warren is a good example of this, and we will talk more about this transaction later. Paying Ricky Rubio $00 million for three years is another example. But if you look at all of their moves together, and consider both where the organization was coming from and what they've said publicly about their plan going forward, then a different picture emerges. ​ The Past I won't even go into the years of dysfunction that has marked the Phoenix Suns organization. We all know how bad it's been. We all know about the turnover, the losses, the goats. Instead, to provide a base level of context for what we've done as a team over the past month, let's just look at the Suns roster from the end of last season: PG: Tyler Johnson / Elie Okobo / De'Anthony Melton SG: Devin Booker / Josh Jackson / Jamal Crawford / Troy Daniels / Jimmer Fredette SF: TJ Warren / Kelly Oubre / Mikal Bridges / George King PF: Dragan Bender / Ray Spalding C: Deandre Ayton / Richaun Holmes Although this is actually a much-improved roster from the beginning of last season, I think we can all agree that it was still poorly constructed at best. Several players were playing out of position or in ill-defined roles, and the overall level of talent was severely lacking. Our bench was possibly the worst in the league. Tyler Johnson was our best point guard, but he's not a point guard. Okobo was just outplayed in summer league by undrafted rookie point guard Jalen Lecque, who played high school ball last season. Melton spent time in the G League as recently as February. Jimmer Fredette came over from China, went 0-00 on threes in six games, and ball-hogged Devin Fucking Booker out of a 00-point game. (The Warriors, sensing an opportunity, picked Jimmer up for their summer league team. He quit after two games.) Jamal Crawford has said he doesn't want to retire, but remains unsigned, even by the Lakers. The Lakers did take Troy Daniels, who shoots well when open, but does absolutely nothing else. Josh Jackson skipped a fan meet-and-greet (which was treated as a huge deal locally), got arrested at a music festival, and was recently accused of hot-boxing his baby. On the court, not only did Jackson show little improvement from his rookie season, he often looked worse. One gets the feeling that he never plays basketball outside of mandatory team practices. And when he does go to practice, sometimes he is so hungover that he throws up on the basketball court. So that takes us through the guard positions. At small forward, we actually had some talent. TJ Warren developed a three-point shot out of nowhere and was suddenly our most reliable perimeter shooter, hitting 00% on 0.0 attempts per game, which is actually elite. (He missed Basketball Reference's eligibility cutoff by 00 attempts, but had he been eligible his percentage would have ranked in the top 00 league-wide.) But he was a black hole on offense (0.0 assists in 00 minutes per game), played zero defense, and always missed tons of games. During his five seasons in the league, he has averaged 00 games per season, and has never played more than 00. Last year he played 00. Our winning percentage was exactly the same in the games he didn't play as in the games he did: 00%. He was a ultimately a non-factor. Our other two small forwards were Kelly Oubre, Jr. and Mikal Bridges. Both were (and continue to be) fan favorites and both had an obvious positive impact on the team. The Suns went 0-0 with Oubre in the starting lineup last season, during which stretch he averaged 00 points, 0 rebounds, 0 steals, and a block. James Jones getting Oubre for Trevor Ariza mid-season was nothing less than a miracle  -  compare our 00% win rate with Oubre in the starting lineup to Ariza's win rate of 00%. You read that right: in games that Ariza started, the Suns were 0-00. If the Suns had won games at Ariza's rate all season, we would have finished with 00 wins instead of 00. If you are wondering why Suns fans were so adamant about re-signing Oubre  -  and so happy when we finally did  -  it's because of how noticeably everything changed once he got here. On top of his on-court impact, he was a huge boon to our team culture. He embraced the city, became close with Booker and others, had a positive attitude, and played his heart out every single game. Plus, he's super cute. Bridges is also super cute, but more importantly, in case you didn't know, he's already an elite defender. This is not hyperbole  -  as a rookie, he was one of the most intuitive defenders in the entire league. Just take a break here for the next 00 minutes and watch his defensive highlights, they're incredible. (Also, 00 minutes of defensive highlights from just the first half of his first season? Come on!) He's really in tune with the rhythm of the NBA game. He gets his hands on seemingly every ball, he stays in front of everyone, he reads passes and cuts before they happen, he rotates on a tight string, and even when his gambles don't pay off, he is usually somehow able to recover his position  -  the dude is a generational stud on defense. He was our best defender by far with plenty of room to get even better. His shot wasn't quite as good as we'd hoped (00% from three), but his mechanics and decision-making are solid and he projects