The Phoenix Suns have announced a four-game preseason slate – the second shortest in franchise-history. This is probably going to be the new norm, which is fine: Let’s get the regular season started already.
The 2019-20 Phoenix Suns season is easily the most highly-anticipated since 2014-15 which followed the 48-35 regular season that left the franchise just one game short of the playoffs and came with the surprise addition of Isaiah Thomas (remember when the franchise had a girth of point guards?).
With a massive overhaul of the roster, a new head coach, and a little more age and experience under Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges‘ belts, the team has an opportunity to surprise a lot of people, winning far more games than they have in the recent past.
How many? Well, I laid out a vision for how the regular season can turn out here, a read that I highly recommend.
Anticipation is developed through the lead up of time prior to an event, and while the NBA has not released their regular season schedules, the Phoenix Suns have now released their 2019 preseason schedule, which is, needless to say, abridged.
October 8 – v Minnesota
October 10 – at Sacramento
October 12 – at Portland
October 14 – v Denver
For a league that once practically played an entire college basketball schedule of exhibition games before the 80-game regular season in the 60s (literally, teams played a 20+ game preseason slate before they the games began to count), and who for many years settled on a two-week, eight-game exhibition schedule (which just seems natural, and right), they now will play four games as a means of making sure that the opening of the regular season is as rough as possible (or to protect the players – or something).
It seems that four games is where they are going to rest for a while, which I guess is just fine.
Why? Because: let’s let the regular season start already.
With an 82-game schedule that many believe is too long already (I disagree, however I love basketball), if teams with a bunch of new pieces or plans stumble out of the gate in the regular season because they were not quite that comfortable together yet following the preseason, there is plenty of time to clean things up and still make a run at the playoffs.
The new Tom Chambers-led 1988-89 Phoenix Suns stumbled out to an 0-2, 4-6, and 11-10 start prior to fully understanding Cotton Fitzsimmons’ offense and each other and roaring to a 44-17 finish to the regular season, a 55-27 regular season record, and a trip to the Western Conference Finals.
While I do not expect the 2019-20 Phoenix Suns to make a run to the Conference Finals (let alone the playoffs), playing only four games shouldn’t kill their opportunity to gel and come together for the long run, even if we are used to following longer preseason schedules.
The 2019-20 Phoenix Suns preseason schedule is a short one, a length which I suspect will be the new norm. That’s okay though, because this regular season is a highly-anticipated one so let’s get these games counting.
Now that we know the preseason schedule, we can guesstimate that the regular season will only start a few days later, meaning we are only about 80 days from seeing what James Jones has built, and how Monty Williams can deliver it on the court.