This Phoenix Suns team will have some issues in 2023-24, and it has nothing at all to do with the product on the court. This team could win a championship or make it very far and have this issue happen because it’s just how things are now in American Professional Sports, especially the NBA.
The Suns are going to be put under a microscope, whether they want to be or not. And they have to approach it the right way.
Suns’ spotlight just got brighter
Coming into this season, the Phoenix Suns are favored by many to win the entire championship. Most favored them to make the Western Conference Finals, and everyone favored them to make the playoffs. Why? Well, their roster certainly has to do with it.
They added Kevin Durant last season and then added Bradley Beal this offseason. Add Devin Booker to that, their great bench depth along with the Deandre Ayton trade they just made, and they are sure to be a team that the media talks about.
And, all of the talk won’t be good. In fact, there will likely be more bad than good. That is what comes with being a team that is expected to win and expected to be dominant. Their new head coach has been a part of something like that and knows exactly how to handle it.
“We have to block out all noise, positive noise, and negative noise,” Frank Vogel said on Media Day. “We really have to focus on the task at hand and the people that are in our building. We’re a smaller market, but we are a star-laden team, you know, so we will get a great deal of national attention. We can’t let anything that’s said change the way we’re approaching our business.”
The Suns will be under much scrutiny with how their offseason went. They went to the NBA Finals in 2021 and are now a better team on paper with a great coach, so falling short again will cause some negativity. However, Vogel has a perfect idea for staying away from it all.