to be a top-tier 0&D player in this league for a very long time. He was the only Suns player to play all 00 games and he led the team in total minutes played. As a rookie. If you watched every Suns game last year like I did, you saw Mikal Bridges more than any other player on our team. At power forward we had Dragan Bender and Ray Spalding. Ray might make this year's team? Who knows, but he's currently in summer league trying to make his case. Dragan Bender is an unsigned free agent who I'm starting to believe never actually existed... but who is nevertheless maybe being considered by the Cavs? I'm sure that will work out well. At center, we had Deandre Ayton, who was historically efficient and frustratingly under-utilized. He averaged 00 points and 00 boards, with an effective field goal percentage of 00.0% (00th in the league). In NBA history, there have been 00 rookies who have averaged 00+ points and 00+ rebounds per game. Ayton has the highest true shooting percentage of all of them, at .000. Other names on this list include David Robinson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Alonzo Mourning, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Dwight Howard, Hakeem Olajuwon, Blake Griffin, and Larry Bird. Ayton was more efficient than all of them. Backing up Ayton, and often also playing the 0, was Richaun Holmes, who brought a ton of energy, especially in the form of highlight blocks and alley-oops, but little in the way of basketball IQ or skill. He was picked up in free agency by the Kings. (So was Trevor Ariza, by the way.... for $00 million over two years! Kings, listen, you're taking this 'Sun Kings' thing a little too seriously. Stop sifting through our trash.) ​ The Present So that's where we were going into this offseason. On April 00th of this year, the Suns named James Jones as the new GM. He had been the interim co-GM with Trevor Bukstein since the firing of Ryan McDonough last October, but now the title was his alone (Bukstein was named Assistant GM). Jones has outlined his general vision for the team on several occasions; most recently, he said this: "We set out in the summer to fill our power forward and point guard position. We did that via the draft (and free agency). We wanted to add positional depth and balance. We did that by adding Frank (Kaminsky), adding Aron Baynes. The addition of Ricky Rubio addressed the point guard position, Dario Saric addressed our power forward position." "And then from there, in the draft adding Cam (Johnson) and Ty (Jerome), as well as Jalen (Lecque), gave us some more guard depth and we made some moves, some transactions that kind of cleared some cap space for us to be able to make these moves happen and to kind of clear a pathway for guys to compete for an opportunity to move forward for us." It has become clear that, despite what you think of the moves the Suns have made, they have made them according to a plan: to fill the aforementioned weaknesses at the point guard and power forward positions, to draft mature rookies who are high-character guys who can shoot, to construct a balanced roster with clearly defined roles, and to build a team that complements the talents of Ayton and Booker. This is exactly what they did. It's important to keep in mind that having a plan and executing that plan are two different things. Sometimes you don't execute your original plan because you're incompetent, or you failed to foresee some key element that made your plan unlikely or impossible. Other times, your plan doesn't work out because of factors beyond your control. In the Suns' case, the favored plan going into this offseason revolved around getting either the first or second pick in the draft. Immediately, that would meet our power forward (Zion) or point guard (Ja Morant) needs and make us both instantly better and more attractive as a free agent destination. Not only would we have incredible young talent, but we would have additional cap room that wouldn't have to be used on whichever position we selected in the draft. Instead of having to pay for both positions, we would only have to pay for one, allowing us to splurge and still have balance. Getting the first or second pick would have been a game-changer, obviously. As it was for the Pelicans, and as it would have been for any team. What is encouraging is that the Suns treated this plan like the long shot that it was, and developed backup plans for the statistically likely event that we didn't get one of the first two (or three, or four) picks. Having a backup plan may seem like a fairly normal thing for a GM to have, but the fact that we had one  -  and more than one  -  has been a revelation. ​ Anyway, here is a timeline of our moves over the past month: June 00: The Suns trade TJ Warren and the no. 00 pick for cash. This was purely to create cap space. The move has been ridiculed since TJ is a very good offensive player, but it's become clear that the Suns were most concerned with executing their vision, not maximizing the value of every individual transaction at the expense of their overall plan. I realize this sounds kind of insane: it's always better to have the number 00 pick in the draft than to not have it, everything else being equal, because any pick is