Phoenix Suns fans deserve a vocal owner
Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and there is no doubt that I think that Robert Sarver can stumble onto a good enough team to compete for and achieve the goal of reaching the playoffs at least once in a while.
He has been close on one occasion in 2014, and one has to assume that it is possible they stumble their way there again at least once in the next few seasons.
But that is just not good enough. The league has to have an expectation that franchises are going to use their resources to the best of their abilities to build a competitive team, and that at least having a competent starting player at all five positions is a prerequisite of such competitiveness.
Throw on top of all of this, Sarver’s reclusiveness.
Where is Sarver when most of the bad things happen to the franchise? Where is he when coaches are fired? Where is he when star players demand trades, or when trades that were publicly reported in a certain construct, collapse because the Suns were reportedly not actually on the phone calls of the trade discussions themselves?
Sarver spoke after McDonough was fired, but where has he been since? Why can’t the fans of the Phoenix Suns regularly hear from their owner, who many believe is in on the daily doings of roster management?
When Eric Bledsoe demanded his trade, by my recollection, Sarver never made a public statement on the matter (you’d figure the owner would want to say something to defend himself), leaving General Manager Ryan McDonough to take all questions and circulate all accusations against the franchise’s only star at the time.
All of this, and much, much more, has most certainly been made well aware to Commissioner Adam Silver and must be of some concern to him.
Silver has a couple of days off before the regular season starts back up again and over half the league makes their final push towards the playoffs.
The Phoenix Suns, on the other hand, will continue their long stay in the basement of the NBA, where if they even doubled their current win total (11), they would still find themselves in last place in the West behind the Memphis Grizzlies (23 wins at the break).
Adam Silver, heed our call and make something happen.
Is it at all possible that you could bend the rules just once, and allow a current player to own a team? LeBron James.