This season was supposed to be a stepping stone to a rebuild for the Phoenix Suns. However, after several heady moves from their rookie GM, the Suns almost stole a playoff berth at the death. With cap space and plenty of draft picks at their disposal, look for Phoenix to again improve this offseason.

Season Summary

Before the season began, the consensus opinion was that the Phoenix Suns were destined to finish amongst the league’s cellar dwellers and try and grow their talent-deprived team through the draft.

Thankfully for Suns fans, and embarrassingly for NBA experts, Phoenix turned out to be the Cinderella story of the league, far out performing expectations and nearly snatching a playoff berth in the 11th hour.

Thanks to some savvy front office moves, their unique two-headed point guard attack and a slew of over-performing role players, the Suns surged to a 48-34 recording, becoming the winningest team in NBA history to not qualify for the postseason – Phoenix’s record was better than four Eastern Conference playoff teams, including the Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Bobcats, Brooklyn Nets and Washington Wizards.

It was the first time the Suns posted a record above .500 since their last playoff season in 2009-10 – when the duo of Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire led them to the Western Conference Finals.

Under first-year head coach Jeff Hornacek, Phoenix reinvented themselves as one of the league’s elite offensive powerhouses. Last season, the Suns finished 21st in points per game (95.2) and 29th for offensive efficiency (101.2). Under Hornacek’s fast-paced (eighth in the league for pace – 95.8), trigger-happy offensive scheme, those rankings improved to seventh (105.2) and eighth overall (109.5), respectively, this season.

Hornacek totally restructured Phoenix’s approach on offence and they reaped the benefits. Last season, the Suns relied on inside scoring that was never really thereabouts, taking and making the fourth most two-pointers, but at the ninth-worst percentage in the league. Meanwhile, they were 26th in made threes and 28th for three-point percentage.

This season, they cutback on the contested twos (25th in attempts) and made every shot inside the arc count (seventh-best two-point percentage). Meanwhile, they shot opponents out of games with a barrage of three-pointers (fourth in attempts, sixth in makes and eighth for percentage).

Offseason additions Eric Bledsoe and Gerald Green gave the Suns the elite athletes their roster had been missing in recent seasons and helped fuel the Suns dramatic scoring turnaround.

Bledsoe (17.7 points at 47.7%, 4.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game – all career-highs) enjoyed a breakout season in Arizona, pushing the tempo at any given opportunity and playing hard-nosed defence at the other end.

Meanwhile, Green (15.8 points), who looked on his way out of the league (again) after a disappointing campaign with the Indiana Pacers the season before, also enjoyed a career year. Given freedom in Hornacek’s offence, Green developed into a deadly marksman, knocking down the fourth-most triples in the league at 40.0%, while also terrorising opponents with his otherworldly athleticism.

Fellow offseason addition Miles Plumlee was also a pleasant surprise for Phoenix, averaging 8.1 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, helping fill the void left by Marcin Gortat and ease the pressure on developing rookie Alex Len (2.0 points and 2.4 rebounds in 8.6 minutes per game).

Gritty forward PJ Tucker (9.4 points and 6.5 rebounds) always battled hard and developed into a solid corner-three specialist (taking 86.9% of his long-range attempts from the corner and knocking down 41.0% of them) and finished top-20 in the league for total steals.

Twins Markieff and Marcus Morris’ on-court chemistry was unparalleled. Markieff (13.8 points and 6.0 rebounds) developed into a legitimate Sixth Man of the Year candidate, finishing fourth in voting for the award. Meanwhile, Marcus (9.7 points) was the outside-shooting Ying for Markieff’s low post Yang, nailing 38.1% of his attempts from downtown.

Likewise, Channing Frye (11.1 points, 37.0% 3FG and 5.1 rebounds), Ish Smith (3.7 points and 2.6 assists) and Leandro Barbosa (7.5 points) were also valuable contributors throughout the year.

Most Valuable Player

If one player best symbolises the Suns expectation-shattering season, it would be their Slovenian superstar, Goran Dragić.

Once considered nothing more than a solid backup point guard, Dragić had a breakout season that saw him shoot into the company of the league’s elite.

The Dragon finished the season averaging an impressive 20.3 points (18th in the league) and 5.9 assists per game.

Dragić also developed into one of the league’s most efficient scorers, knocking down 50.5% of his field goals (trailing only LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Kawhi Leonard amongst wing players) and 40.8% from downtown (15th in the league) – both career-highs.

Over the past 20 seasons, only three players had finished a season averaging at least 20 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from downtown – Dirk Nowitzki (2006-07 – won MVP), James (‘12-13 – won MVP) and Kevin Durant (’12-13 and ’13-14 – runner-up MVP for the prior and MVP for the latter) – Dragić became the fourth name to join that list.

