How well will the Phoenix Suns compete against the Pacific Division in 2019-20?

LeBron James Stephen Curry Phoenix Suns (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Pacific Division Prediction

In my prediction series, I have used this term almost ad nauseam: the Western Conference is a gauntlet and the Pacific Division is the gauntlet of gauntlets.

For the Phoenix Suns to somehow make it into the playoffs, they will have to leap over at least two of the four teams who finished above them last season – an event that is extremely unlikely.

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However, as I mentioned in the intro, taking a step forward by winning enough games to place the team in the mid-30s in victories would be big for a franchise who has won 87 total in the last four seasons, and no more than 24 during that stretch.

Leading up to the Pacific Division, I do see the Phoenix Suns at .500, an equal 33-33 on the year, yet I knew that that kind of a record was never going to hold because of how difficult the Lakers, Clippers, Warriors, and Kings are, and with the knowledge that each team plays each other four times.

Last season, Phoenix finished with one victory against each team in the Division, a poor 4-12.

Based on my prediction for this coming season, that is exactly where they will finish this year (although with a sweep at the hands of the Lakers and a second victory over Sacramento): 4-12.

With the 33-33 record against the other five Divisions, that places the Suns at 37-45, an 18 game improvement over last season, and then depending upon what James Jones does in the summer of 2020, a nice stepping stone towards he becoming known as one of the greatest General Managers in franchise history.

In 2018-19, a 37-45 record would have tied Phoenix with the Lakers for the 10th best record in the Western Conference. I am pretty confident that the team would finished pretty far behind 8th place in the Conference if they managed that record in 2019-20, so it wouldn’t be as if they were ever really fighting for a spot, but it would mean a lot more wins than we have been made used to in the recent past.

Can that record fluctuate some? Absolutely. They could finish with around 30-33 wins depending on injuries and if Rubio does not make quite the impact fans and the franchise alike are hoping for, or they could even crawl their way up to at or near .500 if the young core develops the way they are expected to.

Either way, I feel that a 37-45 record is entirely attainable, and if James Jones can work some magic next offseason, who knows what can happen from here.