With fans losing patience, Suns must improve
Patience is a virtue, and a rarity in professional sports. It’s the state of grace that prevails in the face of failure, transcending the need for immediate gratification. It’s the greatest reward starving fans can bestow on their favorite franchise.
During their extensive playoff drought, the Suns have been blessed by the Valley’s collective benevolence, benefitting from a replenished well of faith and trust. But that seems to have changed dramatically in recent weeks.
Nowadays, patience feels like a gift card that just expired.
Maybe it’s the nature of their mounting losses on Planet Orange. The Suns are the first team in NBA history to lose two home games by 45 points or more in the same season. There have been seven games decided by 40 or more points in 201718, and the Suns have lost three of them.
They have a pair of 48-point losses separated by a stretch of 55 games, shattering illusions of perceived growth.
As a result, the “Timeline” is losing credibility and subscribers, no longer a popular catchphrase for a fan base that made the playoffs 29 times in their first 42 years.
Part of the problem is the franchise’s reluctance to take big financial risks. They have diligently stockpiled draft picks and assets for their next big acquisition. But a painful realization has overcome the oldest fan base in Arizona: What good is the future if it never arrives?
The Suns can’t be blamed for their inability to land a marquee free agent, including failed sales pitches to LeBron James, LaMarcus Aldridge and Blake Griffin. But when the organization passed on a chance to acquire former Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving, mostly because they didn’t want to part with rookie Josh Jackson, their strategy should’ve been exposed to extreme scrutiny and external pressure.
Instead, a staggering amount of Suns fans agreed with the team’s decision. Many preferred Jackson’s potential over Irving’s dazzling talent. They doubled down on the draft history of General Manager Ryan McDonough, who was widely praised for snagging both Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss in the first round of the 2016 draft; for identifying the superstar potential of Devin Booker, a bench player during his only season at Kentucky; and for selecting Jackson in last year’s draft, a high-energy player out of Kansas who many called the best player coming out of college. Much has changed in recent months. Booker remains McDonough’s masterpiece. The third-year pro is self-motivated and consumed with greatness. He is polished but ruthless, eager to conquer the world but temporarily content to play basketball in Phoenix. He has liberated McDonough from the impossible task of finding a franchise player in an NBA haystack.
But injuries have done more than slow Booker’s ascent in 2017-18. They have illuminated how incompetent this team looks when he’s not on the floor, exposing the flaws of a team too young to compete at the highest level.
Jackson has shown growth but endured his share of growing pains. He’s a defensive stopper overly consumed with scoring, prompting interim coach Jay Triano to bench him for one game. Bender vacillates between a hybrid force and overmatched front-court player devoured by experienced veterans. Chriss has proven just how hard it can be to build a foundation on highly touted rookies, a player who was likened as the next Amar’e Stoudemire, only to struggle with his emotions, his focus and his fitness. And it’s ironic how a team once sabotaged by too many point guards suddenly has a huge void at one of the most important positions in the sport.
Nearing Thursday’s trade deadline, McDonough addressed the latter concern. He acquired Elfrid Payton from the Magic for a second-round pick, a defensive-minded distributor who will be a restricted free agent after the season. In the context of baby steps, it was a steal of a deal. But it’s not the kind of transaction that will move the meter for disenfranchised spectators.
Not too long ago, it felt like the Suns turned a corner. Their nucleus of young talent seemed to be coming of age while Triano displayed a deft touch with player development. That optimism was fleeting and quickly flushed, and it’s fair to wonder what the Suns have outside of Booker.
Triano has already decried the downside of tanking games and how a losing culture can poison a locker room, preventing players from practicing with full investment and souring their view on the organization. But it once again seems like the shrewdest move in a season gone awry – when the Warriors and Rockets are light years ahead, when the Spurs still hammer the Suns with impunity, when the Lakers just cleared cap space to recruit LeBron James and Paul George.
This is why the NBA is a treacherous place for teams in the cellar. Teams need grown men to hoist a trophy, but they are forced to rebuild with kids who are one or two years out of high school, with no assurances of how they’ll mature. That’s how 40-point losses become the norm.
As distasteful as it sounds, the Suns have only one option. They need to tank the rest of the season without contempt, white flags and the accompanying stigma. While it’s counterproductive to reward struggling players with extended playing time, they need another shot at the small group of coveted players who will turn professional next season: Trae Young, Deandre Ayton and Marvin Bagley III. And they need to find the perfect supplemental piece in free agency with all that spending they’ve acquired.
Hope is not lost, not when Booker is still happy to wear a Suns uniform. But civic tolerance has run its course. The Timeline is no longer a rallying cry. And patience is the one element a professional franchise can’t control, a gift that doesn’t last forever.