How the Phoenix Suns fumbled their breakout 2013-14 season
By Ryan Bawek
What Happened?
For one, McDonough’s insistence on asset compilation as opposed to prioritizing on-court fit and chemistry really started to rear its ugly head in the summer of 2014.
Instead of prioritizing re-signing an integral piece of their wide-open offense and spacing, their locker room leader, Channing Frye, they chose to let him bolt for Orlando.
As the story goes, Frye attempted to give the Suns a chance to match Orlando’s offer (which was admittedly a little rich at that time at four years, $32 million) and they allegedly didn’t even take the call.
Ouch.
Related Story. Frye's take on Jordan vs. LeBron. light
The Suns were busy chasing an incredible, if not exceedingly improbable dream of landing LeBron James and his choice of Chris Bosh or Carmelo Anthony in free agency.
You have to give the Suns the credit for shooting for the stars after such an invigorating season, but it was pretty clear LeBron James was never going to sign anywhere but back in Cleveland and neither of the other guys had any real desire to come to Phoenix without LeBron’s commitment.
What the Suns did in response is really what was puzzling (even at the time) and led to all of the brewing chemistry and kumbaya enveloping the Suns organization to come to a screeching halt: signing Isaiah Thomas.
Let’s dig deeper into the three point guards era.