Always the Bridesmaid, Never the Bride

The Suns fail to win the NBA Championship, but there's still so much to be proud of.

That title, it's the tweet I posted around 30 minutes after I finished watching game 6 of the NBA Finals, feeling completely deflated at the loss. Since then I've had tweets and messages from you, my followers, my fellow Suns fans and others from the NBA UK community. Those messages were all so positive, so thanks to all of you for those.

Today we're going to focus the positives from one of the best seasons in Suns history, but first we need to look at how far we've come and why I dubbed us as "Always the Bridesmaid"

It all started with a coin toss to see which franchise would have the number 1 pick in the 1969 draft, funnily enough, with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks would win the coin toss and go on to draft Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and 2 years later win the NBA Championship. The Suns would get the 2nd pick and draft Neal Walk. I'd never heard of him either, but he went on to have a successful NBA career, being the only Sun other than Charles Barkley, to have a season averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds.

Next on the Bridesmaid list, our 1st trip to the NBA Finals in 1976. No one expected the Suns to reach the Finals, much like this year and because of that surprise run, the team has been affectionately dubbed the Sunderella Suns. They faced the Boston Celtics dynasty, led by John Havlicek and lost 4-2.

In the 1992 off season the Suns traded for Charles Barkley. He'd go on to be the 1993 NBA MVP, leading the Suns to the best record in the league and the NBA Finals to face the Chicago Bulls, where we'd lose 4-2 again.

We now jump to the Steve Nash led 7 seconds or less teams. That team took the whole league by surprise and revolutionised the game. Nash would win the NBA MVP 2 years in a row (05 & 06). Both of those years we'd reach the Western Conference Finals and lose to the eventual NBA Champions (Spurs in 05) & Western Conference Champions (Mavericks in 06). In 2007, we'd reach the 2nd round of the Playoffs and come up short again, losing to the eventual Champion Spurs. They were the 2 best teams in the league that year and it was widely accepted that the winners of that round would likely go on to win the the Championship. 2010 saw us once again reach the Western Conference Finals and once again we'd lose to the eventual Champions (Lakers).

In more recent times, we haven't even been invited to the wedding, let alone being part of the wedding party. We've been through it all; 3 point guards, no point guards, goats, 21 wins, 19 wins, so essentially the whole Ryan McDonough experience.

Now that I've stopped having a cry, we can focus on our recent successes and the great season that we've just witnessed. Once James Jones officially took over the team, things started to look bright. He traded for Kelly Oubre Jr, who kick started the Valley Boy swag, replaced Igor Kokoskov with Monty Williams as head coach, made a gamble trade on draft night, netting Cam Johnson with the 11th pick (considered by pretty much everyone as a huge reach) and bringing in Dario Saric from Minnesota and Aron Baynes from Boston. Then finally he signed Ricky Rubio (damn I miss that guy). All of this in his 1st 8 months on the job - things were looking up.

The '19-20 season didn't quite go according to plan, DA missed 25 games for taking a PED and we suffered multiple injuries throughout the season. We ultimately improved by 15 wins, but missing the Playoffs by only 1 game, after winning all 8 games in the Orlando Bubble. The team looked great, but needed something more to be a legitimate Playoff team - enter Chris Paul.

CP3 immediately made the Suns a Playoff team. Despite some people suggesting they wouldn't make the Playoffs (you know who you are), they finished with 51 wins, in a shortened 72 game season and the 2nd best record in the NBA. Although adding CP3 to the team was a huge part of our success, it isn't the full story, as improvement from our young players was also needed.

Going in to the '20-21 season, the biggest question was, "Can Deandre Ayton improve and live up to being a number 1 pick?" One the face of it, looking at box scores, one would assume that he actually regressed compared to his rookie and sophomore years. Compared to his sophomore year his points per game dropped from 18.2 down to 14.4, his rebounding dropped from 11.5 to 10.5, his shot attempt went from 14.9 to 10.0. Going by the box score he only improved his FG% and his turnover rate, but as I've eluded to, the box score is no where near the full story.

