Phoenix will not finish worst in the Pacific Division
If Igor Kokoskov could put any one (reasonable) goal on a locker room white board for the team to strive for throughout the year, it should be that they will not finish last in the Pacific Division.
I can just hear Jackie Moon and the rest of the Flint Tropics shouting “Fourth place!”
The Suns have been last in the Division for each of the last two seasons, the first time in franchise history that the have finished last in their division in back-to-back years.
Unfortunately the Los Angeles Lakers have added LeBron James so they will likely not be supplanting Phoenix in last place this season (L.A. finished last in the three seasons prior to Phoenix’s short streak, and the two teams have shared the basement for each of the last six seasons combined. Ironically, the last time another team finished in last was in 2012-13, when Paul Westphal started the season as the Sacramento Kings’ head coach, the team who owned the basement that year).
Not finishing in last place would be the perfect goal for Kokoskov to start the season with (hopefully with higher expectations as the season moves on and the team does well). That said, someone has to finish in last place in the Pacific, and I believe that that team will once again be the Sacramento Kings.
Adding Marvin Bagley III is going to be tremendous with De’Aaron Fox and Bogdan Bogdanovic already rounding out a nice, young backcourt. However, the team is even more raw than the Suns, and I would wager that at worst Phoenix will split that season series, if not win at least three out of four.
As simple and small as that kind of a goal is for an NBA franchise, Phoenix will not be the bottom-dweller this year.
Fourth place!