NavLDO wrote:Oh, you mean he could have drafted Hezonja, WCS, Russell, and Kaminsky instead of Booker?? Honestly, how many players drafted ahead of Booker has been more productive for their team, or better 'facilitated' their teams rise to power? Or how about in 2014, instead of Warren, we could have drafted Exum, Smart, Embiid, Vonleh, Saric, oooorrrr, we could have drafted the better SF in Doogie McBuckets. Sorry if I am confused on how exactly those picks would have somehow better 'facilitated' our rebuild. Where we picked has not negatively affected our rebuild at all, especially considering that pre-McD, the Suns had a history of 'selling' their draft picks for cash, or trading them away on draft night. Not to mention that we've collected a nice haul of draft picks since McD took over. We've already drafted 6 players in the 1st Rd the past 3 years and we have another 6x 1st Rd picks in the next 3 years. Ennis 'facilitated' us getting Knight (yeah, I know, but point is, he facilitated getting a trade done for a young (just turned 23, I believe) player who was viewed as a guy that could help us now, instead of the LAL pick, or Ennis, that/who wouldn't likely materialize for a couple of seasons, at best.
While disappointing, some of our misfortune is just that, misfortune. I'm with you on the whole "Sarver stinks," but he's not the only cause. Yes, he hired McD and Horny, and following their 1st year, Horny was a legitimate Coach of the Year candidate; and we only missed the playoffs due to how crazy strong the West was that year. They would've been the 5 seed this year, the 8 seed last year, they were tied with the 3rd Seed in the East that year, and the 6th seed the year prior. So yes, that's bad luck, and had we made it that year, you likely wouldn't be making this post...and who knows, maybe our FA outcome would've been different. And as you mentioned, a couple of our Vets that we were depending on to be cornerstones of our development, 'flaked' out on us (and that's all I'm gonna say on that). So those circumstances had a much larger effect on the team than Sarver being our owner. I almost feel 'dirty' defending him, but I feel as though you are casting TOO much blame on Sarver for the Suns' demise; I believe there were much larger influences at play during these 6 years than what influences Sarver cast upon the team.
So while technically correct--we haven't made the playoffs in 6 years--realistically, that's looking at a single piece of information without context.
In 2010-2011, (40-42) we would've been the 8th Seed in the East.
In 2011-2012, (33-33) we were a mere 3 games out in the West, and would've been just 2 games out in the East.
In 2014-2015, (39-43) we would've been the 8th Seed in the East.
Now, you might say "well, we play in the West, so that doesn't matter," but I disagree. It shows two things-1. Bad luck of which conference we play in, and 2. since we do play in the West, the tougher Conference, our team would likely have done even better playing an Eastern Conference schedule.
From '82-'83 season through '87-'88 season, we went to 3 Playoff series, though our winning % in that stretch was .459; when compared to this season (obvious tank and multiple games without use of our top 3 PGs, and quite a few more without our top 2 PGs. So:
.459 vs .437, yet 3 playoff series vs 0
So that is what I mean by context. 2 of the 3 playoff births were with a .439 and .500 winning %.
and head-to-head, each season from best to worst:
53-29 vs 48-34
41-41 vs 33-33
36-46 vs 40-42
36-46 vs 39-43
32-50 vs 25-57
28-54 vs 21-58
So the 2nd through 4th best seasons of our most recent 6 years were as good or better than the '82-'88 seasons 2nd through 4th best seasons. Yet somehow the 2nd and 3rd best seasons back then were playoff squads with a .500 season, and a .439 winning %, and out most recent best season with a .585 winning % wasn't??? Again, a lot of bad luck, or I guess better termed, a lot of unfortunate circumstances.
Regarding draft picks, what if the Suns had picked first overall in 2012 and had been able to draft Anthony Davis? Obviously, we do not know if Phoenix would have ended up in that slot had the Suns traded Steve Nash and declined to re-sign Grant Hill rather than engage in another hapless pursuit of an eighth seed, but the possibility would have existed. A higher selection could have also netted Damian Lillard or Andre Drummond. Instead, with the thirteenth pick, Phoenix drafted Kendall Marshall.
The overall point is that when a franchise has missed the playoffs in six out of seven seasons (now seven of eight), yet has drafted thirteenth or fourteenth in all those lottery seasons except for one, that franchise has resided in the NBA's version of purgatory. Indeed, there is an overarching strategic flaw at play.
Yes, outside of the Los Angeles Lakers, the West constituted a very mediocre conference for most of the 1980s. However, the conference proved much stronger from 1990-2004, and Colangelo's Suns reached the postseason almost every year during that span. (The Suns also missed the playoffs, by the way, with some very good records in the 1970s, so Colangelo encountered some bad luck as well.)
The West has been quite shallow this season, too, but the Suns again are not in the playoffs. Sure, bad luck always plays a role here and there, but it cannot account for perennial results over a sustained stretch. Again, the Suns are now missing the playoffs for the seventh time in the last eight seasons, and I would argue that there is a correlation between those results and drafting thirteenth or fourteenth almost every year.
I would also reiterate something that I have previously stated in this thread, namely that records are only fully relevant for the given year in which they occur. We really do now know what the Suns' 48 wins in '13-'14 would have translated to in, say, '86-'87 or even this season in '15-'16.
