Phoenix Suns' biggest test: Repeating success next year
The Phoenix Suns love a stiff challenge. Here's the hardest task I can conjure:
No matter what happens during this impending crescendo of a playoff chase, come back next season with the same spirit and affection. Return with open ears and open hearts, with the ability to listen and an eagerness to share. Preserve the power of we, noting how it counters the great lie sold on Madison Avenue, where the NBA is packaged and sold as a star's league.
Remember that basketball is not an individual endeavor. It's the ultimate team game, no matter how many other sports claim the same. You are proof.
"I think chemistry is very, very important," Suns President Lon Babby said. "But I also know from experience that if we brought back the entire group with no changes in personnel, it would be very difficult to re-create the same chemistry.
"Circumstances change. People change. Players that have worked on things over the summer want to showcase them when they get back on the court. The analogy I use is that it's like a new year of school. You come back, and everything is a little different. Your friends are a little different."
The 2013-14 Suns already have made a special kind of history. They are closing in on 50 victories, more than doubling the prediction of Las Vegas wise guys.
They play like a college team, running hard, passing the ball and jumping wildly about the sidelines. And now they have entered their own Final Four — four games in six days, including Friday's game at the San Antonio Spurs and an enormous one Saturday at the Dallas Mavericks, with a playoff berth on the line.
If the Suns get in, they will have earned their spot. They will have a lasting testament to a season full of wondrous surprises.
If things don't work out, the consolation prize might actually exceed a playoff berth. The difference between making and missing the playoffs, as general manager Ryan McDonough noted, could be the difference between selecting 21st and 14th in the upcoming NBA draft. That's a significant gap.
Yet at this point, most of us are in the same place, with no room for cold-hearted pragmatism. This is about romance. This about a team that has tugged at Valley heartstrings all season, and fans who've fallen in love all over again.
This is about Goran Dragic, who gives the team its fearless attitude. Dragic has replaced two-time NBA MVP and mentor Steve Nash as seamlessly as Andrew Luck succeeded Peyton Manning in Indianapolis.
This is about Gerald Green, who gave up the slam-dunk contest because he was tired of being a sideshow, suddenly blossoming with his seventh NBA team. Green might win the NBA's Most Improved Player award. One fan suggested that a snarl contest in his honor should replace the "kiss cam" at all home games.
This is about P.J. Tucker, who set the tone for everything when, at age 28, he played with his younger, greener teammates in the Las Vegas Summer League. That's not something often seen in a generation of NBA players that are too cool for school.
"I think I'm going to do it again," Tucker said recently.
Will he follow through? Will his teammates follow suit? Or will Eric Bledsoe's incoming contract change Dragic's viewpoint? Will Green's ascension change the temperament of a player who will be entering the last year of his contract?
These questions are relevant because this is what happens in team sports, and why chemistry is such a challenge in the NBA.
So take that oath now, Suns, and whatever happens next will pale by comparison.
Dan Bickley writes for The (Phoenix) Arizona Republic, a Gannett property.
