NBA Insider has optimistic take on how Suns' season could unfold

Despite having a wonderful offseason in which they added the right players to their core group, there is this nagging feeling that the Phoenix Suns are still not truly good enough to contend for a championship. The root cause of this?

Getting swept by the younger, deeper and altogether better Minnesota Timberwolves in the opening round of the playoffs last season. With Kevin Durant about to turn 36-years-old and Bradley Beal's list of injuries growing longer by the year, you could not blame fans in The Valley for being nervous about what this coming season could hold.

Enter Zach Lowe to make you feel a lot better about this team.

Speaking to Bill Simmons on his self-titled podcast on The Ringer's podcast network, Lowe had a pretty positive outlook on how this season could go for the Suns. That was in direct contrast to how Simmons feels about not the Suns but Durant in particular, with his proclamation that this season could be Durant's last as a truly elite player.

Lowe's belief that the Suns could sneak into a top four spot in a loaded Western Conference was based more on the fact that somebody generally breaks the established order, and that this group are as well positioned as any to do just that.

"They won 49 games (last season) that's a lot of games, they upgraded at point guard that's a meaningful thing, they brought back Royce O'Neale. Mason Plumlee is a legit backup center like they nailed the offseason given what they had to work with. I think they're going to be a pretty good regular season team".

When you lay it out exactly like that, Lowe actually does have a point. Last season they only had Beal for 53 regular season games, while head coach Frank Vogel never looked like he truly fit with this group. The team didn't even have an established point guard - with Devin Booker taking on the responsibility mostly - and yet they still somehow won 49 games.

Plumlee is an upgrade over the departed Drew Eubanks, while the Tyus Jones/Monte Morris floor general tandem is definitely better than the nothing that was in that spot last season. If anything the franchise have too many players and not enough meaningful roles to go around, which will render some fringe guys useless as the season progresses.

Also aiding the Suns' cause for a top four finish in Lowe's eyes is the fact that - after the Oklahoma City Thunder - the next trio of teams who many expect to round out that group is unlikely to actually finish that way. On paper the Timberwolves, NBA Finalists Dallas Mavericks and 2023 champion Denver Nuggets should slot in there, but a lot has to go right for that to happen.

"You can say all these teams are the clear top four, I just don't think it's going to unfold that way. There's going to be an interloper from below somewhere - we've talked about Memphis - I think the Suns are maybe being underrated a little bit as one of those potential interlopers, because of the bad taste the playoff just obliteration by Minnesota (left), I mean they were awful".

That may well be true, but the same issues the Suns had last season have not been rectified. If anything the addition of Jones means certain five-man groups have gotten even smaller and easier to score on, while starting center Jusuf Nurkic - although being everything this group needed last season - can only take you so far.

The organization don't have designs on being a regular season winning machine either - they will always be judged on playoff success with the money owner Mat Ishbia has spent to get to this point - but surprising people during that 82 game run might be just the tonic needed to move on to greater things. Lowe got in on the ground floor, and made some excellent points in doing so.