After being swept by the Timberwolves in the playoffs last season, the Suns fired Frank Vogel and brought in Mike Budenholzer to get this team back on track.
This season has been far from perfect, and the Suns are one of the most disappointing teams in the NBA. A roster that features Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, and Kevin Durant should not be on the outside looking in of the Play-In Tournament in March, and that's exactly where they're at.
Notable quotes from Devin Booker and Mike Budenholzer
Sitting as the 11th seed in the West, Phoenix has a record of 28-33, and they've now dropped 8 out of their last 10 games. Beginning a three-game home stand on Feb. 27, the Suns dropped that first game against the Pelicans, and Devin Booker appeared visibly frustrated in the postgame press conference.
"It could be fixed with just a little more talking," Booker said. "Things get tough, and we get quiet as a team ... Skipping over the details and always taking the 'get 'em next game mentality.' At some point, you got to draw a line and it should've been drawn a long time ago."
Things didn't get any better as they later suffered a 116-98 loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday evening, and frustrations appeared to boil over both on and off the court. The team's body language wasn't great, there didn't appear to be much fight, and overall, it looked as if they were just going through the motions.
"Yeah. I think a big part of it is our spacing out of it," Devin Booker told reporters in the locker room after the loss to Minnesota. "And being organized, and you know, five guys being on the same page, instead of two or three. Or even four doesn't even cut it."
Mike Budenholzer himself was nearly at a loss for words in the postgame presser when asked about how the players can look nearly disinterested toward the end of the game.
"At some point, I think some of them were just down," Budenholzer said. "I think at a point where it's 15 to 17 [points] and just sloppy, careless, didn't take care of it. So that just added to what was already a problem. It was a problem throughout the game, including late."
Phoenix has been really bad over the last month
Since Feb. 1, the Suns have the third-worst record in the NBA (3-11), the worst defensive rating (121.3), and the third-worst net rating (-7.8). Understanding that every game is a must-win moving forward, the Suns can't afford to drop any more games as they enter the home stretch.
With Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving suffering a season-ending ACL injury in last night's game, Dallas is expected to continue to slip in the standings, but the Suns should've never found themselves in this position in the first place.
The Suns may have to swallow a tough pill, realizing that they may not be featured in this year's postseason. Nonetheless, everything is in front of them and it's on Budenholzer to get his guys playing at a much higher level.