Along with the cooler temperatures and lower electric bills, the end of September and beginning of October usually means something else to Valley sports fans: Training camp and the preseason for the city’s oldest and arguably most popular pro sports team, the Phoenix Suns.
While the other valley teams either languish in mediocrity (yes, Diamondbacks and Sun Devils, this warm plate of “reality” is for you), have serious question marks regarding validity and staying power (our 1-2 football team in Glendale has already unscrewed a collective can of civic uneasiness this year), or face the very real possibility they may not even be in the state in a couple years (the ill-fated Coyotes are the textbook definition of ‘a team in disarray’), the Suns continue to be the local sports darlings, albeit darlings in a state of transition.
While it’s true the team hasn’t won a championship in its 41 years of existence (two trips to the NBA finals in ’76 and ’93 have been the team’s closest chances), there is a remarkably strong and loyal following for the boys in purple and orange. Many fans have grown up with the Suns, and the die-hard support for the team in many cases is a generational affair, with fathers and mothers and grandparents having passed down the passion like a sacred torch.
How disappointing, then, that the Suns last year abandoned the fast, up-tempo, run-and-gun style that has defined much of their history since their inaugural season in 1968-69, in favor of a more defense-minded, slowed-down game at the behest of general manager Steve Kerr.
The argument went something like this: The wildly popular Suns of 2004-2007 were fun and entertaining and sold a lot of tickets, but they simply weren’t built for success in the playoffs, so of course we must dismantle not only the team, but the philosophy as well, and focus more on defense and slowing the game up. The team may only win 45 games, but by golly they’ll be better suited for the rough and tumble playoffs, if they get there!
Excuse me?
It’s exactly that fast, loose, frenetic pace that creates the entertainment and fan-building model of success the Suns have always enjoyed. Having six solid months of exciting, competitive basketball that draws in fans (both at home and on the road), sells merchandise, garners strong TV and radio ratings and creates passionate fan interest … and then losing in the second or even first round of the playoffs, is far more enticing than an unhappy, non-entertaining, 44-win team who trudges up and down the court with all the enthusiasm of a cinder block.
The latter may be better equipped for a playoff run, if they even make the playoffs, but the former is better equipped to do what the business is in place for in the first place: win lots of games, sell tickets to games and make the fans happy.
Probably sensing this, the aforementioned Kerr has replaced last year’s coach (Terry Porter) with a new one (Alvin Gentry) who has committed the Suns to restoring their fun and freewheeling ways of pushing the ball and outscoring their opponents.
Please color this author and longtime fan purple with pride that this stated return to the ways of years past will bode well this year for not only the team’s record, but the legion of fans that have supported them for decades.
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