The Phoenix Suns have enjoyed an unexpectedly nice start to the season, and currently sit at 8-6. They have achieved all bar one of those wins without Jalen Green, who has once again been sidelined with a hamstring issue that has derailed his maiden campaign in The Valley. Not that it has bothered Devin Booker, who has been as dominant as ever.
Alex Speers claims soft schedule explains Suns' wins.
One person who is not convinced by the successful start the Suns have had is Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer Alex Speers, and he said as much on a recent episode of The Athletic's NBA Daily show with Andrew Schlecht. Unfortunately for the Suns, he might actually have a point if their recent loss to the Atlanta Hawks is anything to go by.
As you can see from the video above, 10 of the 13 games the Suns played prior to that defeat to Atlanta came against eight teams who ranked in the bottom 10 in offense and defense. Speers did quickly caveat this by saying that you have to beat the bad teams, and that life is about to get harder for Phoenix.
But if you go back to last season, a supposedly much better version of this roster - which featured Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal - lost back-to-back games at the start of February to the Portland Trail Blazers. At that point they went from 25-22 to 25-24, and really this was the beginning of the wheels falling off as they would drop one to the New Orleans Pelicans not long after that.
Point being, a group with playoff aspirations didn't play hard and dropped many winnable games last season, but already this team cares more on a nightly basis. Taking care of the teams who are worse than them, and there weren't supposed to be many judging by the predictions for the Suns before the season, has been relatively straightforward and enjoyable.
Gone are the veterans who couldn't lead them to regular season victories, replaced with players with a point to prove such as Dillon Brooks. The Suns also have the added luxury, if you can call it that, of zero expectations and not having control of their own first round pick in the NBA Draft next summer. That is a dream combination for winning games, even the ones that you're supposed to.
There are going to be more losses on the horizon, but singling out a team for taking advantage of a softer part of their schedule feels like a cheap shot. You wouldn't think the same of a contender if they rattled off seven straight wins during an extended home stand, so why is it different when the Suns are piling up wins early in the season against weaker opponents? Get out of here.