Yesterday the Phoenix Suns were officially swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves. With a final score of 122-116 the Suns have lost four games in a row, thereby loosing the series to the two seeded Wolves. Even though the Suns were underdogs from the start, nobody expected this sort of dominance from the Wolves. With a main core of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, the Suns are not lacking in the talent department. So what went wrong with this trio?
Over the past few years the Suns have always remained at the top of the west, but have never been able to quite make it over the hump and win a championship. To try and fix this, they went out and acquired both Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, two of the leagues premier scorers. In doing so, they traded away most of their young core and almost all of their draft picks for the next few years. Knowing this, there really isn't any turning back. The Suns are just going to simply have to figure it out. Having both KD and Devin Booker on your team puts you in a spot to compete right away, but its the players around them and the head coach that make it possible to go all the way. We now all ask the question of what the Suns are going to do this off season to figure it out. KD, Book, and Beal are all locked up for the next few years so there is really no turning back on this core group.
Looking ahead into the off season, its likely that the Suns will make a change at the head coaching position. While Frank Vogel is a premier level coach, the Suns need a change of scenery and and change of culture. There was so sense of culture at all this season and from the start the Suns never seemed like they really wanted it. Brining in someone new to coach them can help with this problem as long as they go out and get the right guy. The Suns will also most likely try to go out and sign some better role players that fit well with their talented trio. This is going be hard as they do not have a lot of cap space to work with. As for the draft, they don't have any picks, but they can try make a potential trade to get into the draft some how.
There is a lot of uncertainty for the Suns in the coming years, as KD and Beal are both on the decline and they are really following a win now mentality. This means that they don't have many years left to make a championship run and now is the time to do so. Next year may be the last to do so, making this off season so key for the franchise. As the Western conference only gets more and more talented, especially with young guys, it much harder now for teams like the Suns to compete at a high level. Their window is closing and now is the time for them to make this run that they have been trying to make the past few years.
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