ESPN Insider’s Future Power Rankings: Phoenix Suns 4th Worst in NBA

The Phoenix Suns were rated as the 4th worst team in ESPN’s Future Power Rankings.

Each season, ESPN Insider’s produces their Future Power Rankings, which ranks all NBA franchises in 5 different categories, focusing on success over the next three years.

Calling these ‘near-term Future Power Rankings’ seems more accurate, and not surprisingly the Suns fared poorly overall.

The Phoenix Suns came in 27th out of the 30 NBA franchises, ahead of only the New York Knicks (28th), the Sacramento Kings (29th), and the Brooklyn Nets (30th).

Considering that the Suns were 22nd in these same rankings last year, moving back to 27th shows what a disastrous year the Suns had. The Suns future over the next three years got worse, during a rebuild.

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Much of this blame could be on the signing of Tyson Chandler, as his age just doesn’t fit a rebuilding team. The inability of multiple Suns players to stay healthy also makes the short-term outlook blurrier for the Suns.

Back to the Future (Power Rankings). Each team is ranked in five categories, from 0-100: Players, Management, Money, Market, & Draft. Let’s take a quick look at how the Suns rated, and whether or not the ESPN Insider’s got it right.

Players – Score: 27.5 – Rank: 27th

Only the Brooklyn Nets (30th), Los Angeles Lakers (29th), and Philadelphia 76’ers (28th) scored lower.

This stands out to me as the one area the Future Power Rankings got wrong. The Suns roster isn’t loaded with talent, but they have proven starters in Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, and Alex Len. Devin Booker and T.J. Warren are young talents. The Suns are likely dinged here due to a lack of a star – which is a fair critique.

Take: Rating is too low

Management – Score: 20 – Rank: 28th

The New York Knicks tied the Suns here, and the Sacramento Kings came in last, with a score of 8.

This score is an indictment of Robert Sarver much more so than Ryan McDonough. Unfortunately, this is an accurate score for the Phoenix Suns.

Take: Got it right.

Money – Score: 65 – Rank: 6th

This seems surprisingly high, given that the Phoenix Suns have three contracts eating up approximately $40 million a year, with no true star yet (Eric Bledsoe, Brandon Knight, Tyson Chandler). Basketball-Reference shows the Suns having the 12th most money on the books next season already (2016-17), 15th most in 2017-18, and 5th most in 2018-19.

One factor of this rating is the team’s willingness to spend money, including paying the luxury tax. It doesn’t seem clear how the Suns received such a significant boost in this category, considering how much money they have locked up on players collectively rated as the 3rd worst in the league.

Take: Rating too high.

Market – Score: 62.5 – Rank: 9th

Market is meant to give an idea of how likely players are to come play there. Despite the recent issues between the Suns and their players, it is very positive to see the Suns still in the top 10.