Bryan Colangelo, former General Manager for the Toronto Raptors, made an interesting comment at the 2014 Sloan Analytics Conference. “I tried to tank a couple of years ago,” remarked the two-time NBA Executive of the Year. “And I didn’t come out and say, ‘Coach you have to lose games.’ I want him to establish a winning tradition and culture, but I wanted him to do it in the framework of playing and developing young players.”
Did Suns’ GM Ryan McDonough give Head Coach Jeff Hornacek a similar set of marching orders? Were they tanking “in the framework of playing and developing young players”? The writing on the wall seemed to suggest as much. After all, they did stockpile six first-round draft picks (potentially) over the next two years, and they did trade away the majority of their veteran talent (Caron Butler, Marcin Gortat, Jared Dudley, Luis Scola).
“The plan, Phoenix insists, is to play Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe together in the backcourt. Which is intriguing enough to get us tuning in -- especially when you throw in Jeff Hornacek as a rookie coach -- even though the same plan calls for stockpiling draft picks and essentially starting over.”
--Marc Stein, ESPN.com - September 27, 2013
“The experiment of starting two point guards, Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, will be fun to watch, but Phoenix will be at a talent disadvantage almost every night. The Suns are going about rebuilding the right way, but don't expect Jeff Hornacek to win much in his first season as coach.”
--Matt Dollinger, SI.com - October 21, 2013
So why, half a year later, aren’t we talking about Jabari Parker or Andrew Wiggins in purple and orange? Was there a break in the chain of command? Or worse—did they fail at failing? Neither of those explanations seems particularly uplifting, so let’s consider option C: the creation of a winning culture. Perhaps the Coach of the Year candidate and his band of misfits developed a family-like solidarity, caring about each other as much as they cared about winning.
P.J. Tucker, the team’s emotional leader, spent six years of his professional career fighting for an NBA roster spot. Do you think he wants to take a year off? Or what about Channing Frye, the seven-year vet who decided to return to the court after being diagnosed with an enlarged heart? There are no “moral victories” with this kind of locker room leadership. They wanted to win, and win now.
The 2013/14 Phoenix Suns were gritty, tough and stubborn—so much so that they won 48 games in an absurdly deep Western Conference, botching any attempt to throw out the season. They may not have given their front office executives the superstar rookie many had envisioned, but they did prove one thing: with Hornacek at the helm and a winning culture in the locker room, the future for the Phoenix Suns is as bright as ever.
First photograph via Stephen Dunn/NBA.com, second via Barry Gossage/NBA.com
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