worth something. It has value. But nobody was trading valuable assets for TJ Warren when they could potentially end up with someone better through free agency without having to give anything up. And the Suns couldn't wait until after free agency to move him, because we needed that money to make our own moves. We had to act fairly quickly. This is why he was finally dumped, with the 00nd pick, the day before the draft. Jones ran out of time and preferred to just check the "part ways with TJ Warren and secure that extra cap space" box and move on. Making this move was crucial to our larger plan, which we weren't going to jeopardize over the #00 pick  -  especially when we had a plan to get the #00 pick anyway. June 00: The Suns trade the 0th pick for Dario Saric and the 00th pick. Again, had the Suns had the second pick, they would have kept it and selected Ja Morant. This would have addressed their point guard need and allowed them to spend more on a free agent power forward. But they weren't sold on Darius Garland or Coby White, and after years of high draft picks busting out  -  Dragan Bender and Josh Jackson were both #0 picks  -  they just didn't have the stomach to pick yet another guy high in the draft who they weren't totally in love with. Those high-pick guys also cost more, remember  -  for example, Jackson's salary this upcoming season will be $0 million. Instead, the Suns got a decent power forward who can shoot, as well as the 00th pick. Saric isn't an all-star and never will be, but he's a solid player and a significant upgrade from Bender & Co. June 00: The Suns draft Cameron Johnson with the 00th pick. Many have called this a reach, and perhaps it was in the sense that he probably wouldn't have been selected until the late teens or 00s. But the Suns didn't have a pick in that range, and even if they did, or if they traded down for one (which they'd already done once, in moving the 0th pick for Saric and #00), there is no guarantee that some other team wouldn't draft Johnson "early." There was broad consensus on Johnson being the best shooter in the draft, which is exactly the kind of quality that teams will reach for  -  and really, teams should "reach" for players more often, given the history of low draft picks out-performing those taken ahead of them. How many times do you think a team has passed on their favorite player in the draft because it would have been a "reach," and then that player goes on to be better than the player they did draft? Anyway, Johnson was Jones' favorite player in the draft after Zion and Morant  -  for this team. Johnson was not the all-around best player available at #00, but the Suns were not interested in drafting the all-around best player. They were looking to draft a pure shooter who was mature and smart and who would fit in nicely with Booker and Ayton. That's exactly what Cam Johnson is. Fun fact: he shot 000 NBA-distance threes last season, and made them at a 00.0% clip  -  the best NBA-distance percentage in the country. June 00: The Suns acquire Aron Baynes and the #00 pick in the draft. The cost was a protected 0000 first round pick, but the benefit was an extra first-rounder this year, plus a solid backup center who was valued by Boston fans. According to Jones, we needed a backup center who could physically challenge Ayton in practice, which Richaun Holmes, who we were always planning to let walk, was unable to do. Baynes is also a solid role player in his own right, with championship experience and good touch out to the three-point line. June 00: The Suns select Ty Jerome with the #00 pick. The Suns were very high on Jerome, and their selection of him here has garnered fairly high praise in the basketball media. So if Johnson was a reach, Jerome might have been a steal. He lacks the potential upside of Coby White or Darius Garland, but he's a pure-shooting point guard who led Virginia to a championship, again fitting the Suns plan of drafting mature, capable rookies with specific skills (shooting and steadiness) who can slot in seamlessly next to Ayton and Booker. With Jerome, the Suns are able to bring him off the bench and not feel compelled to overplay him right away  -  which may not have been the case if they had saved their #0 pick and used it on White or Garland. June 00: The Suns agree to sign undrafted high school point guard Jalen Lecque to a four-year deal. The Suns were very much against taking projects in the draft. Been there, done that. We needed capable players right away. But this was a modest gamble too tasty to pass up  -  and it didn't cost a draft pick. Lecque, somewhat surprisingly  -  he was mocked by some to go in the early second round, and had numerous offers to top D0 programs  -  went undrafted, almost certainly because he stayed at high school for an extra year and thus never played college ball. Watching his high school highlight tapes, you can see that he's raw; you can also see that his athleticism is bonkers. They call him Baby Westbrook for a reason, and that reason is that he is an explosive guard who will dunk all over you and all your friends at any given moment. The Suns took a really smart gamble here: as soon as the draft was over, they signed him to a rock-bottom four-year deal, with only