During the recent period of Phoenix Suns “tanking,” the argument in it’s favor had been that the Suns couldn’t win now anyway because of the Golden State Warriors. The waiting out period might actually be coming to an end.
Had the Phoenix Suns somehow managed to field a competitive team over the past couple of years, they were never going to the NBA Finals because they were never going to upset the Golden State Warriors at the very top of the Western Conference.
The argument thus for Phoenix Suns tanking was often beset on that very idea, allowing for an acceptability of losing “today,” because it could mean long term winning “tomorrow.”
Well, nine years after the Suns have last made the playoffs, and now deeply entrenched it what will hopefully be THE final offseason needed to put together a playoff team beginning in 2020, there is hope too that the Golden State Warriors’ time at the top of the Conference – and thus the league – might finally be coming to an end:
Warriors 'Bracing For Seismic Change' In Offseason https://t.co/yCBjjwJmof
— RealGM (@RealGM) May 6, 2019
Obviously the first big move that could happen to break apart the Golden State Warriors could be the loss of Kevin Durant should he chose to take his talents elsewhere, the prevailing theory being the New York Knicks.
It is unknown if he has already made up his mind one way or another, and while it shouldn’t shock anybody if he decided to stay with the Warriors long term to continue to win titles, his loss would seriously damage the hopes of continued Western Conference dominance – even if Golden State had one won without him.
The idea that Klay Thompson won’t be offered a max contract by the Warriors is just silly to me and I cannot fathom watching the 2019-20 Warriors without Thompson on the court; although I could see a team without Draymond Green.
Considered the heart and soul of the team, trading Draymond, with one-year remaining on his contract before he demands a max deal, would allow the Warriors to re-sign Klay without hesitation (although again, I do not know why there would be any hesitation anyway) while then allowing management to find other players to fill in what they will lose with Draymond’s loss – which as of now is much less statistically than it had been in the early years of the team’s reign of dominance (including a now putrid 3-point shooting percentage).
Either way, the potential loss of two of the team’s top-four players in just one offseason (granted one that will likely begin with the winning of a third-straight championship) would truly be “seismic,” and thus, the perfect time for the Phoenix Suns to start to make their own ascension toward the top of the Western Conference.
The main core of the Phoenix Suns are at minimum five-years younger than the core of the Warriors as they stand, so their ability to stay ahead of Golden State eventually if/when they do climb ahead, will be similar to how the Warriors climbed and then stayed ahead of the then aging Suns when this era began.
Phoenix needs not only the roster to win, but then the opportunity to climb ahead of some of the heavy-hitters in the Conference as they fall back.
There is no team other than the Golden State Warriors who must fall for the Phoenix Suns to ultimately reach the Conference pinnacle, and with some luck on the Suns’ end (and selfishness by current Warriors), the years of waiting Golden State out, might finally be coming to an end.