Phoenix Suns melting down
By Ian Levy
The Phoenix Suns have been working through a rough patch, one that is threatening to engulf their season. After a 7-6 start that had them in the top-10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, the Suns have dropped 15 of their last 20. Markieff Morris has been enormously ineffective and a near-constant distraction. Eric Bledsoe is out indefinitely after tearing his meniscus. Management fired Jeff Hornacek’s top two assistant coaches and his seat is getting hotter and hotter.
The way this team has fallen off a cliff can be visualized in a fairly striking manner. The graph below shows the Suns cumulative season-long point differential after each game of the season.
Peaking after their twelfth game, the Suns are -116 in their last 21 games. Over that span, they’re -5.4 per 100 possessions, worse than every other team save the Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers. That’s the current company of the Phoenix Suns, quality-wise.
Things have, obviously, been particularly bad of late and it’s hard to see how they get better anytime soon. Bledsoe was having a career year and his injury is an enormous blow. Trading Morris removes one problems but likely doesn’t solve any others. They team might be able to stabilize it’s slide but we’ve likely passed the point where any of Phoenix’s preseason goals–making the playoffs, improving on last season’s record, establishing themselves as a team on the rise–are still in play.