It’s been nearly 48 hours since the Phoenix Suns tipped off their season, and boy did that opener get a reaction out of me. It wasn’t what we wanted, it certainly wasn’t what we expected, and it was absolutely cause for concern.
Now that some time has passed and emotions have settled, combined with taking a broader look at the NBA landscape in its entirety, I’m feeling a bit calmer. I’m no less frustrated by what transpired Wednesday night, but I’m more willing to trust the process and find some hope
where it felt completely absent just two nights ago.
The season opener is something I’m sure none of us are going to forget anytime soon, primarily because it was the season opener. It was our first opportunity to see what all that continuity was supposed to bring. And when you enter a game with that much pent-up excitement, only to be unbelievably disappointed without experiencing a single moment of joy, you’re going to walk away frustrated, upset, and concerned.
If the Phoenix Suns want to be successful this season, knowing that championship aspirations aren’t necessarily part of the equation, they’re going to have to earn it with the way they play. They’re going to have to earn it through the development of their young players, and it certainly wouldn’t hurt if one or two of them took a significant leap toward becoming more than rotational pieces. They’re going to have to earn it by generating extra possessions and rebounding collectively as a team. Because shooting isn’t going to be this team’s forte, at least from an efficiency standpoint, and rebounding is going to be a struggle.
Every opposing team is going to key in on Khaman Maluach, knowing he’s Phoenix’s biggest rebounding threat. That means players like Miles Bridges and Dillon Brooks are going to have to produce some of the best rebounding seasons of their careers if the Suns want to be effective in that aspect of the game.
Know that the Suns aren’t alone in brain farting their way through the beginning of the season. The Bulls lost by more than Phoenix did, although I recognize that comparing yourself to Chicago isn’t exactly where you want to be. The Denver Nuggets scored only one more point than the Suns in their season opener, although they were on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder. So anomalies happen.
Wednesday night also served as a reminder that sometimes being so close to a team, constantly analyzing and overanalyzing who they are and what they can become throughout the offseason, can be a disservice. You start talking yourself into the buzzwords you’ve heard. You begin believing that every transaction the organization makes is another step toward becoming a better basketball team. I’m certainly not alone in doing that, and I recognize there are plenty of you who never bought into any of it.
But at the end of the day, there’s one thing we have to accept as an undeniable fact: that was the first game of the season. There are 81 more to go. And I can guarantee you this team isn’t going 0–82. I can guarantee you they’re not going to start every game trailing 21–0. They were overwhelmed by an avalanche of Trail Blazers momentum, and if this team truly possesses the attitude, grit, connectivity, and continuity we’ve heard so much about, they should’ve been better equipped to handle it. Quite simply, they weren’t. They had an off night collectively, and there’s no getting around that.
It’s too early to dissect statistical trends or draw conclusions about individual performances, as there simply isn’t a meaningful sample size yet. If what we witnessed Wednesday night becomes a recurring theme, that’s when the cause for concern becomes legitimate. That’s when difficult conversations need to happen, and decisions need to be made.
At this point, overreaction is human nature, even if it isn’t necessarily warranted. And that’s coming from somebody who certainly overreacted to what transpired in that first game. But much like the complimentary hardware used to watch Suns games, our antennas are up. The rose-colored glasses have come off, and I think we’re all going to be watching this team with a much more critical eye. We’re wary of how quickly things can unravel because we’ve already witnessed exactly what that looks like.
In the same breath, perhaps it’s a good thing the Suns got punched in the mouth right out of the gate. They’ve tasted the blood in their mouths. They’ve experienced what happens when they fail to execute, communicate, and compete at the level necessary to win in this league.
Now the question becomes how they respond. And more importantly, whether they can respond consistently. We’ll learn a little more Saturday night against the Golden State Warriors.
