PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns are one of the NBA's feel-good stories this season, having much more success than many anticipated after rebuilding their roster over the summer.
Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein says the best part is it's a team he actually enjoys watching.
Fans apparently agree with him.
The franchise had its 200th consecutive sellout crowd Saturday night, a 108-105 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. It's the second-longest streak in franchise history
and the fourth-longest in the NBA behind Miami, Golden State and Utah. Local TV ratings are up 64% compared to last season.
Even the current five-game losing streak can't completely dampen the mood. It's going to take more than a rough 10 days to derail the surprising momentum the Suns have built over the past few months.
“It's pride in building a team that makes the community, Suns fans, proud,” Bartelstein said. "That was the goal. It's a basketball city and they love the Suns. We knew if we built a team that resembled the grit, toughness, playing with joy, that this city deserves, with the talent we had and would bring, that we'd be fine.
“Sometimes you've got to go through some tough times to come out on the other side of it.”
The Suns' relative success — they fell to 39-32 after Saturday's loss — comes a year after one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history. Last year's team was built around the so-called “Big 3” of 15-time All-Star Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker while being led by veteran coach Mike Budenholzer, who won an NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021.
But the Suns didn't even make the playoffs, finishing with a 36-46 record. Even worse, the team was a chore to watch, with spotty defensive effort and an offense that often turned stagnant, wasting the ample scoring power on the roster.
The crowds at Mortgage Matchup Center — once among the NBA's best — were becoming much more docile. They were still technically selling out games thanks to ticket sales from the high expectations at the beginning of the year, but some seats were empty and interest was fading fast.
It seemed as if the streak would end soon.
That's when owner Mat Ishbia, Bartelstein and newly hired general manager Brian Gregory decided on a new strategy. There would be no more star chasing. Sure, the Suns needed good players, but they also needed the right players, ones who would bring a more hard-nosed persona.
Durant was shipped to the Houston Rockets during the offseason for Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks. The latter has been particularly important to the team's culture change, averaging a career-high 20.9 points per game while providing an edgy presence that gets under the other team's skin.
Brooks has missed the past few weeks with a broken hand, but is expected to return fairly soon.
Beal was released during the offseason, leaving Booker as the team's unquestioned leader and the 29-year-old responded with the fifth All-Star appearance of his career. Budenholzer was fired and first-year coach Jordan Ott was hired.
So far, the moves have worked out quicker than expected.
The Suns are far from perfect, but with three weeks remaining in the regular season, the playoffs are a realistic goal. That's a win for a franchise that looked like as though it might be one of the league's worst teams back in October.
“It's one of the best stories in the NBA, if not the best,” Bartelstein said. “It's all fragile because the season's so long and we're banged up right now, but it's been a really fun season on the court.”
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
