Phoenix Suns: 5 Midseason Takeaways For 2016-17

2. The Playoffs Are Not The Goal

Despite their paltry 13-29 record, the Phoenix Suns are still somehow only 4.5 games out of the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

While it’s tempting for such a competitive, veteran-heavy bunch to keep pushing for a playoff spot, especially under a first-year head coach trying to prove himself, the postseason is the last thing the Suns should be aiming for — a fact that anyone who’s actually watched this team play can verify.

Playoff experience is almost always a great thing for youngsters, sure. But the Suns stand to gain absolutely nothing from a first round slaughter at the hands of the Golden State Warriors or San Antonio Spurs. It’d be over in four games and there’d be no learning experience to be found in such a massacre.

It has to sting for general manager Ryan McDonough to look at the standings, since even a .500 record would be good for the playoffs in the West this year. Remember, first season in 2013-14 saw the Suns win 48 games and still miss the postseason. They’ve been building from the middle ever since.

It also has to burn for a franchise that once had Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire to be reduced to a team that hasn’t been to the playoffs since 2010. But the Suns desperately need a full-scale rebuild, not some half-assed attempt to back into the postseason. Like the bird for which the city was named, Phoenix needs to go down in flames before it can rise from the ashes.

To that end, the four-game gap the Suns should be trying to cover is the one separating them from the Brooklyn Nets and their NBA-worst record, not the eighth seed in the West.

“Tanking” is a word no fan base likes to hear, and no one is suggesting the Suns should be throwing games, resting players or not trying in general. But we’ve already covered how the youth movement needs to take precedence now, so what’s wrong with feeding the youngsters the hearty minutes they need while also accepting the losses that come with them?

This is a rebuilding squad, and the natural thing would be continue losing, avoid some random hot streak in February or March, cash in on another top rookie talent in the 2017 NBA Draft, and add to a promising young core of Booker, Bender and Chriss.