It's Been a Year Since Phoenix's NBA Finals Run Ended: What's Changed?
July 20 marked exactly one year since the Phoenix Suns saw their hopes and dreams of capturing a championship end in Game 6 of the NBA Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks.
With confetti trickling down around him, the image of Suns guard Devin Booker telling himself "damn" while taking in the scene is a feeling most in Phoenix still have to this day. This was perhaps the best shot for the Suns to notch their first NBA title, especially after winning the first two games in the series.
It's tough for any team to make it all the way to the Finals, let alone to win. That makes what the Golden State Warriors and Chicago Bulls were able to accomplish something special, for lack of better terms.
These Suns have grown quite well since that magical run in the bubble, thanks to a variety of factors including the presence of Chris Paul and the growth of players such as Deandre Ayton and Devin Booker.
Yet despite falling off, the Suns followed their title as champions of the west by having their best regular season to date. Phoenix racked up 64 wins and prompted themselves to the league's best record, poised to again make a deep push into the postseason.
However, the team was taken to six games by New Orleans before ultimately seeing another 2-0 lead disappear, this time at the hands of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks.
Now, the Suns have pieced together two impressive seasons without hardware to show for their efforts.
The 2021 NBA Finals run was magical, as the Valley was able to get behind the Suns and create a true fever of basketball any time Phoenix needed homecourt advantage. Interest in how Monty Williams will lead his team heading into a new season has never been higher.
But what's changed from last summer to now?
Small Changes in Phoenix's Big Picture
On the surface, not a whole lot. Much of the same roster is in Phoenix, which was the preference of general manager James Jones.
“I’m not going to change my approach to team building, which is to create and construct a team that has a ton of depth, a ton of skill and great chemistry,” Jones said back in May. “We just need to be better and I think after a summer where our guys improve, we will be.
“As far as free agency and those things, we’ll address them at the proper time. That happens in July/end of June, but we want to continue to keep our consistency and continuity, and keep the guys that we have and continue to help those guys improve upon the things that we did this year.”
The Suns were intent on keeping the lineup together, and have paid for that price. Phoenix is set to pay the NBA's luxury tax for just the fifth time in franchise history, a cost that is attributed to keeping pivotal players around and contention hopes high.
Phoenix's spending has indeed changed, and there's hope that their players are able to do so, too.
As we enter the final years of Paul's high ability to command an offense, the thinking towards the approach of CP3 has changed. There's an obvious need to acquire a legitimate point guard to spell Paul when needed, one that could probably give you good minutes when the long and tired days of the playoffs haunt even the best athletes.
Simply put, Paul should be looking at bit more load management heading into the new season.
With that, the emergence of a more prominent role for Ayton could be in store. Phoenix's lone No. 1 pick will be looking to make good on his newly-inked deal and turn into the prominent scoring option behind Booker.
The emergence of Mikal Bridges to the national stage is welcomed, finishing second in the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year voting and All-NBA defensive first team honors. He was also only one of five players to play all 82 games in the 2021-22 season. The Suns now hope for him to turn the corner offensively to round out his already strong game.
The hope is for Cam Johnson to follow in similar footsteps, especially with an opportunity to step into a full-time starting position in the event Jae Crowder is dealt. Johnson is due for a contract extension this year and figures to only grow as a player on the court.
Suns Capitalizing on the Present
Change has occurred not only on the court for Phoenix, but also the mindset of the front office.
For a team that has notoriously been considered "cheap" throughout the years, the commitment to dip into the luxury tax shows the Suns are willing to pay over asking price to compete for a title.
There's also the attempted negotiations for superstar Kevin Durant and their willingness to push heavily for a player of his caliber to join forces with Booker and the rest of the team. Durant's preferred destination has repeatedly been reported as Phoenix, although his future in Brooklyn remains up in the air.
With a championship window that won't be open forever, the Suns have seen an extra gear in their preparations to piece together a contending squad.
Yet perhaps the biggest changes have come outside of Phoenix, in a western conference that has seen the reemergence of a healthy Golden State, the Clippers gaining John Wall (and what they hope to be a healthy Kawhi Leonard), Minnesota acquiring Rudy Gobert and the continued rise of stars such as Luka Doncic.
The west has somehow only gotten stronger, making Phoenix's road to another NBA Finals appearance even tougher and the importance of acquiring a player such as Durant more crucial in a star-driven league.
That's the rapid world of basketball we've grown accustomed to, where the only constant is change.
For the Suns, not much has changed on the court in terms of personnel. A trade for Durant would change that, but that trade front has been nothing short of quiet. Phoenix seems to like it's core and wants to count on young role players improving.
In that aspect, there's not a fresh sense about this team. But given their recent form, why should there be?
Perhaps an underrated part is the hunger now within Phoenix to bring home a title, especially after seeing what they were capable of doing between Milwaukee and Dallas.
Every (most) athlete wants to win a championship, yet experiencing the heartbreak of being so close with the same group of players should continue to play a role into the team's chemistry and will to win.
"A hungry dog's gonna eat," once said a wise man, and Phoenix is mighty hungry for hardware.
More than anything, the mentality of front office personnel has changed into win-now mode. For a team that was so close to putting fingerprints on the Larry O'Brien trophy, the Suns sure feel the pressure of capitalizing on the current state of the team.
For a team that didn't want to change very much, the amount of change accrued in the last year could spark another special season.
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