Ayton's role on the team completely changed this past season, in that he actually had a defined role this season. For his 1st 2 seasons DA was all about getting his own and making sure he put up big numbers. His role this season was to set screens for our guard heavy offense, run to the rim, protect the paint and get his points as part of the offense, when it allowed and he absolutely excelled in the role. It wasn't smooth sailing all the way though. He looked lost for most of the 1st 2 months of the season, calling for a lot of the fan base (again, you know who you are) to have him traded. However in February it all started coming together, he finally started showing he can be a force on both ends of the floor, showing flashes of being the defensive anchor and a dependable scorer down low. This all culminated in the Playoffs where he genuinely dominated on the defensive end against the big Lakers frontline, the MVP and the small-ball Clippers. What a turn around this season has been for him. There were questions whether he would be worth a max contract extension, but now it's a no-brainer.

Mikal Bridges - what a guy! - He appeared and started every single game this season (in fact he hasn't missed a game since high school) and he has proved himself to be one of the best up and coming defenders in the NBA, defending the opposing team's best guard/wing player every night. Labelled as a 3 & D guy, he showed flashes this year that he can be way more than that. He is one of the best cutters in the league, is starting to develop a nice pull-up game in and around the paint, was 15th in 3-point percentage this year at 42.5% and 5th overall in true shooting percentage (.667). I think in years to come he could become a Khris Middleton type player on the offensive end.

Cam Johnson also had himself a great progressive year. Known as just a 3-point shooter, he drove to the basket a lot more this year. Cam has become an excellent team defender, rarely making a mistake on that end throughout the season and he's also an underrated rebounder. During some stretches he looked like the best player on the court.

Speaking of Cams, there are two on our team. Cam Payne joined the team during the Covid break before the Bubble and was a huge surprise in those 8 games. James Jones brought him back for this season and I was concerned, considering

his history in the league, that the Bubble performance was a flash in the pan. I'm happy to say that I was proven completely wrong. He had some struggles with injury mid-way through, but he was our key reserve, being called upon when Book or CP3 sat or were out with injury. He had a career year, topped off by a career high 29 points in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals. He goes in to the off season as a sought after guy, with many thinking he could be offered a +$10 million deal. Fingers crossed we can keep hold of our sparkplug off then bench.

I also want to shout out Jae Crowder "Bossman" His leadership, defence and

rollercoaster shooting has been invaluable to the team. He has a positive impact where ever he goes (just ask Miami). He brought so much swagger to this team and personified it's toughness.

Now our known commodities; Devin Booker and Chris Paul. As I said earlier trading for Chris Paul showed our intent to be a Playoff team. Booker and CP3 helped lead the Suns back to the Playoffs for the 1st time since 2010, ending the NBA's longest Playoff drought.

CP3 was excellent all season, showing why he's still one of the best point guards in the league. He gave this team the star power and on court leadership it had been missing, craving even. In tight games, he would flip a switch and dictate every second of the closing minutes, manipulating the pick and roll defence to give a team mate an open shot or pull up for his patented mid-range jump shot.

Paul would be named an All-Star for the 11th time, lead the league in free throw percentage, shoot the 2nd highest FG% of his career, be named to the All-NBA 2nd team and finish 5th in the NBA MVP voting. In the Playoffs, despite injuring his shoulder in the 1st round and contracting Covid after sweeping the Nuggets in round 2, he'd close out the Western Conference Finals tying his Playoff career high of 41 points, in the series clinching game 6. It would be his 1st trip to the NBA Finals.

