Five signs this season has been a failure
By Adam Maynes
Jay Triano did not solidify himself as a top candidate to lead the team into the future
Jay Triano has done exactly what the organization wanted from him: lose games and do so without complaining. The season was based around the tank. Shoot, the team’s slogan could have been “playing for next year,” something that Triano has handled it masterfully. For some, that could be enough to believe that Triano has earned the right to return simply because he was such a trooper in not trying to screw things up along the way.
Yet at the same time, there have been too many irrefutable issues with this team that one might blame him for pulling down his credibility as a viable head coach and diminishing his odds of returning and leading the 2018-19 Suns into battle.
Losing is one thing. Losing a lot is another. But losing with a young team that not only doesn’t play any defense but has actually regressed as the season continues is entirely another. The Suns haven’t just been losing – competitive losing would be fantastic as a fan – but they’ve been blown out. They were blown out by a Golden State Warriors team that was missing Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Kevin Durant. If the Suns couldn’t get up for that game alone, what can they get up for?
With this in mind, it is worth pointing out that Phoenix’s defense has been the worst…ever, in some regards.
For fans who were vocal about the terrible coaching of Earl Watson, and particularly their defense, the Suns are actually worse this season under Triano. Phoenix allowed 113.3 points per game last season, the worst since 1986-87 when that roster allowed 113.5 per game. Yet, the 2017-18 Triano Suns – granted with three God-awful Earl Watson games included – are allowing 113.7, the worst the franchise has allowed since 1969-70 when that roster allowed 121.1, Phoenix’s second ever season and worst defensive season in their history.
Last season the team owned a 112.2 Defensive Rating (DRtg), their worst mark in their history. This Suns team has even topped that, owning a 113.1 DRtg. I mean, c’mon, man!
Aside from the fact that the young players have been suffering through a losing that for some they may have been sucked into the culture of it, if Triano isn’t retained, for several of the Suns’ most talent players, they will be playing under their fourth head coach in four years if Triano isn’t retained.
T.J. Warren and Devin Booker, for instance, have played for Jeff Hornacek, Earl Watson, and Jay Triano, and may soon have a fourth head coach to attempt to assimilate into a system. This kind of constant change is difficult for all players, but to put two stars of a team through this kind of head coaching carousel, it might actually be somewhat detrimental to their growth – a growth that appears to have continued quite well even without such consistency is direction.
This isn’t to forget too that players like Dragan Bender, Marquese Chriss, and Josh Jackson will be with their third head coach in three and two years, respectively, Bender and Chriss potentially being the two players on this roster who were most hurt by having to play under Earl Watson for the entirety of their rookie seasons.
If the Suns were losing 60+ games this season while remaining competitive, giving fans and the franchise reason for optimism with Head Coach Jay Triano, that’d be one thing. But the fact that Triano likely won’t be back, potentially stunting the growth of young players, and the team’s defense has been absolutely abysmal, is reason enough to call this season a bust, regardless of the outcome in the Draft.