the first two years guaranteed. If he doesn't work out, who cares: he will have cost under $0 million total and didn't use up a draft pick. If he does work  -  and there is growing buzz about him because of his better-than-expected summer league performance  -  then the Suns may have an absolute gem on their hands, and one that will cost next to nothing for the next four years. Seriously, watch this kid fly. June 00: The Suns agree to sign free agent point guard Ricky Rubio to a three-year, $00 million contract. The Suns were fairly tight-lipped about how they ranked their various free agency options. Although many Suns fans wanted D'Angelo Russell  -  they liked the idea of a young and skilled scoring point guard playing next to his best bud Booker  -  there was never any indication that the Suns front office liked him that much. Which, again, only makes sense if you keep their overall plan in mind. Preferring Rubio over D'lo is probably a bad idea in a vacuum; preferring Rubio over D'lo for this team, which has capable scorers but lacks in passing and defense, actually makes a ton of sense. Better yet, Rubio ended up about $00 million per year cheaper than Russell, enabling the Suns to re-sign Oubre later. So really the calculus was not Russell versus Rubio; it was Russell versus Rubio and Oubre. There were other free agent point guard options, but none were a better fit  -  again, for this team  -  than Rubio. This is not me trying to justify the move after the fact: all the way back in January, Jones was on The Burns & Gambo Show and said this about what he wanted in a point guard: "We want someone leading our team that will spray the ball around and get (our players) easy buckets and set the table for them. That's where we trend, as far as playmakers and facilitators." Again, there was a vision in place and Rubio fit that vision. Even if you think $00 million is an overpay (I don't), the contract is not an albatross. Rubio's deal represents 00.0% of the cap this year, and it's only for three years. For comparison, Jeff Teague makes $00 million, Terry Rozier $00.0 million, Eric Bledsoe $00.0 million, Dennis Schroeder $00.0 million, and Goran Dragic $00 million. All of those contracts take up more cap room, in real numbers and percentage-wise, than Rubio's. His contract isn't an overpay  -  it's the going rate these days for a competent starting point guard, and looking at some of those comps, it might even be a good deal. I would take Rubio over every other player I just listed. He's also no longer the terrible shooter people think he is: he's now about average. In his two years in Utah, he shot 00% from 0 and 00% from 0, both of which are just a shade under the league-wide averages of 00% and 00%; he also shot 00% from the line, which is well above the league's 00% average. And despite everyone thinking Rubio is on the wrong side of 00  -  probably because he's been playing pro ball for 00 years  -  he's actually only 00. His entire deal should coincide with the peak of his prime. July 0: The Suns agree to sign free agent center Frank Kaminsky to a two-year, $00 million deal. This move is just the Suns being practical. Rather than go with a single big free agent signing, we took the approach of adding depth and upgrading the roster at every position. This is another example of that. Kaminsky is not a great player, but he's not terrible, and again, he's a better backup big than what we had last season. He's an improvement, and he comes on a cheap, short-term deal. He also fits the mold of what we're looking for: he will play well with Ayton and Booker, doesn't need a ton of looks, doesn't cause cultural problems, and can shoot the ball a bit. If you compare the Suns' offseason to buying a new outfit, Rubio was like a nice jacket, Saric was a new pair of jeans, Baynes was a sturdy pair of boots, and Kaminsky was a pair of warm socks. No one is even going to really see the socks, but they certainly make you feel better  -  especially when your last pair had holes in the toes. The fact that it's a two-year deal is nice, too  -  like the Baynes deal, this is clearly a stop-gap measure intended to nudge the team in the right direction without hamstringing us long-term. July 0: The Suns trade Josh Jackson and DeAnthony Melton, along with a 0000 second-round pick and a 0000 conditional second-round pick, to the Memphis Grizzlies for Kyle Korver and Jevon Carter. Jackson had been on the trading block for a good while, and this is another case of there really just not being a market for Jackson  -  which is not surprising, given his long history of off-the-court issues, some of which I mentioned earlier. The fact that he was one of the league's worst players last season certainly didn't help. We needed to move his contract to have enough space to execute our vision of signing both Rubio and Oubre, and so we did what we had to do. As with Warren, looking at this move in a vacuum leaves one wondering what in the world the Suns were up to  -  they paid a team to take a former #0 pick who is still on his rookie contract, and who has the physical (if not mental or emotional) potential to still make it in this league? But again, it's all about the larger vision. The point of moving Jackson was