The Phoenix Suns have a new reputation this season. A new identity. It’s clear as day for anyone paying attention what they want their identity to be tied to.
This team is fiesty. They play hard as hell. They play physical, in-your-face defense. They dive for loose balls. They chirp at you. They don’t get phased by 20-point deficits. Coaches, players, and media are taking notice around the association. So why haven’t refs adapted? Where is the consistency in officiating?
Mark Daigneault and JJ Redick
have taken notice, along with the same media that wrote this team off during the offseason.
Well, it takes time. This version of the Suns is still brand new in the grand scheme of things. They were one of the least physical teams in the association for the past several years. The effort was rarely there, and that reputation builds in both directions.
Not only is Phoenix trying to establish this new identity, but they’re also trying to create a polar opposite version of the “old” Suns.
They continue to get tick-tack technical fouls called on them, whether it’s league-leader Dillon Brooks, or Devin Booker, who has 4 himself, placing him tied for 11th in the league. Brooks has been ejected once. Same with Grayson Allen.
But it’s not only the technical fouls being called on them, but it’s what their opponents seem to get away with on the other end that isn’t being called. The lack of consistency will drive you mad.
As Bright Side’s John Voita wrote: “For the second time in five games, Phoenix watched an opponent shoot more than 40 free throws. Yes, the Suns play physical. That is part of their DNA. Still, there is a line where it stops feeling normal and starts feeling ridiculous. All anyone ever asks for is consistency. Call it the same on both ends. That is it.”
Preach.
Scheduling, Scheduling, Scheduling…
Now, the Suns must work to gain the “respect” of officials for being a physical, scrappy team that will play physical, smashmouth basketball for 48 minutes.
It feels like the rest of the league is slowly starting to take notice, with teams like the Lakers, Thunder, and Warriors ramping it up a notch against Phoenix in recent meetings. Part of that is from those same teams likely taking them lightly the first time they faced each other.
Due to the NBA Cup, the Suns have faced the same 3 teams about 40 times in the month. And now, they get the Pelicans from back-to-back games in back-to-back nights in NOLA. If it’s going to be a back-to-back, doing it without the travel is ideal, I suppose.
Now look, Dillon Brooks has a reputation in the same way Draymond Green does in the sense that refs are going to have their undivided attention on him all night long.
He wants to get under the opponent’s skin. That can often lead to quick technicals to stop potential altercations before they start, and I get that. What I don’t get is the tick-tack fouls that go his way, when on the other side of the court, the officials seem to let it go.
This wasn’t meant to be a piece complaining about officials or the schedule, but it felt like the perfect storm of the Suns doing a 180 and reinventing themselves in the shortest amount of time possible to a polar opposite.
Maybe the day everyone adapts to this being their identity never comes. Maybe we just have to live with 40 free-throw attempt nights and double standards. It’s not unfamiliar territory for Suns fans.
Either way, I can tell you this new group does not care. They’re going to bring what they bring to the table night in, night out for the remainder of the season, whether they like it or not.
