The Phoenix Suns have started the season unexpectedly well and are currently 8-6. They’ve achieved all but one of those wins without Jalen Green, who is once again sidelined with a hamstring problem that derailed his first campaign in The Valley. Not that it has bothered Devin Booker, who is as dominant as ever.
Alex Speers claims the soft schedule explains Suns’ wins.
One person who isn’t convinced by the successful start the Suns have had is the Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer Alex Speersand he said as much in a recent episode of The Athletic’s NBA Newspaper show with Andreas Bad. Unfortunately for the Suns, he might have a point if their recent loss to the Atlanta Hawks is anything to go by.
As you can see in the video above, 10 of the 13 games the Suns played prior to the loss to Atlanta came against eight teams ranked in the bottom 10 on offense and defense. Speers was quick to comment on this by saying that you have to beat the bad teams and that life is about to get harder for Phoenix.
But if you go back to last season, a supposedly much better version of this roster — featuring Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal — lost back-to-back games to the Portland Trail Blazers in early February. At that point they went from 25-22 to 25-24, and this was basically the start of the losing streak as they would drop one to the New Orleans Pelicans not long after.
The thing is, a group with playoff aspirations didn’t play hard and dropped a lot of winning games last season, but this team is already caring more every night. Taking care of the teams worse than them, which wouldn’t be many judging by the preseason predictions for the Suns, was relatively easy and enjoyable.
Gone are the veterans who couldn’t lead them to regular season victories, replaced by players with a point to prove like Dillon Brooks. The Suns also have the added luxury, if you can call it that, of having no expectations and no control over their own first-round pick in the NBA Draft next summer. That’s a dream combination for winning games, even the ones you should win.
There will be more losses ahead, but picking a team that benefits from a softer part of their schedule feels like a cheap shot. You wouldn’t think the same of a contender if he posted seven straight wins in an extended home stretch, so why is it any different when the Suns pile up wins against weaker opponents early in the season? Get out of here.
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