not to get assets in return, it was to just plain get rid of him and at the same time secure enough cap room for the players we did want. We would have loved to get more value for him, but we weren't going to wait forever for that value to materialize when we had a plan we wanted to execute, and when we doubted that value would ever exist anyway, no matter how patient we were. I mean, what dumb thing is he going to do next month? Post an insta of him cutting down saguaros? This thinking is also why we waived Kyle Korver  -  he was a throw-in to make the deal work, but we didn't want him on the books. He wasn't part of our vision. Jevon Carter and DeAnthony Melton are basically the same player at this point, and it's anyone's guess who will end up the more successful player in the long run  -  both the Grizzlies and the Suns were willing to take a chance on the other team's defensive-minded point guard, having seen enough of their own. July 00: The Suns re-sign Kelly Oubre to a two-year, $00 million deal. Re-signing Oubre was always a priority. It might not be super apparent to non-Suns fans, and especially to Wizards fans who watched Oubre in Washington, but he really did help change the culture overnight when he came over mid-season as part of the Trevor Ariza deal. Ariza was a hot mess on the court who was basically checked out from day one, while Oubre embraced his role, the city, the team, and played his ass off every night. He really seemed to fit well with Ayton and Booker, especially when he was given the starting role. The reason we did this move last is simple: we had Oubre's Bird Rights, which meant we could go over the cap to sign him. There was some risk that another team would drive up his price, but in the end he came in at pretty much the top number that most Suns fans were willing to spend: $00 million per year (actually $00.0 million this year and $00.0 million next year). That his deal was only two years instead of three is either a good thing (it should keep him highly motivated for the next two years) or a bad thing (if he really improves a ton, we don't have him locked up for longer). Time will tell, but for now this is a move that pretty much everyone in Suns land is happy with. ​ The Future After all of these moves, here is what our roster looks like right now: PG: Ricky Rubio / Ty Jerome / Jevon Carter / Elie Okobo / Jalen Lecque SG: Devin Booker / Tyler Johnson SF: Kelly Oubre / Mikal Bridges / Cameron Johnson PF: Dario Saric / Frank Kaminsky C: Deandre Ayton / Aron Baynes One immediate takeaway is that the Suns improved at nearly every position. Let's start with the guards. Rubio, obviously, is a massive upgrade at the point guard position. I mean, come on: our starting point guards last year included Isaiah Canaan, De'Anthony Melton, Elie Okobo, and my 00-year-old daughter. Tyler Johnson, our most effective point guard last year, only played in 00 games and is not actually a point guard. With Rubio on the team, Johnson is now back in his more natural two-guard spot, and a backup at that, giving us much-needed guard depth. He can still run backup point if he has to, but that responsibility will fall primarily to Ty Jerome, who can learn the role under Rubio's tutelage while primarily facing other teams' second units. Speaking of point guards, at first glance it looks like we have once again swung the pendulum and now have way too many of them, but this will likely thin out a bit before the season starts. My guess is that we will let Okobo or Carter go and assign Lecque to the G League, unless Lecque continues to impress through camp and preseason play. At the shooting guard spot, Devin Booker will have his best season yet, and why wouldn't he? He's improved every season so far, he's still only 00, and he's on by far the best team of his career, with his best coach to date. Statistically, I think he will score about the same as last year, but on fewer shots and much improved efficiency  -  if you don't follow the Suns and are wondering why his three-point percentage was not great last season, let me tell you: he took a ton of forced shots late in possessions, and not because he wanted to. He was consistently double-teamed, and although Booker is a willing passer with good court vision, we just didn't have the personnel to punish those double teams. With Rubio handling the ball most of the time, Booker will almost certainly average fewer assists next season, but go back to doing what he does best: coming off screens and getting the ball in rhythm for nice, clean looks. If he gets doubled coming off screens, he can and will make the easy next pass to either Ayton on the block or the shooter in the corner, which will actually be a shooter this time around. This is much different than being doubled way out past the three-point line, with no angle to Ayton and no shooters on the wings. Look for his efficiency to really make a jump. At small forward, we lost some offensive punch by getting rid of TJ Warren, but we maintain consistency with Oubre and Bridges, either of whom could end up starting, and either of whom would be killer on the second unit. Neither of them are the pure natural scorer that Warren is, but they are both better all-around players who contribute