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Suns Retorter: State of the Suns

Mr.,Mrs. or Ms. (Insert your name here) and my fellow Suns fans:

In the midst of an 82 game season our vision tends to get more myopic than Mr. Magoo. We focus in on the minutia of a five minute stretch of a single game or a week in a tough schedule. What we lose sight of is the larger picture.

Tonight, we’re here to talk about is that aforementioned larger picture. No, not the 70” TV you decided at the beginning of the year to watch rather than being at US Airways Center, rather the present and future of the Phoenix Suns.

Right now the present state of the Suns is much like that of the numerous temporary Super Bowl venues around downtown, on the rise.

Over the last 18 games the Suns are 14-4 (Change after game) and their winning percentage is third best in the league during that time frame. They’ve averaged the second most points per game, had the second best field goal percentage and their +6 point differential is third best in the league.

I won’t sugarcoat it, the road gets more difficult than sitting through the Interview over the next eight games with no opponent with a winning percentage below .625. This team is poised to take on the challenge though. Don’t take my word for it though, hear it straight from coach.

“We’re in a good spot right now,” Coach Hornacek said of his team. “Obviously you can look back at certain games and say ‘man if we would have won those games what would our record be?’ You can’t worry about the past. You just move forward. Right now we’re playing pretty well. Our guys have a bunch of confidence. We have a great stretch of games coming up right here that are gonna be tough. If we get through these and win these it’s only going to do more to boost our confidence. They’re ready to make this push.”

While he won’t say the phrase Point Guardians of the Galaxy, Coach Hornacek is right. This team is ready to make the push for the playoffs. But that’s not all.

The future is set up well beyond the next three months though. The Suns have a roster so young that the previous Mr. Magoo reference would be completely lost on them. in fact, they have the third youngest roster in the league with an average age of 24.9. Plus they have their own 1st round pick the three years and the Lakers pick, top 5 protected in 2015 and Top 3 protected in 2016 and 2017. Plus their core roster, with the exception of Goran Dragic, is signed long term.

Again, don’t take my word for it, take that of the qualified general manager Ryan McDonough.

“I feel like we’re moving in the right direction, he said. “Our young players are developing and improving. Markieff Morris and Alex Len especially have taken big steps forward this year. They’re getting to the point where they can consistently play well against NBA starters and win their matchup. With the strength of our backcourt, that’s helped us win a good number of games. We have one of the youngest teams in the league. We have one of the least experienced teams in the league but at the same time we have had a winning team so far. That’s all encouraging. We’re heading in the right direction.

“That’s our philosophy,” McDonough emphasized. “We want to get to the point where we have great depth and whoever we put out there we feel like can be effective at the NBA level.”

Now, I’m no math major but I have once spent a night using the ESPN Trade Machine and that means it all equates to more flexibility than a yoga instructor moving forward.

Unlike other States of the Union, there are no promises or guarantees here. No hand outs, unless you’d like a few tickets then tweet me @espo. Just facts and optimism.

The state of the Suns is strong with the chance of it getting even stronger. If you want to complain just remember we’re a mere two years removed from a season that saw this team win just 25 games total and one year removed from where the experts predicted 16 wins.

Take a step back and look at the big picture. The Suns have made a living off of surprising people the last few years. They’ve taken steps forward. The next one is coming and that’s something to be happy about.