How many teams do you think would be playoff teams without their best player?

[bwgood77]

Now some may argue Bledsoe is not our best, but I think based on experience and being skilled at several different things, he is. Now we certainly were not on pace to make the playoffs before he went out, but were only a couple of games back on the 8 seed.

But think about it.

Atlanta - Without Horford they were like a 37 win team, and then with him somewhere close to 60 wins last year.
Cleveland - With no LeBron, didn't they have a losing record last year?
Houston - Without Harden, no way they make the playoffs.
LAC - Without Griffin OR Paul, they are going to be fringe playoffs at best, but luckily for them they have two top 10-12 players.
Memphis - Without Gasol, extremely doubtful
Washington looks out even with Wall.
Chicago would probably make it due to depth, but they have struggled this year without missing any major players.
New Orleans - No way
OKC - Well, with Durant out they didn't make it,
Toronto - no way without Lowry
Indiana - without George, no
Boston and Charlotte - not sure who their best players are, but they are fringe anyway
Orlando, I'm guessing no, but they have some depth too

GS - they probably would, but they would be bottom half playoff team without Curry
SA - yes, they would, because they have experience depth, and two all stars

And the latter two mentioned are among the best teams in NBA history due to pt differential.

[Calvin Klein]

Not much to argue here.

I dont think the suns have a "best player".


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[saintEscaton]

Not much to argue here.

I dont think the suns have a "best player".


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Even with Bledsoe at full steam we were a sub .500 team. To the extent that we were actually trailing the Sixers by double digits when he was still healthy in the first half

[bwgood77]

Not much to argue here.

I dont think the suns have a "best player".


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Even with Bledsoe at full steam we were a sub .500 team. To the extent that we were actually trailing the Sixers by double digits when he was still healthy in the first half

I know, to further my point that although we have some good young talent, I don't think, based on our talent anyone should EXPECT us to be a playoff team. Not many outside of Phx did, so at best we probably had an outside shot, if healthy and with a gruntled Kieff, but he is far from gruntled.

So without Bledsoe and a disgruntled Kieff, I just don't see it any argument, even though we are better sitting Kieff. Still some good things to see, but I just can't see the argument of us having the talent right now to make the playoffs this year. Next year, maybe.

[Calvin Klein]

Me neither. Best case scenario, a couple of teams underachieve (NO, Hou) and you get the 8th seed only to be destroyed by the Warriors. No point.

[MrMiyagi]

Not much to argue here.

I dont think the suns have a "best player".


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According to this board, we don't even have a good one.

Well, there's TJ, but he's being starved to death and beaten in the locker room and it would really be best to just trade him so he can become a superstar. We don't deserve him.

[AtheJ415]

Yeah. Our playoff chances disappeared when we lost Bledsoe. His shooting this year made him a much better player than he gets credit for. If he can't come back fully healthy from this injury, our rebuild becomes a very, very different story.

[letsgosuns]

Well last year when the Suns had their so called "best player" in Eric Bledsoe, plus a supposedly motivated Markieff and Marcus, they still finished the season 1-10. So I guess the moral of the story is, if your best player is Eric Bledsoe, you are one of the worst teams in basketball. Plus the Suns were 12-19 before Bledsoe got injured this year so for two straight years they have sucked with him leading the team.

[bwgood77]

Well last year when the Suns had their so called "best player" in Eric Bledsoe, plus a supposedly motivated Markieff and Marcus, they still finished the season 1-10. So I guess the moral of the story is, if your best player is Eric Bledsoe, you are one of the worst teams in basketball. Plus the Suns were 12-19 before Bledsoe got injured this year so for two straight years they have sucked with him leading the team.

Well they also just completely changed up their roster, brought in Knight who was immediately injured, and then our frontcourt was decimated.

There were a ton of things wrong with the team last year.

[bwgood77]

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[bondom34]

To be fair, more than KD was missing last year, and OKC was tied for 8th with Westbrook missing a month and Ibaka over a month (plus Adams and Roberson each about a month).

[bwgood77]

To be fair, more than KD was missing last year, and OKC was tied for 8th with Westbrook missing a month and Ibaka over a month (plus Adams and Roberson each about a month).

Yeah, I was about to mention all their other injuries. For a contender, they have had the worst luck over the last three years. I'd love to see them get to the finals this year, but it might be pretty tough.

[bondom34]

To be fair, more than KD was missing last year, and OKC was tied for 8th with Westbrook missing a month and Ibaka over a month (plus Adams and Roberson each about a month).

Yeah, I was about to mention all their other injuries. For a contender, they have had the worst luck over the last three years. I'd love to see them get to the finals this year, but it might be pretty tough.

Yeah, not counting on this year, just hoping KD stays (I really expect him to, would be pretty shocked otherwise), then catch a break next year and move Kanter for a wing/big combo.

[Funky Tut]

Cleveland is terrible without Lebron, even with Irving and Love...

[Mulhollanddrive]

So the adage that every team is 1 player away from being a contender might be true.

[AtheJ415]

To be fair, more than KD was missing last year, and OKC was tied for 8th with Westbrook missing a month and Ibaka over a month (plus Adams and Roberson each about a month).

Yeah, I was about to mention all their other injuries. For a contender, they have had the worst luck over the last three years. I'd love to see them get to the finals this year, but it might be pretty tough.

Yeah, not counting on this year, just hoping KD stays (I really expect him to, would be pretty shocked otherwise), then catch a break next year and move Kanter for a wing/big combo.

If KD leaves for GS, I'll be incredibly disappointed in him. It's simply not fun to watch. As a fan of the NBA, parity is a good thing, and I'd rather see great stars go head to head than join up so that things are easier and they can then compete in an era where the salary cap essentially would eliminate another team from competing at that level.

[AtheJ415]

Cleveland is terrible without Lebron, even with Irving and Love...

Yeah. I still question a lot of people's love for Kyrie. He's obviously a great player, but I'm not sold he's a #1 guy. I see him as an elite 2nd guy at best. It was funny to me when everyone reported that Lebron loved everything Cleveland was doing with their roster before he returned. They had bombed, bombed, and bombed, missed in some big ways (hello Anthony Bennett), and only ended up with Lebron because he happened to be born there, and Wiggins (who became Love) due to an epic longshot and very suspicious winning of the lottery the year Lebron happens to be an FA.

The greatest thing Cleveland has ever done as a franchise is have Lebron born in the area. I think Kyrie's good, but, for instance, if he's on the Suns instead of Bledsoe, we aren't a playoff team either way imo.