The improvement in Dragić’s game did not go unnoticed as he won the league’s Most Improved Player award in a landslide, receiving 65 first-placed votes (408 points) compared to second-placed Lance Stephenson’s 13 first-placed votes (158 points).

Meanwhile, he was also selected the All-NBA Third Team – ahead of the likes of All-Stars John Wall, Kyrie Irving and Dwyane Wade – the first such selection of his career.

Phoenix fans have been thirsting for All-Star point guard play since the departure of Steve Nash, and while Dragić missed All-Star selection this season, on current form it is not hard to imagine him making the cut for seasons to come.

X-Factor

Phoenix far exceeded expectations this season, with countless members of their team performing at levels well above their predicted output throughout the year.

However, the man that set the ball rolling for the Suns’ Cinderella season does not don the purple and orange on game day. Heck, he doesn’t even sit on the bench.

In his first season as Phoenix’s general manager, Ryan McDonough pulled off savvy move after savvy move and was the catalyst to Phoenix climbing out of the league’s basement.

Firstly, he hired Hornacek, giving the Suns the perfect foundation to kick-start their next chapter.

He brought some intrigue to the franchise by acquiring the exciting Bledsoe from the Los Angeles Clippers for next to nothing, giving up only role player Jared Dudley and a second-round draft pick.

He then fleeced the Pacers, obtaining the high-flying Green and Plumlee duo, plus another first-round pick for the underperforming Luis Scola.

Next, he jettisoned Gortat, Kendall Marshall and Shannon Brown (the last remnants of last season’s forgettable core) to the Wizards for the expiring contract of Okafor and a 2014 first-round selection, clearing cap space and securing a valuable trade asset or prospect moving forward.

Meanwhile, he also waived Michael Beasley, traded for a heady veteran backup point in Smith and signed former fan-favourite Barbosa.

Call him a brilliant visionary. Call him lucky. Regardless, the 33-year-old McDonough was a sight for sore eyes compared to former GM Lance Banks – the man responsible for trading Dragić and a first-round pick for Aaron Brooks, drafting Marshall and signing Beasley (amongst a plethora other perplexing contracts) – and set the Suns journey back to the postseason in motion.

Looking Forward

Heading into the offseason, Phoenix has the aforementioned extra first-round draft picks thanks to McDonough’s moves, taking their total haul to three first-rounders and a second-rounder – 14th, 18th, 27th and 50th overall.

They are also owed 2015 first-round picks from the Los Angeles Lakers (top-5 protected) and the Minnesota Timberwolves (top-12 protected) heading forward.

McDonough has already declared his preference to package some of those picks for an established star.

“Our preference would be, as I said when I arrived, to trade for a star if we can do that,” McDonough told ArizonaSports.com.

“I think, though, if we do go in with the 14th, the 18th and 27th pick, that it’s unlikely we draft three guys and bring them to the Suns,

“The options are packaging them for a veteran player, packaging them to move up, we could draft a European player or two and leave them overseas or we could trade our pick for future picks and spread them out.”

So far, it seems the latter is the route Phoenix has chosen.

They selected North Carolina State forward, TJ Warren, with the 14th pick, who should add further fuel to the Suns already high-powered offence, after finishing second in the nation for scoring 24.9 points per game in his final season with the Wolfpack.

Next, it was Syracuse point guard, Tyler Ennis, at pick 18, who should be an excellent back up behind Dragić and Bledsoe, after averaging 12.9 points and 5.5 assists in his lone season with the Orange.

With their final first-round pick, Phoenix opted for international prospect Bogdan Bogdanovic (15.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists for Partizan last season) with the 27th pick, who they can stash overseas to maintain cap space.

It is no secret that the Suns have their aim set high in free agency, with LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love all on their wish – Phoenix is one of only a select few teams who can afford two max contracts without decimating the core of their current roster.

If Phoenix miss out on dealing for a star, expect them to continued to amass trade assets moving forward – much like the Houston Rockets did pre-James Harden trade.

Closer to home and there are several contract situations that the Suns need to deal with. Bledsoe has come to the end of his rookie contract and will demand a costly extension, but he is a restricted free agent and Phoenix has already stated they will match any offer sheet.

Frye (player option), Tucker, Barbosa and Smith (team options) will also need to be assessed, but thanks to the expiring Okafor deal and this season’s low payroll, the Suns will have plenty of cash to play with – approximately $26 million according to the predicted salary cap of $63 million for 2014-15.

Moves for out-of-contract veterans Greg Monroe, Lance Stephenson and Luol Deng have all run through the rumour mill, but expect Phoenix to chase a trade before they look to spend their cap space.

After a sensational 2013-14 season that fell just short of the postseason, expect the Suns to be one of the biggest movers around the draft and free agency period as they attempt to return to the playoffs for he first time in four years.

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