Take a deep breath, watch them rise
The NBA All-Star break this year is an opportunity for the basketball world to take a deep breath and enjoy the Suns rise.
It’s the best story in the NBA. Here are some things Suns fans have learned, forgotten about and can look forward to for the rest of this season:
What we've learned
Phoenix fans have learned that James Jones and Monty Williams know what they’re doing.
Jones, the third-year general manager, rebuilt the squad on the fast break with one low-key move after another.
JAMES JONES
Gone are draft-day projects like Elie Okobo, Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender. In their place are solid NBA contributors such as Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson.
From there Jones moved on from guys like Tyson Chandler, Tyler Johnson and Troy Daniels in favor of veterans who were better fits for Phoenix’s offensive and defensive systems, including Dario Saric, Frank Kaminsky and Jae Crowder.
Not to mention Jones made the Chris Paul-for-Kelly Oubre trade. Oubre is a terrific player with dazzling potential, but Paul is one of the best players in the
history of the sport — and more importantly, he’s the perfect fit for this roster.
In total, the team Jones inherited in 2018 finished with 19 wins, and the team he’s built since has 23 wins already at the All-Star break of a short, compact season.
He should be considered the leading candidate for executive of the year.
Williams, for his part, should most certainly be considered for coach of the year — even if that’s not an award he should want.
Williams has proved himself to be the NBA’s best coach this season.
Tyronn Lue and Steve Nash have flashier rosters with the Clippers and Nets, respectively. And Quinn Snyder has two young All-Stars and several key role players who have spent several seasons together in Utah.
But coach of the year is a jinx. It usually goes to someone who overachieves with a subpar roster. Coachof-the-year seasons are often followed by regression-to-the-mean seasons, meaning fluky and scrappy wins that mark one year become predictable and dull-eyed losses that doom another.
Still, whether he wants it or not, Williams deserves recognition as the NBA’s best.
He’s earning that.
What we've forgotten
Let’s not talk about all those down years. There’s no need to dredge up old pain and broken promises.
The Suns went nearly 10 years without an All-Star until Devin Booker broke through last season.
They’ve gone more than 10 years without a playoff berth.
And Suns Arena was a carousel of disappointing executives, coaches and draft picks during that span.
These days, the Suns are known for going undefeated in the Bubble, landing Paul in the off-season’s splashiest move and racing out to one of the best records in the NBA.
Plus, the Suns have two All-Stars and a slew of other guys worthy of recognition. Johnson should be on the short list for most improved player.
Bridges should get picked for an NBA All-Defense team.
And Paul and Booker should be considered for All-NBA recognition.
What we can look forward to
Suns fans should be looking forward to the playoffs.
Nothing is guaranteed at this stage of the season, but Phoenix is poised to return to the postseason and host a first-round series.
But there are a few months between now and the end of the season, if we look too far ahead, we won’t enjoy the present.
So, how about we look forward to “The March of Devin Booker”?
This is month that he loves to come in like a lion.
In March 2017, Booker put 70 points on the Boston Celtics.
In March 2018, he concluded a run where he scored 30 or more points six times in a seven-game stretch.
In March 2019, he scored 59, 50 and 48 points in consecutive games.
Last March, Booker got in four games before the NBA shut down. He averaged 27.5 points.
And if you still need something to get excited about, Chris Paul could pass Magic Johnson on the all-time assists list right after this month goes out like a lamb.
Paul has been on a tear, averaging 10.6 assists over the Suns' five games before the All-Star break. (And he’s doing it without being careless, averaging 3 turnovers per game over that span.)
Paul is 188 assists behind Magic. If Paul keeps up this pace, he’ll need 18 games to move into fifth on the career assists list.
The Suns have consecutive games on ESPN and TNT in early April, against the Jazz and Clippers, respectively. It’s entirely plausible that Paul could move ahead of Johnson on national TV as the NBA world watches.
All-Star Weekend is a good time to reflect on all of that.
It’s a good time to take a deep breath and watch the Suns rise.