on defense, crash the boards, and aren't hurt all the time. They are also both young and improving, and both should be better across the board than they were last season. Oubre is the better offensive player, although Bridges has higher shooting upside, while Bridges is easily the better defender. Which one ends up starting will likely come down to whether new head coach Monty Williams prefers to emphasize offense or defense in that first unit. Speaking of Williams, he recently said that the starting power forward spot is also up for grabs, but I think everyone would be pretty surprised if Saric wasn't in that role for game 0. I said it before and I'll say it again: this is a significant upgrade for us, regardless of what you think of Saric. He brings savvy and shooting, and provides Rubio and Booker with yet another offensive option who can knock down shots but doesn't need the ball a ton. His presence on the floor will really let us space things out and give Rubio all the passing angles he could wish for, while at the same time making it easier for us to punish double-teams by whipping the ball around to the open man. Perhaps even more impressive than the upgrades to our starting five are the upgrades to our bench, which actually consists of recognizable NBA players now. Last season, you might have turned on a Suns game and saw Elie Okobo paired with Jamal Crawford in the backcourt, while Josh Jackson and Dragan Bender spotted up on the wings. Those days, thank the lord, are gone. Now our second unit is Ty Jerome running point, Tyler Johnson at the 0, Bridges or Oubre at small forward, and Kaminsky and Baynes as our bigs. (It's rare that first and second units play in clear-cut five-man rotations like that  -  there's usually a lot of overlap in substitution patterns  -  but you get the point.) Aside from Jerome, who is an unproven rookie, those are actual competent NBA players who can hang with and even outplay other second units. On top of all that, we have Monty Williams as our new head coach. Like so many of our other moves, this may not seem like that big of a deal to outsiders. Ho hum, right? Let me tell you: it's a big deal, and not just because the Lakers wanted him, too. Williams is Booker's fifth head coach in five years. Three of the coaches Booker played for were Earl Watson, Jay Triano, and Igor Kokoskov. Not exactly a bunch of Popoviches. Jeff Hornacek (oh my god) was probably the best of the bunch. Booker has played for more head coaches than Dirk Nowitzki (00 seasons), Tim Duncan (00 seasons), John Stockton (00 seasons), Dwyane Wade (00 seasons), Michael Jordan (00 seasons), and Bill Russell (00 seasons). I guess Booker can comfort himself with the fact that Jamal Crawford has played for 00 coaches in 00 seasons  -  truly a mark of greatness. Williams has impressed so far in interviews, is gelling well with GM James Jones, and has the full respect and command of the team  -  a far cry from the situation last year, where the assistant coaches were running the show and players couldn't understand what Kokoskov was even saying. Finally, not only have the Suns drastically improved their roster from last year, they have done so in a way that enables them to continue improving in the future. They have a better GM, a better head coach, and better players. They have Devin Booker locked up through the 0000-00 season. They have avoided long-term albatross contracts, enabling them to maintain flexibility going forward: the only other players besides Booker who have contracts beyond the next three seasons are the rookies we just acquired, who will still be on their rookie deals. Our new state-of-the-art practice facility will be complete in 0000, Booker and Ayton will be entering their primes, and the Suns will have the flexibility to create max cap space and lure a top free agent. A huge caveat here is that the West is a bloodbath. The Suns could have a dramatically better team this season, which we do, and still not sniff the playoffs. Which of these teams are the Suns going to finish ahead of in the standings? Nuggets Clippers Jazz Rockets Lakers Warriors Blazers Spurs The answer is none of them, barring major injuries. Even if the Suns outplay every other team in the western conference  -  the Mavs, Kings, Grizzlies, Pelicans, Timberwolves, and Thunder  -  that would still leave them in 0th place. And some of these other teams might be better too, on top of already having been better than the Suns last year. It's a tough hill to climb. And yet. The Suns, at the end of the day, got better. Maybe that only translates to 00 wins this upcoming season, maybe it translates to 00. That's not world-beating, but that's still a big step forward, and if they improve on that record with another 0-00 wins in the 0000-00 season, suddenly the Suns are an actual playoff contender with two established stars, two years of consistency and improvement under their belts, a surprisingly competent front office, a stable coaching staff, an attractive new practice facility in Scottsdale, and cap space to sign another stud. I mean, at the end of the day, who really knows. Things in the NBA can and often do change overnight. But at least the Suns, for once, have a plan. submitted by nonanonymo to 