The Whiteboard: Friday mailbag on 2020 NBA Playoffs and Suns buzz

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Welcome to our Friday mailbag edition of The Whiteboard! In these uncertain times, with a ton of actual time on our hands, we figured we might as well poll the good people of Twitter and find out what burning NBA questions you all want answered!

This week’s mailbag centers around the 2020 NBA Playoffs, playing retired NBA players and Phoenix Suns buzz (apologies to all the casual NBA readers out there, but Suns fans make up 90 percent of my following and so what? You’ve got plenty of time on your hands anyway, why not learn about a once-prestigious franchise?).

Let’s jump right into it:

RickakaTuna (@bigkingtuna777) wonders: “Is there any retired NBA player less than 60 that you think you could beat in a game of one-on-one for a million dollars?”

For reference: I’m 6’2″, 28 years old, somewhat athletic and have played basketball my whole life, but I probably peaked in high school when we won state. Maybe I could’ve played in college for like a Division II school if that’s what I had really wanted, but by my senior year of high school, I’d already accepted a playing career just wasn’t in the cards. I was good, but I was nowhere near THAT level of good.

So, while I’d like to think I could give some 50-something-or-other, washed up NBA player a run for their money, I don’t see it happening. You’d best believe I’d be scratching and clawing for that million bucks, but even in old age, those guys are just a whole ‘nother level of talented.

The bigger, supposedly out-of-shape guys like Shaquille O’Neal, Charles Barkley or even Glen Davis and Zach Randolph? They’d physically abuse me down low. The shorter dudes like Muggsy Bogues or Spud Webb? They’d still dribble circles around me. Even the guys whose careers were ruined by injury could still shoot the lights out and would most likely have the height advantage.

So, long story short…probably not. There’s a reason all of those guys were paid to play basketball and I’m paid to write about it.

David Gutierrez (@KingGutierrez17) asks: “Will the change of venue from Talking Stick Resort Arena to the Madhouse on McDowell serve as a good change for the Suns and allow them to go on a late playoff push??”

Oh, David. While I love your enthusiasm, the Suns aren’t making the 2020 NBA Playoffs for a myriad of reasons.

First, there’s a good chance we don’t even get to complete the 2019-20 season at all due to the coronavirus pandemic. Second, even if we play out the playoffs, the NBA is more likely to jump right into the postseason rather than finish out the regular season, which means the Suns would automatically be done. Third, even if they find a way to play out the rest of the regular season, Phoenix is six games behind the 8-seeded Memphis Grizzlies with only 17 games to go.

As fun as it’d be to see the Suns finish out their 2019-20 season at the Madhouse on McDowell, where they used to play before moving downtown, it’d take an outright miracle for us to see them hold a playoff game there too.

Flex From Jersey (@cruzfe13) ponders: “Who are your top-three realistic draft targets for the Suns?”

Full disclosure: I usually don’t start doing my homework on NBA Draft prospects until just before the start of the NCAA Tournament. Seeing as how that’s been canceled and we have no idea when this year’s draft will even be, I haven’t gotten into the weeds just yet on doing my research.

Based on the current league standings, the Suns would most likely be slated for the 10th (65.9 percent chance) or 11th overall pick (19 percent), with only a 13.9 percent chance of sneaking into the top four.

As our question goes on to mention, Obi Toppin and Killian Hayes would be nice options if they slid that far, but the three realistic options at the top of my list are Tyrese Haliburton (6-foot-5 guard from Iowa State that Suns Twitter is already high on), Tyrese Maxey (6-foot-3 guard from Kentucky who’s quite polarizing) and Cole Anthony (6-foot-3 guard from North Carolina whose lack of team success disappointed but may still be selected before the Suns pick).

That’s just based on the draft reading I’ve done so far, so expect more to come once I get around to doing my own homework on Suns draft options and the prospect field at large.

John Voita (@DarthVoita) inquires: “Where do you rank the ’84 Suns your Forgotten Suns Teams-O-Meter?”

For those unfamiliar with Suns lore, the 1983-84 Phoenix Suns only went 41-41 before making a run all the way to the Western Conference Finals, where they were defeated by a Los Angeles Lakers team with Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and James Worthy in six games.

Led by Walter Davis, Larry Nance and Maurice Lucas, that 6-seeded Suns team upset the 3-seeded Portland Trail Blazers in the first round, beat the Utah Jazz and Adrian Dantley (the NBA’s leading scorer) in the second round, and then lost to a superior Lakers squad in the conference finals. Davis was an All-Star that year, and despite Julius Erving‘s free-throw line dunk, Nance won the first ever Slam Dunk Contest. Given all of that, and that it was Paul Westphal‘s final season, the 1983-84 Suns are certainly in the top five.

I’d also submit the 1993-94 and 1994-95 Suns teams (everyone remembers the Finals run in ’93, but people forget how close that team came to knocking off the eventual NBA champion Houston Rockets in the conference semis of both ’94 and ’95), as well as the 1989-90 Suns (who made the conference finals before losing in six to Clyde Drexler‘s Blazers) and the 2013-14 Suns (who won 48 games in an All-NBA season from Goran Dragic and still somehow missed the playoffs. People forget this now because they missed the postseason, but that was the only good team Phoenix has had in the last decade).

Chandler Burke (@13Burkec) wants to know: “If the playoffs come back, do you think it will be a 16-team playoffs, or will they make it four or eight?”

Chandler’s concern stems from his desire to see his Dallas Mavericks get some playoff experience, and I doubt he’s alone in hoping the playoff field isn’t shrunk.

Simply put, a playoff field with only eight or four teams feels … borderline un-American. Only in the most dire of circumstances — where it’s either no basketball at all, or the top team in the West vs. the top team in the East for the title — do I see a scenario where the league chops down the playoff field in any capacity.

This is just one man’s opinion, but my guess is the length of the series leading up to the Finals is what’s shortened (best-of-three or best-of-five), rather than the playoff field itself. Or at least, that’s what I hope. At this rate, we should be hoping for any basketball to get some closure on the 2019-20 campaign, but yes, it’d be a lot better if the league could find a way to accommodate all 16 current playoff teams if possible.

#OtherContent

On “The Dan Le Betard Show with Stugotz,” The Last Dance director Jason Hehir told his favorite Michael Jordan story that didn’t make the cut in the 10-part docuseries. Transcribed by CBS Sports, it’s a pretty great story, and one even this MJ fanatic hadn’t heard before.

The Athletic’s Seth Partnow takes a terrific and informative look at Michael Jordan, modern NBA basketball and the mid-range.

Rob Mahoney’s look at Jayson Tatum‘s leap to stardom over at The Ringer is definitely worth a read.