4. How big of a deal would it be if this team does not reach the .500 mark?
Bourguet: Not that big a deal. The Suns traded away one-third of the roster at the trade deadline; what did they expect would happen? Those moves were predicated on building for the future, not a first round playoff exit this season. To that end, every game the Suns lose from here on out is actually a blessing in disguise when it comes to improving their 2015 first round draft pick.
Chasen: It’s a non-issue. Actually, it’s less than that. The impact of the team’s record is less than meaningless. No one in their right mind thinks this team isn’t an above-.500 quality team. After all, the Suns are still above .500 at the moment, despite having basically given up in the last game, in addition to the fact that they play in the loaded Western Conference. Oh, and losing four games at the buzzer certainly didn’t help either. Final record matters very little in defining this team, and anyone who tries to discredit the Suns because they landed a game or two under .500 probably just needs to take a deep breath and step back from the keyboard for a bit.
Hann: Little to none. In this season alone, the Suns have endured a tremendous amount of growing pains and game experience to significantly help them moving forward. I wouldn’t put too much stock into their final record, especially when the entire organization itself was never truly building to win this year. The time to evaluate the Suns based on their end-of-season record won’t be for another two years. On a side note however, there is an outside chance that the streaking Utah Jazz surpass Phoenix by the end of the year (if the Suns fail to reach .500). This would vault Phoenix into the 12th pick in an incredibly deep draft. Just something intriguing to keep an eye on.
Saar: I don’t think it’s a problem at all. Symbolically, it could be important, maybe even more of a morale boost to finish over .500. It’s all about the process, not the results at this point.
Schall: It’ll be heartbreaking given the expectations coming into the season, but if you look at last season as a Goran Dragic induced outlier, it’s perfectly reasonable. Given the limited veteran talent on the roster and typical rebuilding timeline of an NBA team Phoenix is way ahead of schedule if they finish over .500 or not. So no it’s not a big deal, but it is frustrating because it’s further evidence that this team is counter intuitively toeing the line between competing and rebuilding.
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