1. What positives do you take out of this season?
Gerald Bourguet: T.J. Warren and Archie Goodwin got some much-needed developmental minutes. The Suns avoided overpaying Goran Dragic with a huge max contract this summer. Alex Len made great strides and Eric Bledsoe played the whole season without getting injured. The team is still young, has a number of draft assets and as bad as they were after the All-Star break, they STILL might have been in the running for the eighth playoff spot despite the roster turnover and injury problems.
Scott Chasen: Look at the Suns record, and then consider the following — Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas had their problems; Alex Len got injured on multiple occasions; Brandon Knight got injured; the team ended the season going 1-10 in their last 11; the Suns lost five games on last second shots and/or buzzer beaters, three-to-four of which had no business being anywhere close to going in — Seriously. With all that, the Suns still were competitive until the last two weeks of the season, while giving minutes to T.J. Warren and Archie Goodwin.
Spencer Hann: It was a major learning experience that will only help the Suns going forward. Albeit, a painful and season-long one, but still a valuable tool. All the close games that Phoenix failed to win, will be ones that they start to pull out next season. Individually, this year was a great step for Alex Len as he continues the gradual climb to becoming the franchise center the Suns have lacked for decades.
Eric Saar: There isn’t too much positive about the season as it was pretty brutal. Talking big picture, we saw Alex Len become the starter at the center position and become a consistent player that we know he can be. The flashes of the All-Star player he can be were certainly a positive. We learned Warren can probably stick in the league at the least and that Bledsoe seems to be playing up to his contract.
Oh, yeah and even though it’s a pretty easy feat, we swept the Los Angeles Lakers.
That’s about all the positives.
Mark Harris: Well for the first half of the season (which seems like a VERY long time ago), it was nice to see that the Suns could compete in the West despite having inferior talent. As for the second half, seeing Archie Goodwin and TJ Warren take huge strides in games where they played real minutes. Also, since the Suns sputtered down the stretch of its season, they will receive a better draft pick, so that a positive I guess?
Next: No. 2