Can the Phoenix Suns make the 2018 playoffs?
By Adam Maynes
When this season began, and especially after the god-awful 0-3 start, it seemed that the 2017-18 Phoenix Suns would be a lock for the high end of the lottery.
And while a top-5 pick might still be the case, the Suns are better than anyone believed they would be at this point, and the near-universal overlook of this season to the summer of 2018 has evolved into a splintering of fans still wishing to see the team tank, and those who are begging for a playoff appearance – the first in eight years.
There is no doubt that the going is tough for the Suns the rest of the way. They have yet to even face Golden State whom they have not defeated since November of 2014.
Even after a surprise dominating victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Suns are still a very young and immature team, a variable that in and of itself can arguably preclude them from any expectations of make the playoffs.
Yet that very aspect of their roster, coupled with the surprisingly effective leadership of Head Coach Jay Triano, and having never lost in the NBA, combined is what might actually push them to the promised land, and become a playoff team when absolutely nobody every expected it of them.
This team is so young, they sincerely don’t know any better.
With that being said, I wanted to break down their remaining schedule and see, simply based on who they have left to play, what their chances are of sneaking in. I’m not going to make any game-by-game predications. I’m not going to take back-to-back’s into account. I’m simply going to lay the information out there and make a couple of broad estimates based solely on basic facts.
At some point the Suns can go on an unexpected nine game losing streak and muck everything up. They can also go on a surprise seven game winning streak and push ahead even farther. This is just a base analysis with some base estimations.