Phoenix Suns: 5 biggest disappointments from 2017-18 NBA season
1. The sheer force and voracity with which the Phoenix Suns sucked
After the 2017-18 campaign, no NBA fanbase can claim it’s more depressed than the Phoenix Suns’. Despite being one of the league’s five winningest franchises of all time, the Suns have never won a championship, nor have they ever earned a No. 1 overall draft pick.
No NBA franchise in its current location can claim a longer title drought, let alone one that’s sprinkled in the despair of hope that comes with historic success. With the Suns mired in an ongoing eight-year postseason drought, the memories of Charles Barkley and Steve Nash — and the accompanying playoff journeys that painfully fell short every time — are all fans have to cling to now.
Devin Booker looks like the centerpiece of a future contender, but even this 21-year-old competitor is tired of missing the playoffs. The pressure is on McDonough to put talent around him this summer, because based on the misery of the 2017-18 campaign, his patience won’t hold forever.
This season, the Suns lost as many games by 40-plus points (four) as they had in the preceding 49 years as a franchise. They posted their worst record since their inaugural season, with a 21-61 mark that doubled as the worst record in the association. The Suns ranked dead last in point differential (-9.4), offensive rating (100.8) and defensive rating (110.6) as well.
Their best player missed 28 games. Their prized rookie had a brutal first half of the season. Their head coach lasted three games. So did their starting point guard, who literally tweeted his way out of Phoenix. They didn’t win a game in March, and lost 32 of their last 35 games of the season. The point guard carousel never failed to underwhelm, the sophomores slumped and outside of Devin Booker and 2018 Josh Jackson, everything about this Phoenix Suns team was depressing.
Next: Full two-round 2018 NBA Mock Draft
Narrowing it down to five disappointments was difficult, because this was arguably the most depressing season in franchise history. Facing the most important summer in 50 years as an organization, it’ll take quite an offseason to make sure the cycle doesn’t repeat in 2018-19.