Do you believe in miracles?
In early 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, the world was suddenly made aware of the miracle of American ruggedness as a scrappy bunch of college kids defeated the best the Soviet Union had to offer in the sport of hockey, an event that was dubbed by a young Al Michaels, a miracle.
For the Suns – or at least their fans – the idea of a miracle happening to this franchise this season wouldn’t need to be a Conference Finals victory (as the USA Men’s Hockey Team’s defeat over the USSR was actually the Semifinals and not the Gold Medal game), but something less than that. In fact, if the Suns made it to the NBA Finals, many might proclaim that hell had frozen over, to steal another piece of religious imagery.
Based on the makeup of the team, the continued dramatic shift of talent from the Eastern Conference to the Western Conference, and even many would believe the coaching staff, and it would seem nothing short of miraculous for the Suns to even make the playoffs, let alone make it anywhere near as far as team USA in 1980.
Having missed out on the big dance for the last seven seasons, to make the playoffs in 2018 while starting as many young players as they will in their base rotation, would undoubtedly make the current 2017-18 Suns team the biggest underdog to reach the playoffs in franchise history.
This perspective is what got me thinking: if our expectations all offseason have been such that after the 82 game regular season lapses the Purple Gang from Phoenix will have the 2018 summer months off for sure, what then would be a surprising outcome for them?
Phoenix Suns
For starters, a winning record. Even finishing 42-40 would seem entirely unlikely at this point. Once again, the roster being as young as it is, and outside of the addition of Josh Jackson the bulk of the rotation is exactly the same as it was last season, adding 18 wins (or more importantly, subtracting 18 losses) from the final regular season record would be entirely surprising.
So how about 41-41? Obviously only a loss difference from one game above .500, but if you at least take above .500 out of one’s presumed reality, how surprised would you be if they just broke even? If Suns fans knew that this team would absolutely not have a winning record, can you give any consideration to 41-41? Or if that happened, would you be absolutely blown away surprised?
If so, then let’s take their record back even a step further and just expect that they will be as bad as we all think they’ll be. What if they were to finish out of the bottom three in the Western Conference standings? How surprising would that be?
The Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans, Dallas Mavericks, Sacramento Kings, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Los Angeles Lakers each finished above the Suns in the Western Conference last season. In many ways each of them improved and none are expected to take a step back towards the Suns. Is it possible for Phoenix to not only pass two of those teams, but a third? If somehow – while still finishing below .500 – the Suns managed to finish 12th in the West, would that just make you scratch your head at the end of the season and question if you could believe what you just saw?
We expect – and many are downright hoping – that they will be in position to lock down another top-five pick in 2018. So, what if they finished fourth in the Western Conference, not even taking into account how much better that might make them over Eastern Conference foes?
Obviously that level of mediocrity would be disappointing, although that would also presume a level of growth and improvement that we are not expecting. Thus, would this be a surprise ending? Or, is even this too far out of the realm of possibility?
Now let’s take into account that they were 23-59 two seasons ago, and 24-58 last year. With the addition of Jackson and the presumed growth of the young players, would you put money on the Suns not losing at least 60 games this season for the first time since 1968-69? Would even losing 60 games or more this season be a bit of a shock? Or in your mind is that number so much within reach that the surprise would be if they tied or broke the 16-66 record?
Moving on from regular season records or standings, what about head-to-head matchups? Would you surprised if the Suns didn’t sweep a single season series all year? What if they did sweep a team, such as the Orlando Magic, for instance. How surprised would you be there?
Or should the fanbase only be surprised if they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, or San Antonio Spurs, once? And I’m not talking about beating each of them once, but just beating one of them, once? Of course the Suns did defeat the San Antonio Spurs once last season, in Mexico City, but they finished winless otherwise. Is it safe to assume that since the Suns will not be traveling to Mexico this year that we can write L’s in pen by those games now and just assume them to all be impossible to overcome, thus providing us with a surprise if they ever did emerge victorious?
Which would be more surprising, if the Suns didn’t make a trade for another star sometime this coming season, or if they did?
Obviously the answer to that question depends upon who the Suns might be acquiring as well as who/what they would give up to make the acquisition. However, either way, with so many fans wanting them to stand pat as well as the many who would be fine with a star acquisition, what path would knock your socks off even more quickly?
If we were to think individually, which would be more surprising to you: Devin Booker averaging 25 points per game, or Eric Bledsoe averaging nine assists? Or Josh Jackson winning Rookie of the Year (in what appears to be a race that will be heavily stacked against him because of insane media hype centered around California), or Tyler Ulis winning Most Improved Player of the Year? Then again, is the concept of any Suns player, coach, or executive winning an award this season in any way so outlandish of a thought that taking home one award would be a surprise?
From game-to-game, would it surprise you if Devin Booker had a 60+ point game this season? Or what about Eric Bledsoe having a 50+ scoring game? It doesn’t seem all that out of the realm of possibility for Tyson Chandler to have at least one 20+ rebound game, same for Alan Williams depending on how much playing time he receives. So, if Alex Len ever re-signed, would it surprise you more if he had a 20+ rebound game, or is the idea of him even re-signing with Phoenix that far from out of left field from your perspective already that if he was credited with even one single board this season it would just blow your mind?
Next: The top-10 Highest Scoring Individual Games in Phoenix Suns History
With such a presumptive bad season by record seemingly on the horizon for the Suns, there can still be plenty to look forward to, and yes, even lot’s of things that would be surprising. Even in a 24-58 regular season record of 2016-17 Suns fans had lots to be surprised about, especially with the emergence of Alan Williams and the 70-point game by Devin Booker.
Hopefully this season there are plenty of surprises as well, most of which end with positive results.