Suns Fall Out of Top Tier in ESPN's NBA Rankings
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The Phoenix Suns are hoping to make serious noise this season after a months of dealing with drama and ridicule.
Minus Jae Crowder, the Suns still figure to have one of the top rosters in the western conference, let alone the league.
However, ESPN's Zach Lowe doesn't see it that way.
In Lowe's annual NBA tier rankings, the Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, LA Clippers, Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Denver Nuggets cracked the very top echelon dubbed "The Inner Circle".
Phoenix did not.
Lowe was very well aware of the Suns' omission and how people may view it, which is likely why he addressed their absence from the jump:
Suns Fall Out of Top Tier in ESPN's NBA Rankings
"The mild surprise here might be the Sixers and Nuggets over the Phoenix Suns and (if you slip on Ted Lasso's rose-tinted sunglasses) whatever the hell is about to unfold in Brooklyn," said Lowe.
"Phoenix fans have a gripe. The Suns diced up the Nuggets in the 2021 conference semifinals and upended the Clippers -- without Leonard -- one round later. Their idiosyncratic offense, almost entirely dependent on midrange jumpers, performed at league-best levels in last season's playoffs until the final five games of their debacle against the Dallas Mavericks -- a sputtering you might chalk up to some COVID outbreak and dissension surrounding Deandre Ayton that may have since been buried under a pile of cash.
"Their defense collapsed in both postseason series, but an optimist might excuse that too; the New Orleans Pelicans, Phoenix's first-round opponent, were built to brutalize the Suns' weak rebounding, and there is no shame in falling victim to Luka Doncic's slow-pivoting, always-grinning brand of torture.
"They lost only one key player, and even that guy -- Jae Crowder -- is still on the team. They'll either get someone for Crowder, or ask him to return as a backup. The Suns are likely replacing a C-level shooter in Crowder with an A-plus one in Cameron Johnson, which should result in more 3s and wider driving lanes -- modern kicks-in-the-butt for their old-school offense.
"Johnson and Mikal Bridges should shoulder more off-the-bounce creation. (Bridges should jack more 3s.) Ayton is the most obvious pathway to stylistic variety via post-ups, emphatic rim runs and free throws.
"Dario Saric is back to fill minutes at both power forward and center, and the deep bench is solid. If they are healthy and cohesive, the Suns should win bundles of regular-season games.
"But the West has fortified around them after a two-season interregnum. The Nuggets and Clippers are healthy. The Warriors should be better, provided contract extension dramas -- Andrew Wiggins, Jordan Poole, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson -- don't open fissures. The Green-Poole practice altercation Wednesday -- and Green facing potential discipline -- brought a discouraging deja vu. I trust Golden State to handle it.
"Between Robert Sarver, Ayton and Crowder, there is a lot going on in Phoenix, and the top of the West allows for nothing less than complete unified focus. Chris Paul turns 38 in May. The Suns have squeezed every drop from their offense, and may not have enough ingredients without a trade to inject meaningful diversification.
"They have the picks and salary to get in on just about any star who comes available."
The Suns fell into the "strongest claim to spots 3-6" category, along with the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans.
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