Booker solidified himself as a true star player. His numbers were down compared to last season, as he got off to a shaky start. This was mainly due to the team getting used to playing together, but once they clicked, they really clicked. In February Booker would win Western Conference Player of the Week. His continued brilliant play would net him the Western Conference Player of the Month award. He'd grab 2 more more Player of the Week awards, 1 in March and the other in May. He continued to climb in the Suns records, becoming the player with the most 30-point career games and joined the top 10 in points scored for the franchise. Along with CP3 he was also an All-Star. He was not voted in or chosen by the coaches however and this slight against him, coincided with his February Player of the Week award. He would get selected as an injury replacement for the 2nd year in a row, but did not play in the game, as he himself suffered a slight injury.

In the Playoffs Booker did not disappoint. In his 1st Playoff game he had 34 points, he then closed out that series with a 47 point explosion, to advance to the 2nd round. Another highlight game for Booker was his 1st career triple-double in game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. With CP3 unable to play due to Covid, Book stepped up to the plate with 40 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists, leading the team to victory. Book would go on to score 40+ points another 2 times, this time in the Finals, scoring 42 in game 4 and 40 in game 5. He's the 3rd player to have multiple 40-point games in an NBA Finals, before turning 25. The other 2? Rick Barry and Dwyane Wade. He also broke the record for the most points by a player in their 1st Playoff run, with 601. Oh and a broken nose, of course.

While we're on the Playoffs, let's go back to Deandre Ayton, as he had the best game of his career multiple times this post-season. He played the way we fans have been begging for. Here are some of the history making stats he delivered (I'm very sure that I've missed some as well):

First player in the shot-clock era (since 1954-55 season) with a 70+ FG pct in any 12-game postseason span (min. 100 att). (via ESPN)

Most games with 20+ points and 10+ rebounds on 80+ FG% in NBA Playoffs history: 5 - Dwight Howard 4 - Deandre Ayton Howard has played 125 career playoff games, Ayton has played 17. Nobody else has 4 or more such games. (via @TheValleyStats)

Game 1 of the NBA Finals he had the following stats:

22 points and 19 rebounds, shooting 8 of 10 from the field. Ayton is only the 2nd player in NBA history to register 20+ points, 15+ rebounds and over 70% shooting. The other? Arguably the best center ever, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

This was also the 5th time during this Playoff run that he'd shot at least 80% from the field.

We spoke about his defence earlier so here's another awesome stat:

He held opponents to 37.5% shooting these playoffs (Prior to the NBA Finals), the best out of any player with at least 125 FGA defended. Ayton leads all players with 267 FGA defended in these playoffs. (via @XinNBA).

Finally, the defining play of his career, the game winning dunk in game 2 of the Western Conference Finals - The Valley-Oop! (Skip to 3:45 for the play)

We move away from the players now to focus on Monty Williams, the Suns 2nd year Head Coach. What he's done for the franchise in the time he's been with us is immeasurable. He's a true culture setter and a guy that makes you feel proud he's our coach every time you hear him speak.

This is one example that was caught while he was mic'd up, but you can guarantee that this is an everyday occurrence.

Monty won the NBA Coach of the Month award for March. He led the Suns to a 10-3 record throughout the month. His peers across the league also saw how great he was, as they awarded him the Coach's Association Coach of the Year award. He came 2nd in voting for the NBA Coach of the Year award, which was voted on by the NBA media.

What's exciting for me is that this is only year 2 of Monty's 5 year contract with the Suns, if the rest of that time goes as well as this 1st portion, I can see him being around as our Head Coach for a long time to come.

Lastly we need to recognise our General Manager James Jones. He's the architect that has put all this together. I did a short recap of what he's done since being in charge above, but all his efforts were recognised, as he won the NBA's Executive of the Year award.

In summary this past season has been amazing and a pleasure to be able to watch unfold. It started rocky, but culminated in us being the Western Conference Champions, a title we haven't held since 1993. We may have been the Bridesmaid, but we had a bloody brilliant time at the wedding.

Thank you for reading. Please like, comment below what you think and share on social media.

To make sure you never miss a post, you can also subscribe to us.

---

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for the latest Suns news.

You can also use the code 'SUNSFANSUK' on The Throwback Store to receive a 10% discount on any order you make.