How well will the Phoenix Suns compete against the Pacific Division in 2019-20?
By Adam Maynes
With only the Pacific Division to go, this is the final post in a series that will attempt to predict what the Phoenix Suns’ regular season record will be based on their head-to-head match ups vs each Division in the NBA.
Phoenix Suns General Manager James Jones has a tremendous opportunity before him: if he can build a winner, and sustain it over a long period of time, he will be considered one of the greatest GM’s in franchise history.
If he doesn’t, he of course will simply go down as another failed General Manager, and disappear into franchise lore just like so many before him.
Fortunately for Jones, because the franchise is at such depths never before known, the opportunity to build a winner with the young core already in place is legitimate.
As he was the “interim” GM last season, the 2019-20 season might already be the fulcrum in his managerial career because the roster that he has put together this offseason seems to be the kind that not only should compete game-in-and-game-out, but also grow quickly in the future.
If this core fails, it will fail pretty fast and within only a season or two fans and management will know that once again he was unable to acquire the right pieces to put around Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton – and certainly if the brand new coaching staff led by Monty Williams was not the right one as well.
However, if he succeeds, while it wouldn’t necessarily take a playoff run in 2020 to prove that long-term growth and sustained winning is in the near future, reaching the mid-30’s in wins could be, and based on my earlier predictions, might be exactly where they’re at.
Over the past five posts I have broken down how the Phoenix Suns should fare head-to-head with the full Eastern Conference as well as the Southwest and Northwest Divisions.
Based on those predictions, .500 is right at about where they will be – although with the gauntlet of gauntlet Divisions left to go: their own Pacific Division.
Unfortunately, the franchise picked the absolute worst time to try and build a winner from scratch.
The Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Lakers, and now Los Angeles Clippers are all going to be dominant forces in the Division this coming season (and for several years to come), while the Sacramento Kings are already coming off of a 39 win season last year.
Wins are going to be difficult to come by for Phoenix in the Pacific, and while they would probably have to be a huge surprise to become either the fourth or fifth playoff team to come out of the Division this year, they can at least take that next step forward and potentially make James Jones look like a genius.
This is the final in my regular season prediction series: the Pacific Division.