The date was July 27, 2013.
It was a Thursday. I got home
from work around 5:30 pm and went straight to my living room so I could watch
the only thing on TV worth watching that night, the NBA Draft. Living on the west coast, the draft had
already started an hour earlier, but I was TIVOing it and avoiding all
interaction with my phone, and therefore, had no idea what had happened. I changed out of my work clothes and put on one
of my Phoenix Suns t-shits. I had not
worn much Suns gear that previous year after Phoenix finished in last place in
the western conference with only 25 wins.
Not only did the Suns only win 25 games, but to be completely honest, they were quite painful to watch.
Long gone were the days of the “:07 Seconds or Less” Suns that
were led by Steve Nash and Mike D’Antoni. My all-time favorite player, Steve Nash, had
left Phoenix to chase a title in Los Angeles.
I don’t think any Suns fan could blame him. It did hurt a little bit that he left to be a
Laker, but Nash was arguably the most important player in Suns history and it
was clear that he was not going to win a title in Phoenix, and he deserved to
have the chance somewhere else. So
without Nash and without a real coach for most of the season, Phoenix was far
far away from the team they used to be, which led to an awful season and the 5th
overall pick in the 2013 draft.
I knew who I was hoping the Suns would pick in the draft and
I knew exactly who I didn’t want them to pick.
If they were still available when it was the Suns turn, I hoped they
would pick Ben McLemore, Trey Burke, or C.J. McCollum to accompany Goran Dragic
in the back court. If they were willing
to draft a risky player with a major upside, I would even be ok with them
selecting Nerlens Noel. When the 5th
pick rolled around, every one of the players I mentioned was available. I was ecstatic. But I
was not the Suns GM that night and I had no say in which player they
picked. Phoenix selected the one guy who
I did not want them to pick; they chose Alex Len, a tall, skinny, center out of
Maryland from the Ukraine.
Overall, I was pretty bummed about the night. I remember texting my buddy Ed and saying
something along the lines of, “Well, on the bright side, the Suns have set
themselves up for another terrible season and they should get another high
draft pick next year.” With Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker, Julius
Randle, Aaron Gordon and others highlighting the 2014 draft class, I was
already on the tank-a-poloza band wagon.
I was “Riggin for Wiggins”, “Sorry for Jabari”, “Mishandle for Randle”,
and “Not carin’ for Aaron”. With a
first time head coach, I was thinking that the Suns would win half the games
they won the year before. The Suns were
getting new uniforms for the upcoming year and instead of buying one right
away, I figured I might as well wait until we draft the future of the franchise
and purchase his jersey next year. It
was tankin’ time for Phoenix.
But that is not what happened…
As of today, March 7, 2014, the Phoenix Suns are 36-25, 11
games over .500 and sitting in the 7th seed in the Western
Conference. They are competing for a
playoff spot in the extremely competitive western conference. If they were playing in the East, they would
be the #3 seed right now. The Suns have
become the best story in the NBA this season.
I don’t know if they
will make the playoffs or not. They have
a very difficult schedule ahead of them and about 2/3 of their remaining games
are on the road. They are only a half game up on the Mavs for the 7th
seed and only 1.5 games ahead of Memphis who is currently sitting in 9th. They may slip out of playoffs, but that doesn’t
change one bit the way I feel about this team.
As I told a friend the other day, because of their expectations and the
fact that they are so much fun to watch every game they play, this Suns team
has probably become my favorite Suns team of all-time. I admit that is saying a lot, and this is
coming from a guy who on one of my first few dates with my now wife, I asked
her if she would let me name one of my future sons Nash. ---- Side note, on
that date, she said yes, that we could name our son Nash. We are now expecting our first son and she is
100% against the idea of naming him Nash.
I think early on she just wanted
me to like her and would have agreed to name our son Napoleon Dynamite if I had
asked her. ---- I loved those Suns teams with Steve Nash, Amar'e Stoudemire
and Shawn Marion. I don’t know if there
has been a team in my lifetime that was more fun to watch than those Phoenix
teams (Full Disclosure: I’ve only been alive since 1988 and my first memories
of basketball are sometime around the mid ‘90s). But for how much I loved those teams, I think
I love this team even more. On paper,
they don’t look like much. They have the
3rd lowest team salary in the NBA.
They should not be this good and this fun to watch, but they are!
The highlight of this season so far has to be the game last
night, when after trailing to Oklahoma City by 16, they came back to win the
game. Going into the night, OKC was tied
for the best record in the entire NBA.
They had won 11 straight games against the Suns. And for the first 32+ minutes of the game, it
looked like OKC was the better team and was on their way to winning 12 in a row
against Phoenix. At the 3:30 mark of the
3rd quarter, the Suns trailed the Thunder 96-80. What happened in the final three and a half
minutes of that third quarter defines exactly why I love this team so
much.
I don’t know what caused the spark, but Gerald Green
suddenly caught fire. He scored 25 of
his career high 41 points in the 3rd quarter. He made 6 of his also career high 8
three-pointers during that quarter. With
Green as the catalyst, Phoenix went on a 21-2 run to close out the third
quarter and took the lead at 101-98 going into the 4th. There were so many plays during that stretch
that I could highlight, but there was one that I think was the most important. When the score was 96-84, Ish Smith hustled
for a loose ball to earn a jump ball against Andre Roberson. Now for the casual NBA fans, you may not know
who either Ish Smith or Andre Roberson are, but for the sake of this article,
all you need to know is that Ish Smith is listed at 6’0” and Andre Roberson is
6’7”. A seven inch height advantage
should mean Roberson wins this tip ball and the Thunder retain possession, but
little Ish Smtih somehow was able to win the jump ball and tip it to his
teammate Marcus Morris who quickly handed it back to Smith. Ish brought the ball up the court quickly and
found Gerald Green open for a triple. Its plays like that that make me fall in love
with this team of “nobodies”.
In the 4th quarter, the Thunder took the lead
back at 118-116 with under 4 minutes to play, but that was the last time they
would have a lead in the game. Phoenix
got stops when they needed to and led by Goran Dragic, who scored 6 of their
remaining 12 points, the Suns held off OKC for the 128-122 victory.
I understand that it is only one game. I realize that it is very likely that if Phoenix
does make the playoffs, they will get bounced in the first round. I know that they will not win a title this
season. But none of that matters. This team is amazing. Yes they may lose games that they are
supposed to win, but that’s just a part of being in the NBA. This Suns team has the chance to win four of the end-of-season awards this year. Jeff Hornacek is the front runner for coach of the year, Gerald Green is without a doubt one of the leagues most improved players, Markieff Morris will be in consideration for 6th man of the year, and the GM, Ryan McDonough, looks to be the top candidate to win Executive of the Year. I thought it would take a long time for me to
love again after Nash left Phoenix for Los Angeles, but this team has shown me
that it is possible to love when you thought all hope was lost. My wife and I still have 4 months to decide
on what we want to name our son, but maybe I can convince her to at least
consider Goran, Gerald, Ish, or even Markieff as the future name of our baby
boy.
