Phoenix Suns: 3 takeaways from 2017-18 season opener

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Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images /

1. Leadership, accountability and pride were nowhere to be found

Most people don’t realize this because the Suns have been a recurring joke since Steve Nash left, but Phoenix is the fourth-winningest franchise in NBA history. This team has a proud history despite its lack of a championship, and entering its 50th season, the fanbase was buying into a full-scale rebuild to eventually, finally bring that Larry O’Brien trophy to the Valley.

One game should not undo the thought process behind #TheTimeline, and it’d be a reach to think it’s enough to start calling for Watson’s job, but there’s a difference between development and letting a bunch of underdeveloped players play one-on-one pickup ball at the game’s highest level.

Simply put, there was no leadership, accountability or pride to be found anywhere on the court or on the sidelines. There’s no other way to explain losing by 48 points in a season opener, at home, against a team that will be fighting for a bottom-rung playoff spot in the West, all while playing without its second-best player (C.J. McCollum).

The Suns were once again the butt of a joke, except it shouldn’t be funny anymore. Not for this organization with a prestigious history that’s becoming easier and easier to forget with every new, disheartening loss like this. Enough is enough, and we’re only one game into the season.

After using “structure” as a major buzzword all offseason, Watson was asked about the lack of ball movement being a problem. This was his response:

"“I wouldn’t say lack of ball movement, I would say lack of almost everything strategically.”"

That doesn’t sound good for a team trying to create structure.

Watson, Booker and Bledsoe were all extremely down after the game, but not nearly as angry as they should’ve been. There was shock, some disbelief and of course sadness, but it sounded like a loop of what we heard last year whenever the Suns would get wiped off the floor.

Watson and Booker both used the phrase “they kicked our asses.” Bledsoe said the biggest disappointment was his own lack of leadership in a brutally honest answer. Booker said the loss felt like five defeats wrapped up in one, and that it’d be hard for him to sleep at night.

The Suns have gotten good about saying the right things, and that was the case again Wednesday night:

Watson said the team can’t use age as an excuse and that he was embarrassed, but never accepted any direct share of the blame for himself or the coaching staff — a sentiment Booker worryingly echoed after the game, saying it was on the players and the players alone.

Giving 100 percent effort? Yes. Shots going in? You bet. But putting those players in the right positions to be successful, or at least in a position to not be 48 points worse than their opponent? No. That’s on the coaching staff, especially with such an inexperienced group.

We’ve heard Bledsoe say he needs to be more vocal as a leader; we’re still waiting to see the results of that leadership come in the form of a competitive team. We’ve heard Watson talk about building a winning culture and embracing the young players; we have yet to see them take a step forward. And none of this is without mentioning the “leadership” of Tyson Chandler, who got ejected from a preseason game and displayed poor body language throughout the season opener.

"“This is the opportunity for someone to step up, and it has to be a young guy,” Watson said before the game. “And naturally over time, they will.”"

He’s absolutely right; one of the core pieces of the rebuild has to step up as an on-court leader. It’s a lot to ask from teenagers and 20-year-olds, but one game into the 2017-18 season, something already has to change.

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All the talk to this point has been about how bright Devin Booker’s future is; Wednesday night marked a missed opportunity for him to show he’s ready to take the wheel of an up-and-coming team. It’d be foolish to pin that kind of gut-punching loss on any one player, but if there were ever a time for Book to respond with a virtuoso performance, it’d be Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Young teams typically struggle, and the Suns are younger than most. Phoenix often compares its situation to that of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Golden State Warriors. Kevin Durant once lost a game by 52 points his rookie year, back when he was still wearing a Seattle SuperSonics jersey. Even though Russell Westbrook wasn’t in the league yet, this kind of thing can happen to future superstars when they’re still green.

Unfortunately, Booker is already in Year 3, Bender and Chriss are in Year 2 and Jackson just got here. The time to start making that Thunder- or Warriors-type leap is coming, and after another top pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, the excuses will have run completely dry. To be honest, they should’ve stopped Wednesday night when #TheTimeline nearly moved backwards.

Next: 2017-18 Week 1 NBA Power Rankings

So until something drastically changes with this team’s offensive system, defensive schemes, effort on both ends and body language when things don’t go its way, the Phoenix Suns are going to be trapped in a losing situation where the youngsters’ progress is impeded by developing bad habits and never learning to play the right way. Accountability and leadership are needed, badly, from somewhere.

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