The Phoenix Suns are bound to be much improved, just how so remains to be determined. There is a chance that they are good enough to win 50 games – and yet still miss the playoffs.
The Phoenix Suns haven’t won 50+ games in a season since 2009-10, and haven’t won 50+ over two seasons combined since 2014-16 (they haven’t even broken .500 over two seasons since 2016-18).
But with a revamped roster and head coach, all things seem possible prior to a new season, so why not speculate that they can win 50 games – yet still miss the playoffs?
Every season there is a team who wins much more than the season before, a turnaround team who either expectedly or not, makes a jump in the standings. That doesn’t mean that it is common for a team to make a leap of 31 games (which is what the Suns would have to do going from 19 to 50 wins), but jumps of at least 20 happen with regularity.
With an almost brand new team over the one fielded in 2018-19, James Jones has absolutely set the franchise up to potentially be one of those teams.
They are going to win a decent number more than 19 games without question (barring injury(s), of course), and with a new starting point guard, a new head coach, and depth at almost every position (the lack of veteran depth at point guard sincerely worries me), they are going to sneak up on teams at first, and overtake others as the season progresses.
But can they be GOOD ENOUGH to win 50 games in the gauntlet that is the Western Conference?
Of course, there is one giant thing about the West that needs to be taken into consideration: while there is a ton of talent out here, there aren’t any superteams in the bunch.
Sure, the top teams do have at two star players, but none of them currently have three.
The West is going to be ridiculously tough, but beat up on itself as it always does, keeping teams at lower and more nominalized win totals.
In fact, I started and re-started a sentence that I had intended on placing right here about who in the West might stand the best shot at winning 60 games, and I cannot come up with one that I believe with any certainty will.
The Lakers aren’t going to play for that win total; the Warriors won’t be anywhere near there without Klay Thompson; the Nuggets are good but not great; Portland and Houston are once again super-fun teams to watch because of their guards, but neither will be able to get over the top; Utah is many people’s dark horse to be a Championship contender, and while I will reserve judgement on that fact until I see them this season, regardless of how good they may be, I can’t see them as a 60-win team…
The more I think about it; maybe the Clippers could hit 60 (how crazy would that be), as they were already a very solid team last season and have now only added to their roster with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, but even they may not be able to get there (or even want to with strategic resting).
Beyond that, though, the West has the San Antonio Spurs (who is always going to be good), the Dallas Mavericks (who are destined to be improved with the addition of Kristaps Porzingis), the New Orleans Pelicans (Zion Williamson), and the Memphis Grizzlies, who one Sports Illustrated writer said is going to be significantly better than the Phoenix Suns – he is wrong.
Almost every one of those teams could be 50-win teams if they beat up on each other in an equal way, and conquer the Eastern Conference as is most likely to happen.
Phoenix Suns
In the meantime, the Phoenix Suns would be mentioned in that group nationally if they had had even the slightest modicum of success over the past few years and still managed to add a solid point guard, a hard-nosed stretch-four power forward, and retained a superstar scorer in Devin Booker to pair with up-and-coming star center in Deandre Ayton – each of whom are going to be under the direction of one of the most respected head coaches in the league: Monty Williams.
But these are the Phoenix Suns who have been bottom-feeders for some time. Thus, people are not going to expect much from the franchise simply because of the results of the last few years.
And in a Conference that is going to eat itself alive, with an ever-weaker Eastern Conference to add throw away wins, 50 wins (while it would admittedly appear to be exceptionally high for the Suns) could be achievable by at least 11 teams – 12, if you include Phoenix.
Never once has all eight playoff teams in one conference won at least 50 games. Never once has a team who has won 50 games not made the playoffs.
But this year, in the Western Conference, both events could happen.
A whopping nine teams could absolutely win at least 50 games, and only eight of them would make the playoffs.
Is it at all possible that the Phoenix Suns could be that team to just miss out?
It certainly would be extremely reminiscent of the 2013-14 season that won 48 games but missed out on the playoffs by one game (Dallas snuck in with 49 wins), only slightly more record-setting.
Of course, earlier in the offseason I predicted the Suns would win 37 games (a number I would be truly happy with if the vast majority of the 45 losses were not blowouts), so it is not like I even see this roster as abundantly deep and competitive.
However, I do like to say that “you never know,” because there is always the chance that something we didn’t expect in the best way, happens to our team – even though it feels like that that sort of thing never happens to the Phoenix Suns.
And hey – on a secondary lighter note: if you think about it, even with 50 wins, the Suns would be a lottery team, with odds at the first overall pick.
Imagine them finishing 50-32, and then with their own first round pick, win the lottery.
I mean, again, hey: “It could happen.”